Update: According to Warner Bros., this story – which originated with Production Weekly – is incorrect, and describing Christopher Nolan‘s new film as “North by Northwest meets Inception” is inaccurate. It’s worth noting that Production Weekly is usually reliable, which might mean there’s at least some truth to this description, but that Nolan and company are unhappy with it being out there at this time. Recently, Production Weekly broke the news about another film – an adaptation of The Colour Out of Space starring Nicolas Cage. We reported that story too, and while our details were accurate, the producers of the film asked us to pull it, as the announcement was premature. Eventually, the official story came out. For now, take everything below with a grain of salt. In short, we still don’t know what Nolan’s new movie is about.

Our original story continues below.

Christopher Nolan‘s Dunkirk follow-up is top secret, but the first tiny details are starting to trickle out. According to a report in Production Weekly, the new Nolan film is described as a cross between Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest, and Nolan’s own Inception. That’s still vague, but just enough info to get your synapses firing. More on the new Christopher Nolan movie below.

DoP Hoyte van Hoytema is planning to re-team with Christopher Nolan on his upcoming production scheduled to begin filming this June. The Warner Bros. feature is described as a romantic thriller, NORTH BY NORTHWEST in tone meets INCEPTION…more at https://t.co/hPqNyEDRAu pic.twitter.com/vJWAbSROGw — Production Weekly (@prodweek) March 5, 2019

As you can see above, Hoyte van Hoytema, who shot Interstellar and Dunkirk, is reuniting with Christopher Nolan for Nolan’s new untitled film. That film is “described as a romantic thriller, North by Northwest in tone meets Inception.” The idea of Nolan doing anything romantic is certainly fascinating. I’m not one of those people who thinks Nolan’s movies are cold and emotionless – Interstellar is loaded with emotion – but he’s never done anything romantic before. The closest thing to romance in his movies has been the toxic relationship between Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard in Inception.

Saying the film is like North by Northwest in tone is another interesting tidbit. That Alfred Hitchcock classic, which starred Cary Grant as a man being chased by spies after he’s mistaken for a government agent, is loaded with typical Hitchcockian suspense, but it’s also quite playful and even humorous at times. Humor is another thing Nolan doesn’t do often.

Then you throw in the Inception element, which throws the whole thing off. Does that mean another mind-bending saga awaits us? More fantastical elements? No matter what this film is about, this very brief description makes it sound as if Nolan is trying to stretch himself a bit, and break out of his usual mold…while also remaining true to his style (this the “meets Inception” bit).

For now, this is all we have to go on, but hopefully more details will pop up soon. Warner Bros. has already dated the film for July 17, 2020, and it’s been confirmed that it will be released in IMAX – like most Nolan movies. That means that the movie is going to be big in some capacity. And you can probably assume that Nolan standbys Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy and/or Michael Caine might pop up in the movie at some point.

No matter how all this turns out, I’m excited. I remain a Nolan fan, and I thought Dunkirk was fantastic – a perfect encapsulation of everything he’s learned as a filmmaker over the years.