Christopher Nolan has spoken about the profound impact Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey had on him as a child, calling the 1968 sci-fi classic "pure cinema" despite admitting he still cannot fully claim to understand it intellectually. The remarks matter because Nolan, now one of cinema's most acclaimed directors known for complex works such as Memento, Inception and Interstellar, points to Kubrick's film as a formative influence on his own approach to filmmaking and his belief in the emotional, experiential power of cinema beyond narrative comprehension.

Nolan told Entertainment Weekly he first saw 2001 at age seven, a year after seeing Star Wars, and was captivated purely by the immersive, otherworldly spectacle rather than by understanding the plot. He noted clear parallels between 2001 and his own 2014 film Interstellar, both of which explore time dilation, extradimensional beings and humanity's psyche, while observing that 2001 still doesn't feel dated thanks to being shot on crisp 70mm film. The article also highlights the wider legacy of Kubrick's film, from introducing the iconic HAL 9000 computer to influencing later works such as Greta Gerwig's Barbie, which echoes its famous opening sequence.