David Lean

David Lean was a British filmmaker who produced a series of intimate literary adaptations before expanding to become the preeminent director of roadshow epics, including 'The Bridge on the River Kwai', 'Lawrence of Arabia', and 'Doctor Zhivago'.

Lean defined the cinematic epic as an intimate psychological study at geological scale — his landscapes are never background but the primary dramatic force, a principle Nolan absorbed in Dunkirk and Interstellar.