The intention of this essay is to discuss the romantic notion of a director who has imprinted his cinematic vision into the body of his cinematic work, and whether the theory and practice is dead and represents a violation of the viewer's imagination and it is the viewer who finds meaning in the film. I will carefully examine critical material, primarily André Bazin and Roland Barthes, and apply it to several studio films directed by Christopher Nolan, including The Following (1998), The Prestige (2006), and Inception (2010), to examine whether Nolan has the qualities of an author and, if so, does this imply an ideological vision of what the author resembles or an artistic vision. The term auteur theory originated in France in the 1940s, a foundation for the French film movement known as nouvelle vague (French New Wave), primarily citing the director as the auteur. The dominant view of cinematic authorship has consisted of novels, paintings, poems, and, more recently, films. To understand the author we must first realize that film can be considered an art form; the creative expression of a single artist. As Alexandre Astruc states, «cinema is simply becoming a means of expression, as all the other arts were before it, and in particular painting and the novel» (Astruc, 1999: 159). This allows the director to be able to express himself through recurring thematic elements or particular visual aesthetics. The meaning of a film can be attributed to a single creative source, the director, who stands behind it as the creator, thus giving the narrative a personal and composite meaning. The author's distinction can be expressed through many works such as the use of crew and cast members...... center of paper....... USA: Warner Bro's. Pictures.Doodlebug, 1997. Directed by Christopher Nolan. UK: Cinema16.Next, 1998. Directed by Christopher Nolan. UK: Next Wave Films and Syncopy.Inception, 2010. Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: Warner Bros. Pictures.Sleepless, 2002. Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: Warner Bros. Pictures.Memento, 2000. Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: Summit Entertainment.The Big Sleep, 1946. Directed by Howard Hawks. USA: Warner Bro's Pictures. The Dark Knight, 2008. Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: Warner Bros. Pictures.The Maltese Falcon, 1941. Directed by John Huston. USA: Warner Bro's Pictures. The Matrix, 1999. Directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski. USA: Warner Bro's Pictures.The Prestige, 2006. Directed by Christopher Nolan. USA: Touchstone Pictures.2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. United States: MGM.