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A replicant blade runner finds evidence that replicants can reproduce. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, released 2017.

A ducal heir is handed a desert planet and a war he was bred for. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, released 2021.

One family talks its way into another family's house. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, released 2019.

A welder takes a case of drug money and is followed for it. Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, released 2007.

A two-hour chase, out into the desert and back again. Directed by George Miller, released 2015.

A ten-year-old has to work in a bathhouse for spirits to free her parents. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, released 2001.

A weekend with his girlfriend's parents goes wrong very slowly. Directed by Jordan Peele, released 2017.

A drummer and a teacher who thinks cruelty produces greatness. Directed by Damien Chazelle, released 2014.

A laundromat owner is audited, and also has to save every universe. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, released 2022.

Across eight features Christopher Nolan has kept as much of the image in the camera as production will allow, and the choice shapes far more than the look.

Building the shot instead of solving it

The folding Paris street in Inception, the rotating corridor, the water planet in Interstellar and the inverted car chase in Tenet were all staged physically first. The constraint is expensive and inflexible: a set that folds can only fold one way, so the shot has to be designed before it is filmed rather than assembled afterwards.