I OWE MY CAREER TO CHIRSTOPHER NOLAN

Perhaps more accurately, I owe my career to both Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale.

There is a reason behind this, and it isn’t because I’m necessarily a huge Nolan fan.

I mean, I do love a lot of his movies. And Inception is also my favourite film, exchanging spots with The Fellowship of the Ring at times depending on the mood I’m in.

But don’t get me started on Tenet.

That film epitomises Nolan’s bizarre obsession with time, to the point he put his concept well ahead of any meaningful plot or interesting characters.

Don’t believe me? Name a character in Tenet that isn’t called Neil.

Exactly.

But Nolan’s invisible, guiding hand in my own career and life path came long before either of those films.

Let me take you back to 2005…

17 years old. The tail end of my school career.

The same height I am now, but 4 stone lighter.

A beanpole, and very conscious of it. While my peers had filled out as they grew vertically, my width had seemingly plateaued.

And this wasn’t for lack of trying.

My Dad used to have a gym at our house; a bit spit and saw dust as you’d expect, but replete with all manner of dumbbells and weights for me to experimentally train with (including one useless chest stretching device you’re more likely to see in a Tom and Jerry cartoon than any modern gym)

Well, I didn’t get far. And my confidence seemed destined to remain at below baseline.

In part to elevate my mood perhaps, my Dad deigned to take me to the movies.

And the movie?

Batman Begins.

I’d remembered seeing something about it in Empire magazine long before it came out and thought nothing of it.

The bitter memory of George Clooney’s Bat suit nipples from the previous entry did a lot to keep my expectations at bay...

But I knew at the time, for some reason, that this would be a core memory of me and my Dad.

It was, and it still is.

And I fucking loved that film.

It’s probably a bit forgotten now, amongst the more celebrated later entries and not to mention the hundreds of DC/Marvel films that have been released since.

But there's something about that gritty, more grounded take on the character.

And the ensemble cast (Morgan Freeman’ appearance got an audible “whoa!” in the theatre – I still remember that)

And of course, Christina Bale.

And his physique.

I remember being enthralled by his arms and wanting nothing more than to have a set of similarly-sized guns.

It was already hardwired in me before I left the theatre this was going to be my sole pursuit over the summer holidays, so when I learned the next key bit of information my mind was truly blown!

Bale had achieved that physique, in only 6 months, after initially becoming way skinnier (to put it lightly) than even me!

Going from an emaciated Trevor Reznik in that film, to the physique I idolised as Bruce Wayne.

In only 6 months.

I said to myself then: if he can do it, I can do it.

And that summer, everything changed.

I spent every evening, repeating the same workout of press ups, bicep curls and sit ups.

Not understanding what DOMS really meant, I pushed through each subsequent day of DOMS and tried to do a bit more.

I ate like a monster; everything that was available to eat was mine.

Chicken, eggs, milk, cheese…

Nothing green, everything high calorie.

I felt on the verge of throwing up on more than a few occasions, but I stayed on plan.

I wasn’t giving up.

At the end of summer, I’d put on 2 1/2 stone.

2 1/2 stone in a little over two months.

Yes, this wasn’t all muscle – absolutely nowhere near!

But with a shirt on, especially a school uniform, it was hard to tell.

And people just knew I looked big. That I had changed.

And finally, something which had eluded me my entire school career happened.

People noticed me.

From then, recognising the power of change – physical change – I was hooked.

And I had one director, and one actor especially, to thank for the inspiration.

I truly think my career path might have been different, had I not seen that film at that time.

I owe it a lot.

And it goes to show, sometimes when you’re feeling like you aren’t going anywhere.

You might just need that key bit of inspiration.

And a solid plan of action...

Jordan