Over the course of his 12 movies, Christopher Nolan has developed a reputation for working with stellar ensemble casts. Nolan started off small, like many directors, but he gradually increased his ambitions as he got access to bigger budgets and more famous actors. From the start of his Dark Knight trilogy onwards, Nolan's movies have always been filled with great actors.

Nolan has several regulars who he likes to cast in multiple movies, including Michael Caine, Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy. While he often finds interesting roles for these actors, he's not afraid to gamble on some more unexpected casting choices. Casting Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Harry Styles in Dunkirk and Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer isn't what most people expected, but they all delivered results. Nolan's talented casts are key to how he has distinguished himself as one of the most influential directors of the 21st century.

12 Following (1998)

Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw, Lucy Russell

Following was Christopher Nolan's first feature-length movie. It was shot on a budget of just $6000, and it features largely unknown actors. While the performances are still effective, the cast of Following isn't in the same league as any of Nolan's other movies. It set up Nolan's career, but none of the actors have gone on to achieve huge success like the director.

Following was shot on a budget of just $6000, and it features largely unknown actors.

Following is a moody neo-noir that stretches its minuscule budget to its limits. It's just 70 minutes long, shot in black and white, and it mostly uses natural light. Still, these budgetary restraints don't detract from an intriguing narrative, and Nolan's directing style is confident from the outset. Fans of Nolan shouldn't skip Following just because the actors aren't well-known. It's an important point in Nolan's filmmaking evolution, and it could be seen as his most autobiographical work in some ways.

11 Memento (2000)

Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Stephen Tobolowsky

Memento was made just two years after Following, but its cast is a huge step-up in quality. The $9 million budget gave Christopher Nolan much more freedom to translate his ideas onto film. After the modest success of Following, which never got a large audience, Memento was the movie that really established Nolan as a director worth watching in the future.

Memento stars a few famous faces, including Guy Pearce in the lead role. Pearce had already appeared in the Australian queer classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and the critically-acclaimed crime thriller L.A. Confidential. There are famous faces in the ing cast too, including Carrie-Anne Moss, fresh off the back of her role in The Matrix. Memento doesn't have Nolan's biggest or most impressive cast, but there are some solid performances, particularly Pearce's.

10 Tenet (2020)

John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine

It says a lot about the quality of Christopher Nolan's casts that a movie like Tenet falls toward the bottom of the ranking. John David Washington stars as The Protagonist, an unnamed special ops agent who stumbles into a dangerous sci-fi story that seems to revolve around him. He is accompanied on this journey by Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki, while Kenneth Branagh stakes his claim as a potential James Bond villain.

Tenet is Nolan's most divisive movie, although he has very high standards. The Tenet and the mechanics of Nolan's unique time-travel concept have been debated ever since the movie's release in 2020. The confusion over the plot has meant that the performances of the actors don't always get much attention. For some, it's hard to connect with a performance when the plot is difficult to pin down.

9 Insomnia (2002)

Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hillary Swank

Insomnia was Christopher Nolan's third feature-length movie, and it came before the director had developed his taste for large ensemble casts. Although the cast isn't the biggest, it does feature some brilliant performances. Al Pacino is his usual captivating self as a detective working in the long, nightless summer of Alaska, and Robin Williams is a criminal trying to outwit him.

Robin Williams is most famous as a comedic actor, but his few dramatic roles show that he had considerable chops.

Insomnia is a remake of a 1997 Norwegian movie of the same name. Nolan puts plenty of his own ideas into Insomnia, and the result is one of his most underrated movies. Pacino's star power could be the main draw, but it's Williams who proves himself just as worthy. Williams is most famous as a comedic actor, but his few dramatic roles show that he had considerable chops.

8 The Prestige (2006)

Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, David Bowie

Between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan adapted Christopher Priest's 1995 novel The Prestige with his brother Jonathan as a co-writer. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale star as two feuding magicians in Victorian London, and they both deliver compelling performances. The movie's dramatic weight rests on the strength of their dynamic, and they rise to this challenge irably.

The Prestige's cast also includes frequent Nolan collaborator Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson, but the big surprise is David Bowie, who plays Nikola Tesla. Nolan is a lifelong Bowie fan, and he decided during the writing process that Bowie would be perfect for the brief but important role of Tesla. Bowie had acted before, of course, notably in movies like Labyrinth and Basquiat, but he was always more famous as a musician. He brings plenty of charisma to the role of Tesla.

