Christopher Nolan’s Brother Is A Fugitive
You’ve heard of Christopher Nolan, the famed director who did the Dark Knight trilogy. And you’ve probably heard of Jonathan Nolan, the screenwriter who wrote the scripts for TV shows like Westworld, Person of Interest, and Fallout. But according to How Stuff Works, Christopher Nolan has a second brother named Matthew Nolan who is not in the family movie business—instead, he’s a hitman and a fugitive.
Christopher Nolan’s older brother, Matthew Nolan, is a hitman with a history of trying to escape from justice.
A recent tweet by Twitter user Mr. Chau pointed out the sad foundation behind why Christopher Nolan always makes movies about crime and losing family members. It’s because Christopher Nolan’s brother, Matthew Nolan, is a fugitive, and Christopher’s movies are a way for the director to process his trauma through art.
Christopher Nolan began his film career in the late 80s, and soon after, he and his brother Jonathan became prominent figures in the movie world and are both celebrated for their creative collaborations on blockbuster flicks.
Meanwhile, the third Nolan brother, Matthew Nolan, has hardly been noticed by the public and has found himself embroiled in a real-life crime saga involving murder, intrigue, and an audacious prison break attempt.
Christopher Nolan was raised in London in the 1970s with his brothers, Matthew and Jonathan Nolan. While Christopher and Jonathan went to Hollywood when they grew up, Matthew pursued a career in property development in Chicago. In 1999, he married an American woman, and for a time, it seemed like a conventional and ordinary life lay ahead for him.
Fans now think Christopher Nolan’s movies have an emphasis on losing family because of the sad fate of his brother Matthew Nolan.
Matthew Nolan’s trajectory changed in the early 2000s when he crossed paths with a Florida-based gem dealer named Robert Breska, who had a controversial history as a drug trafficker. This meeting marked the beginning of a series of unfortunate events that would drastically alter Matthew’s life and forever mark him as Christopher Nolan’s fugitive brother.
Shortly after meeting Breska, the drug trafficker accused his accountant, Robert Cohen, of embezzling approximately $7 million from his bank accounts. Cohen put the blame on his business partner, Mario Quintana, who was discovered dead soon after. According to court records, that’s when Christopher Nolan’s brother Matthew Nolan got involved.
Breska introduced Matthew Nolan to Cohen under an alias, portraying him as “Matthew McCall Oppenheimer,” the heir to the famed Oppenheimer diamond fortune (which is an interesting fact when considering that Christopher Nolan’s latest film shares a name with his brother).
Then, on March 6, 2005, Mathew met with Cohen in San Jose, Costa Rica, with hotel bellboy Luis Alonso Douglas Mejia allegedly conspiring with him. Tragically, this was the last time Cohen was seen alive.
On March 10, 2005, Costa Rican authorities discovered Cohen’s lifeless body, evidence suggesting he had suffered severe beatings and torture, leading to organ failure. Mejia was convicted of the murder, and Christopher Nolan’s brother Mathew Nolan remained free for several years.
However, in 2009, during a period of financial distress that led to bankruptcy, he was arrested by FBI agent Pablo Araya, who had been investigating the Cohen murder.
While Christopher Nolan is a Hollywood legend, his brother Matthew is currently in a Costa Rican prison.
In a desperate attempt to escape justice, Christopher Nolan’s oldest brother, Matthew Nolan tried to break out of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago in 2009. He was caught with contraband, including a razor, a harness, a metal clip to unlock handcuffs, and a makeshift rope fashioned from bedsheets. As a result, he faced additional charges of obstruction of justice and possession of contraband.
Christopher Nolan’s older brother, Matthew Nolan, remains in a Costa Rican prison facility to this day. The extraordinary life of the oldest Nolan brother starkly contrasts the prestigious careers of his acclaimed filmmaker siblings.
As the word of Christopher Nolan’s criminal brother begins to leak, this enigmatic and dark tale is a stark reminder that fame and success do not always guarantee a life free from troubles.
