Published May 10, 2026, 5:46 PM EDT
Hannah Gearan (she/her) is has been writing for ScreenRant for over three years. Her deep cinema love traces back to age 11, when she equipped herself with a spiral-bound notebook, rated all the films she watched, and declared herself a critic. About a decade later, she received a BA from Wesleyan University, where she studied Film, Environmental Studies, and Writing. Hannah’s short film, Toxic Faucets, has screened at numerous film festivals, including the Independent Film Festival of Boston (IFFBoston). As a Movie News writer now, she draws upon her vast experience studying, making, and analyzing film as she approaches dynamic breaking stories.
Andy Serkis is weighing in on the age-old debate surrounding the best Christopher Nolan movie, and he has picked a surprising choice.
Nolan has been making feature films since 1998 — and feature films that have got people talking since 2000, when he put out Memento. Since then, his career has spanned both high-concept, Best Picture nominated films like Dunkirk and Oppenheimer, and action fare like The Dark Knight trilogy.
But when asked what his favorite Nolan film is, Serkis has an answer: The Prestige. In an interview with Variety, Serkis went so far as to say that The Prestige was "one of [his] favorite films" and a rarity in that it is one of the few movies he is in that he is "kind of comfortable watching." Check out the full quote from Serkis below:
I actually really love watching that film. There are very few films that I'm kind of comfortable watching that I'm in. I do think it is one of my favorite films actually. Plus I got to work with David Bowie, of course!
The Prestige is a 2006 period drama from Nolan, focusing on the story of two magicians that tear their lives apart in order to out-magic each other and complete the ultimate illusion. It is Nolan's fifth feature, released between the first two Dark Knight films.
The Prestige is led by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, with an all-star supporting cast that includes Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, David Bowie, and Serkis. As he references, Serkis got to work closely with Bowie to play Mr. Alley, Nikola Tesla's charismatic assistant.
Unlike the title would suggest, the film is not heralded with nearly as much prestige as its Nolan-helmed counterparts like Oppenheimer, The Dark Knight, or Interstellar. It is one of the more middling Nolan movies in multiple respects — the box office, critics reviews, and award nominations.
That is to say, The Prestige is actually not half bad when taking a deeper look at the numbers. The film is inherently hard to compare to the Nolan films that came after it because its budget was just on such a different scale. The film was made for $40 million, a mere shadow of the $100 million Oppenheimer or $205 million Tenet.
Considering the scale, The Prestige was also a decent moneymaker. A $109.6 million worldwide gross may not look like much for Nolan, but that means it was likely profitable given the 2 to 2.5 times budget that films typically need to break even after adding marketing and distribution costs.
The film also garnered generally favorable reviews on Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes, getting 66 and 77% scores, respectively. Rotten Tomatoes audiences liked it even more, as it has a 92% Popcornmeter with over 250,000 ratings logged. Perhaps Serkis' review and past audience feedback makes The Prestige worth giving another look.
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