It wasn’t just the general public who were blown away by Christopher Nolan’s Bat-films. Hollywood’s finest also felt the effects of the series, and in some cases it changed their approach to making movies or encouraged them to try new things. To find out exactly what those ripple effects were, Empire spoke to some of the biggest blockbuster filmmakers around to see how The Dark Knight struck them...
ADAM McKAY
(Director, Anchorman)
"The Dark Knight is the best superhero movie ever made. I've seen others that try to get all real, and they strip away the fun and the mythology. And then I've seen movies that go too far towards the cartoon aspect. But Nolan, with mathematical precision, blended the two. The way he shoots is such a throwback, and yet so modern. He's using old-fashioned techniques with modern ideas. Amazing." TIM BURTON
(Director, Batman, Batman Returns)
"I like Chris Nolan's Batman movies. It kind of makes me laugh because I got so much shit for being too dark and now, with him, it's like, 'Lucky you.' But that's the way it should be. I wish I hadn't had to go through quite so much torture. They weren't used to that mood then. Comic books were supposed to be light. I did what I wanted to do and it seemed different at the time. And what we did has become normal." DAVID KOEPP
(Writer, Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man; Director, Stir Of Echoes)
"To me, what was most fascinating is I have two teenage boys and watching the reverence with which they saw it, again and again and again. It really is like their generation's Godfather. It is absolutely a seminal film for teenage boys of that and this era. If I told you I knew why, I'd be lying. It's lightning in a bottle, and you can never explain it. Great script, top-level performances... It just completely connected to something."
DREW GODDARD
(Director, The Cabin In The Woods)
*"The greatest villain of all time is The Joker