7 Interstellar (2014)

Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, John Lithgow, Michael Caine, Matt Damon

Interstellar is one of Christopher Nolan's more ambitious movies, and it bears many of his most famous hallmarks. Interstellar features non-linear storytelling, unorthodox time-travel and epic cinematic spectacle. It also features a great cast, with a mix of frequent collaborators and new faces. Michael Caine and Anne Hathaway had both worked with Nolan before Interstellar, but Matthew McConaughey and Jessica Chastain had not.

Interstellar came at the peak of the so-called "McConaissance"

Interstellar came at the peak of the so-called "McConaissance," when Matthew McConaughey overhauled his professional image with a string of critically-acclaimed movies to break free of his romcom typecast. After Mud and Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar continued his hot streak. The sci-fi blockbuster is also noteworthy for being one of Timothée Chalamet's first movie roles, although he only appears briefly.

6 Batman Begins (2005)

Christian Bale, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman

Christopher Nolan's first Batman movie elevated him to a new level of prestige in Hollywood. To make this big leap, in of budget and audience, Nolan needed a great cast. He brings plenty of fresh ideas to the superhero genre, mixing in elements of crime thrillers and film noir, but Batman Begins still could have fallen flat without great actors. It was Nolan's biggest cast at the time, and most of his casting choices are superb.

The biggest casting decision for Batman Begins was obviously selecting Christian Bale to play Bruce Wayne. There have been many different approaches to playing Batman over the years, from the campy Adam West era to the dark and brooding Robert Pattinson movie. Christian Bale is up there with the very best Batman actors of all time. He's charismatic but nuanced as Bruce Wayne, and searingly intense as Batman. It's strange to think that Henry Cavill, Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and Cillian Murphy were also in the mix to play Batman.

5 The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Gary Oldman

Although The Dark Knight Rises is often cited as the weak point in the Dark Knight trilogy, it's still more interesting than the majority of superhero movies. It faced a tough task trying to live up to the impossibly high standards of The Dark Knight. Christian Bale returns as a more grizzled and jaded hero, and Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman also return from The Dark Knight.

Hardy's performance is a big swing for the fences, which is just what was needed to differentiate himself from the franchise's other great villains.

One of the most common criticisms directed toward The Dark Knight Rises is that it tries to squeeze too much in. Marion Cotillard's Talia al Ghul is one popular comic book character who could have been cut, considering the fact that The Dark Knight Rises also introduces Tom Hardy's Bane and Anne Hathaway's Catwoman. Hardy's performance is a big swing for the fences, which is just what was needed to differentiate himself from the franchise's other great villains. It's loved by some, but the odd voice is a contentious choice.

4 The Dark Knight (2008)

Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman

The Dark Knight rises is easily one of the best and most influential action movies of the 21st century, thanks in part to an outstanding cast. Christopher Nolan's flair for action reaches its zenith in The Dark Knight, but the movie is just as interesting on a personal level. The car chases, fist fights and explosions would ring hollow without the intense philosophical conflict between Batman and the Joker.

The Dark Knight's cast stands out as the best from the trilogy for a couple of reasons. Aaron Eckhart delivers a superb performance as Harvey Dent, a good man who is soon corrupted, and Maggie Gyllenhaal is another solid addition. Obviously, the main reason that The Dark Knight differentiates itself from the other movies in the trilogy is the virtuoso performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Ledger's Joker has been enshrined in the pantheon of iconic movie villains, even though some Batman fans laughed at his casting.

3 Dunkirk (2017)

Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, Mark Rylance, Harry Styles, Cillian Murphy

Dunkirk follows the British World War II operation to rescue stranded soldiers from northern , known as Operation Dynamo. Christopher Nolan shows the action unfolding from land, air and sea, so he makes full use of a superb ensemble cast. Tom Hardy delivers a surprisingly gripping performance without saying much at all, while Mark Rylance injects some emotion and Kenneth Branagh raises the tension.

According to Nolan, he didn't know of Styles' fame as a musician when he saw his audition.

The real wildcard in the cast of Dunkirk is Harry Styles. According to Nolan, he didn't know of Styles' fame as a musician when he saw his audition, so Styles landed his first movie role on merit. Nolan stated that he believed Styles had a face which looked appropriate for the era. Dunkirk. He used as many period-accurate ships and aircraft as possible, so it makes sense that he would be drawn to Styles and Fionn Whitehead's features.