If you have seen Skyfall you probably felt that there were some similarities to Christopher Nolan’s films as I did and I have been bemused when others have said that Skyfall is The Dark Knight to Casino Royale’s Batman Begins but couldn’t really substantiate the point past trying to draw a link between The Dark Knight and Sam Mendes's quote regarding The Dark Knight - see below. So I thought I would throw out some thoughts on possible parallels and synchronicity I see between Skyfall and Christopher Nolan’s films. I would suggest that if you have not seen Skyfall yet you stop reading this now.

In discussion with Drew Taylor of The Playlist regarding parallels between Nolan's Batman films and Skyfall Sam Mendes has said:

”In terms of what [Nolan] achieved, specifically ‘The Dark Knight,’ the second movie, what it achieved, which is something exceptional. It was a game changer for everybody," he explained about how it influenced his approach.
We’re now in an industry where movies are very small or very big and there’s almost nothing in the middle," he continued. "And it would be a tragedy if all the serious movies were very small and all the popcorn movies were very big and have nothing to say. And what Nolan proved was that you can make a huge movie that is thrilling and entertaining and has a lot to say about the world we live in, even if, in the case with ‘The Dark Knight,’ it’s not even set in our world. It felt like a movie that was about our world post-9/11 and played on our fears and discussed our fears and why they existed and I thought that was incredibly brave and interesting. That did help give me the confidence to take this movie in directions that, without ‘The Dark Knight,’ might not have been possible.

Because also, people go, ‘Wow, that’s pretty dark,’ but then you can point to ‘Dark Knight’ and go ‘Look at that – that’s a darker movie, and it took in a gazillion dollars!’ That’s very helpful. There’s also that thing – it’s clearly possible to make a dark movie that people want to see”

So in essence it sounds like Mendes is saying that The Dark Knight’s influence on Skyfall was all about the tone and how it was as a measure for whether a dark film could still make a profit at a blockbuster level.

Whilst I agree that The Dark Knight may not have been the biggest influence on the story of Skyfall - as The Dark Knight Rises is clearly more of an influence I felt I identified further synchronicity and references to Nolan’s works past the tone and couldn't help wonder if the Bond team were giving Christopher Nolan a little of his own - as he has openly admitted to plundering from Bond films over time for his own needs - or if it was more of an acceptance of Nolan’s not so subtle request to direct a Bond film?

BE WARNED THERE ARE SPOILERS ONLY READ IF YOU HAVE SEEN SKYFALL

Full write up here: http://www.theestablishingshot.com/2012 ... yfall.html

ckc1ne wrote:as The Dark Knight Rises is clearly more of an influence

I understand that, but it wouldn't have been possible, since Rises was released after Skyfall had wrapped.

I felt I identified further synchronicity and references to Nolan’s works past the tone and couldn't help wonder if the Bond team were giving Christopher Nolan a little of his own - as he has openly admitted to plundering from Bond films over time for his own needs - or if it was more of an acceptance of Nolan’s not so subtle request to direct a Bond film?

The former. Mendes explicitly states he looked at The Dark Knight, as you've quoted, but I reckon it was definitely more of an inferrance of themes later applied to Skyfall than any request acceptance. Hey, you could also say Mendes borrowed from Batman Begins, with the whole thing, too. It's all relative.

This is the only thing I see in common