The Top 5 Wackiest Things Christopher Nolan Has Ever Done for Film

Oppenheimer filmmaker Christopher Nolan has made a career of it, preferring the look of practical effects.

Here are the five wildest stunts he's pulled in preference to CGI – all due to his love of film.

Investing in Corn (Interstellar)

With any other director, the corn scene in 2014's Interstellar would have been computer animated. But being set in a world where the crop is one of the last two remaining on our dying planet, Nolan decided to make it as realistic as possible.

He planted 500 acres of corn, costing production $100,000.

It ended up being a gamble and most agricultural experts said the corn would fail. Nolan didn't care about the harvest of the crop in the long run, just that it would look good on screen. It ended up lasting and they were able to make a profit off of it.

Cardboard Extras (Dunkirk)

One scene in 2017's Dunkirk required a large amount of extras, recreating the World War II evacuation of 330,000 soldiers. They filmed at the very same beach as the historical moment 76 years prior.

Most directors, rather than hiring thousands of extras, would CGI the rest of the soldiers in. Not Nolan.

He lined the beaches of Dunkirk with 325 extras and an entire crowd of cardboard cutouts.

The Rotating Hallway (Inception )

The mind-bending 2010 Inception would have been far easier with a load of computer imagery. Of course, it wouldn't have looked nearly as good.

In one dream scene, Arthur fights a few bad guys in a rotating hallway. Nolan found a way to do that with practical effects.

He created an entire hallway that actually spun; the actors weren't even given the luxury of safety wires. It rotated in a full circle and the actors practiced walking and fighting in a spinning room. The result was one of the most iconic scenes in cinematic history.

Airplane Heist (Dark Knight Rises)

One of the most incredible aspects of his Dark Knight trilogy was that he was able to create an iconic superhero franchise with few CGI effects.

In an early scene of its third installment in 2012, Bane is introduced by hijacking a plane with another plane, a dangerous gamble for the terrorists.

It was just as risky for the crew. Nolan actually used a miniature plane and incredible stunt work to film the scene rather than faking it for the audience.

Atomic Bomb (Oppenheimer)

In a movie about the father of the atomic bomb, you know there's going to be an epic scene with a mushroom cloud. As always, Nolan chose practical effects.

Now, he didn't ACTUALLY create an atomic bomb for the film, but he came pretty close.

He used so much TNT that it realistically simulated the mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb. Fans are still waiting to see it in July 2023, but as always, it's sure to look good.