Director Christopher Nolan’s work has been admired for a number of reasons as his ongoing cinematic reputation continues to grow. His films have captivated and dazzled audiences while being paired with iconic scores to create a mesmerizing cinematic experience by using the world around him. Nolan’s films, despite how otherworldly they may feel, have been shot at some of the most obvious (or disguised) locations around the globe.
As his collection of cinematic titles continues to grow, here is a look back at the locations used to bring some of the director’s most adored films to life. Nolan is renowned for being able to incorporate as much realism as he can into his films and strives to spotlight a sense of reality through his work. As a general part of his process, Nolan believes that if it can be shot or made in the real world, it can be put into his next projects, such as the upcoming World War II epic Oppenheimer. The director is a seasoned globetrotter, and it's his international experiences that contribute to a sense of reality to his art. Here's a list of some real-life filming locations that Nolan has used in his films.
5 Chicago, Illinois
Chicago has been home to countless blockbusters throughout the eras of film and filmmaking, but Nolan's presentation of the Windy City in The Dark Knight paints a grittier portrait of Chicago, Illinois thanks to Nolan's more reserved filmmaking. Chicago's Lower Wacker Drive, for those who take to the city even every now and then, is now Gotham City's Lower Fifth in Batman's Tumbler. This isn't the first time that Nolan has employed Chicago as Gotham, as the signature of the Chicago Board Walk of Trade is now the Wayne Manor. The Chicago overhead train system—the L—has been transformed into a fantasy rail system, and the riverwalk is cast in typical DC Comics gloom.
Robert Pattison's The Batman (2022) follows in Nolan's footsteps, utilizing a strikingly similar part of the city that will reappear as Gotham. It has been reported that the Tribune Tower will undergo the Wayne Manor treatment and that Wacker Drive was designated for shooting in October 2020. Gotham Police Squad Cars replaced the Chicago Police Department, and other Gotham-based propaganda popped up across Michigan Avenue.
4 Alberta, Canada
The production of Interstellar primarily took place in Alberta, Canada, and the province's rural towns. The towns of Longview, Okotoks, Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and Nanton were all included to some degree, though the heart of the filming location is the cornfield that swallows the farmhouse amidst it. The cornfield itself was planted intentionally for the purpose of being destroyed, per Nolan's keenness of symbolism across even the everyday occurrences. The realism that is found in the fear of losing everything, per the cornfield's destruction, looks to references to the 1930s Dust Bowl. From a similar realistic standpoint, Nolan's crew of 130 people was made up of almost-all Albertan citizens who could contribute their experience of living in Canada to the film, adding a greater sense of transparency and truth to the film.
3 Mumbai, India
Nolan seeks out concentrating the feeling of life into his work, bottling the means of what living is on an international level. “We shot in Mumbai, which is just one of the most extraordinary-looking cities in the world in terms of its architecture, the amazing people, and the abundance of life on the streets there," Nolan said in a transcript from Warner Bros. shared with The Indian Express. "It’s a really remarkable place with this extraordinary history, so, to be able to take the audience there, it seemed a very exciting setting,” the director added. Nolan decided that he wanted to return to India as a shooting location after he had previously visited the nation to shoot a small part in The Dark Knight Rises.
"I had shot a couple of days in Jodhpur on The Dark Knight Rises [...] and always wanted to go back and shoot a more substantial sequence, and I had the opportunity to do that on Tenet."
The director's reputation allows him to carve out international storytelling by highlighting the aspects of different nations that catch his eye. Underscored locations in Mumbai that appear in Tenet are the Gateway of India, the Breach Candy Hospital, Grant Road, Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Cafe Mondegar, Colaba Market, Colaba Causeway, and the Royal Bombay Yacht Club.
2 Tangiers, Morocco
The chase scene in Inception through the colorful marketplace was shot in Tangiers, Morocco. The location rests on the Strait of Gibraltar and serves as a direct means of connection between Africa and Europe. This can symbolically be traced back to the connection of people through nations. Originally founded in the 10th Century BCE, the marketplace in Tangiers has been altered to have a more Kenyan appeal to it, and the fabrics being sold are more influenced by African textiles.
Inception used the Grand Souk in Morocco as a labyrinth for its high-energy and fast-paced chase scene, and Tangier was later repurposed to Mombasa, Kenya for the same film. Much like the use of Mumbai in Tenet, Nolan aims to ground that bustling atmosphere of life within his films. The marketplace setting adds a taste of what life in Morocco may look like for those who call the country home.
1 London, England
Nolan has been incredibly generous when tying London, if not England, into his works to some capacity. The University College London's Flaxman Gallery serves as a point of introduction between characters, and The Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre is another featured on-campus location in Inception. Inception additionally includes a glimpse of the heritage rooms in the Victoria House in London, which is located in Bloomsbury Square. Glimpses of London were given throughout Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, and more recently seen in Tenet.
Outside of London, Nolan continues to use other regions of England as filming locations in order to share a look at the country as a whole, not just its most prominent city. The Kyoto Airport, which should have been in Japan, is edited into fruition after footage was taken from the Farnborough Airfield in Hampshire, England. Inception's famous hotel scene was captured in Bedfordshire, England in a studio-designed set.