20 Things You Didn't Know About Christopher Nolan
13. He Doesn't Shoot With A Second Unit
Almost every major Hollywood filmmaker will rely on a second-unit to shoot smaller pick-up shots, and in some cases directors will even appoint the second-unit to oversee entire sequences they're less-interested in.
But Nolan is a massive exception in that he shoots every single frame of film seen in the final movie himself. He said of his entirely hands-on process:
"If I don't need to be directing the shots that go in the movie, why do I need to be there at all? The screen is the same size for every shot. The little shot of, say, a watch on someone's wrist, will occupy the same screen size as the shot of a thousand people running down the street.
Everything is equally weighted and needs to be considered with equal care, I really do believe that. I don't understand the criteria for parceling things off. Many action films embrace a second unit taking on all of the action. For me, that's odd because then why did you want to do an action film?"