King told us he liked Oppenheimer, say Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas
Asked for his advice for budding filmmakers, Nolan replied: ‘Find a good partner.’
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Your support makes all the difference.Filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his producer wife Emma Thomas have said the King told them he liked Oppenheimer, as they received honours at Buckingham Palace.
The Inception director formally received a knighthood on Wednesday and his wife, who has produced all his films, received a damehood.
Their partnership has led to major blockbusters including The Dark Knight trilogy and their most recent venture, the epic biopic Oppenheimer, which swept the 2024 award ceremonies.
Nolan said it was “really wonderful” to meet the King, adding that to receive the honours together was “very special”.
Thomas said receiving a damehood was “mind blowing” and she had “never even dreamed of anything like this happening”, adding it was “even more meaningful” to be honoured alongside her husband.
Discussing their conversation with Charles, Nolan, 54, told the PA news agency: “It was very nice that he knew our work and was aware of it, and, yes, he was hoping that I would take this as encouragement to do more of it.”
Speaking at Buckingham Palace, Thomas, 53, added: “He’d seen Oppenheimer, and he liked it, so that was very gratifying to hear.”
The biopic of American theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that developed the atomic bomb during the Second World War, marked the first time the couple had won the best picture Oscar and best film Bafta.
Thomas said: “What I was really thrilled by is the fact that I’ve heard anecdotally since about lots of younger people having their first experience of this story on the big screen, and then delving deeper and doing more of their own research into the events that we portrayed.”
The couple, who have four children, met while studying at University College London (UCL), with Nolan introducing Thomas to the university’s film society, where he was president and produced short films.
Asked what his advice for budding filmmakers was, Nolan replied: “Find a good partner.
“We met on the first day of university at UCL and we’ve been making films ever since.
“The only other useful advice I’ve really thought of is to stick to your guns. If you have something unique to say, just keep at it and try to find an outlet for that.”
Since marrying in 1997, the couple have co-founded and run a production company, Syncopy, which has been behind many of their blockbusters.
Nolan said his partnership with Thomas had been “incredibly important”, adding they had been able to “achieve so much more together than we would have been able to individually”.
The Interstellar and Memento director added: “It was important having a partnership at the heart of it that is the same as it’s ever been, with the same intentions and creativity.”
Thomas added: “Finding a partnership like this one is not the only way to do it, but it certainly worked brilliantly for us.
“As the world around you gets bigger, that core partnership in the middle of it becomes even more important.”
It's a unique modern art form - it's only a little over 100 years old, and we're just beginning to feel all the things that could be done with it
Asked about reports that he does not use a smartphone, Nolan said: “I’d encourage other people to put down the smartphone. It gives me a lot more time to think.
“There’s odd little pockets of time when you’re sitting around waiting for something and if you don’t have the internet in your pocket, you spend a little more time pondering things.”
He added that it was “very exciting to watch a new generation of filmgoers discover the big screen and the power of experiencing a story with an audience”.
“That’s what makes cinema unique,” he said.
“It’s a unique modern art form – it’s only a little over 100 years old, and we’re just beginning to feel all the things that could be done with it.
“And that incredible experience of watching a story unfold with a group of strangers is something really remarkable.”
Thomas said their family “love” to watch films, adding “so long as there are great movies and cinemas we will be there”.
The producer said it was not possible to “replicate that sort of magic in your own home or watching just with one or two people”.
Thomas added: “So we’re very grateful that we’ve been able to put our films out there to big audiences over the years and hopefully in the years to come.”