Auteur theory (French for Author) is the idea that a film reflects a director’s personal creative vision. The film is heavily influenced by the director’s artistic control, thus the director becomes the author (auteur).
A certain style or tone of a movie comes to mind when thinking about Auteur theory. The names Nolan and Tarantino evoke specific ranges of the color spectrum and mood, even story type. One is cerebral and dark and the other is bloody and comical.
Here is an article about Nolan and his new movie Interstellar. It invites you to be in the presence of an auteur.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/04/-sp-christopher-nolan-interstellar-rebooted-blockbuster
A few points –
Nolan continues to challenge the minds of audiences, though Interstellar is less complex. “What I’ve found is, people who let my films wash over them – who don’t treat it like a crossword puzzle, or like there is a test afterwards – they get the most out of the film.”
“Visually, he is a classicist, preferring to shoot as much preferring to shoot as much “in-camera” as possible, using CGI only when absolutely necessary. No green screens were used during Interstellar, the majority of which was shot with real locations, miniatures, or sets using massive projectors.”
Film over digital. Always. “It’s a physical object that you create, that you agree upon.” Nolan continues that with film, ultimately the image will not contain differences unless there is an issue with the projecting equipment.
Staying within budget maintains creative control.
Now read the article while listening to Mountains by Hans Zimmer.