Christopher Nolan on why he thinks Quentin Tarantino is retiring from filmmaking
Tarantino has often claimed his next film will be his last
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Your support makes all the difference.Christopher Nolan has said he understands “purist” directors like Quentin Tarantino who decide to quit while they are ahead.
Discussing the career trajectories of other A-list filmmakers like Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, the 52-year-old revealed his perspective on how he sees himself progressing in the years ahead, including the kinds of films he definitely wouldn’t be interested in creating.
During an appearance on CinemaBlend’s podcast ReelBlend, the Oppenheimer director weighed in on Tarantino’s declaration that he would be retiring after making his 10th film and Scorsese’s acknowledgment of how he’s getting older.
“The truth is, I understand both points of view. It’s addictive to tell stories in cinema. It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s very fun. It’s something you feel driven to do, and so it’s a little hard to imagine voluntarily stopping,” Nolan said.
Speaking of Tarantino’s way of working, Nolan added: “Quentin’s point has always been that – and he never, very graciously, he’s never specific about the films he’s talking about or whatever – but he’s looking at some of the work done by filmmakers in later years and feeling that if it can’t live up to the heyday, it would be better if it didn’t exist.
“And I think that’s a very purist point of view. It’s the point of view of a cinephile who prizes film history.”
Nolan said he’s not entirely “sure that I would trust my own sense of the absolute value of a piece of work to know whether or not it should have been brought into existence”.
In a speed round of questions during a separate interview with YouTube channel Hugo Décrypte, Nolan – who directed the Dark Knight trilogy of Batman films – was asked if he would ever make another superhero movie. He simply responded: “No.”
When the interviewer asked if he would direct a Star Wars movie, Nolan hesitated before saying: “Pass.”
Nolan’s new film, Oppenheimer, is set to hit cinemas this week.
The biographical movie about the “father of the atomic bomb” J Robert Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as the titular character.
Last month, Nolan described the visceral reactions some people had after watching his latest film.
“Some people leave the movie absolutely devastated,” Nolan said about the early screenings in an interview with Wired magazine.
“They can’t speak. I mean, there’s an element of fear that’s there in the history and there in the underpinnings. But the love of the characters, the love of the relationships, is as strong as I’ve ever done.”
“It is an intense experience because it’s an intense story. I showed it to a filmmaker recently who said it’s kind of a horror movie. I don’t disagree,” said the 52-year-old British-American director.
Nolan even admitted he was “relieved to be finished” with the project due to the emotional toll it took.
“As I started to finish the film, I started to feel this colour that’s not in my other films, just darkness. It’s there. The film fights against that,” he said.
Last week, the cast of Oppenheimer left a London premiere prematurely to “go and write their picket signs” in preparation for the “imminent” strike by the actors’ union.
The actors who left the premiere included Murphy, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Rami Malek.
“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” Nolan announced to the cinema’s audience.
“Unfortunately, they’re off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by SAG, joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the unions, and we support them.”
The Independent’s interview with Nolan and Murphy will be published on Saturday (22 July). During the otulet’s chat with the latter, the Peaky Blinders star reacted to director Danny Boyle’s recent update about a planned 28 Days Later sequel.
Oppenheimer is set to release in theatres on 21 July.
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