It’s no surprise that Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy received tons of accolades this year. Not only for its box office performance, but the critical reviews prove what a masterpiece it is. In fact, it would be a total shocker if the film never takes home anything from the Oscars.
Nolan’s reputation as a director is indeed recognized around the globe. He has written and directed a number of movies since his feature film debut in 1998. His second project, 2000’s Memento, catapulted him to fame and cemented his legacy as one of the most sought-after filmmakers of this generation.
Christopher Nolan Has Never Won An Academy Award
Christopher Nolan’s career saw immense progress in the succeeding years. In 2005, he helmed the blockbuster superhero movie Batman Begins which spawned two more sequels. A year later, he released The Prestige. In 2010, Nolan wrote, directed, and co-produced Inception, which was nominated for Oscars’ Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
The filmmaker continued making high-quality and critically acclaimed movies; in 2014, he spearheaded and co-produced Interstellar, and in 2018, he received his first-ever Oscar nomination for Best Director, as well as Best Picture nod, for 2017’s Dunkirk. Still, Nolan had no luck.
It’s extremely surprising how Nolan has zero Best Director wins under his belt, but all hopes are not lost yet, because Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer might finally be the heaven-sent answer.
During the first day of Oscar voting, one anonymous voter told Variety: “Nolan f**king deserves it,” pertaining to the potential Oscar win of the 53-year-old filmmaker. In the same article, voters’ choices were shared with the public, and two of them opted for Nolan for the Directing category. Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. gets an almost unanimous vote for Best Supporting Actor.
Oppenheimer has three nominations under Nolan’s name (Picture, Director, and Adapted Screenplay), and it seems the odds this year are indeed in his favor. If he wins any of these categories, the director will finally end the 22-year-old Oscars curse he has been plagued with since 2002.
The epic biographical thriller was nominated in 13 categories at the 2024 Academy Awards, and it successfully swept the theaters in 2023 after it grossed over $950 million worldwide. As the second highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, just behind 2019’s Joker, it is definitely a huge deal.
Christopher Nolan On Oppenheimer’s Oscar Nominations
Christopher Nolan found out about Oppenheimer’s Oscar nominations after his wife, Emma Thomas, woke him up from slumber via AP News:
“Don’t take it as being blasé. We just didn’t want to jinx anything. Watching the nominations was more than our nerves could take so we just had a restless night and slept through.”
Nolan tries so hard not to think about the Oscars too much, but for a very successful project like Oppenheimer, it is definitely at the forefront of the event. The director confessed feeling thrilled when he heard the news, but he wishes it’s not yet the culmination of success for him as he wants to make more films in the future.
Oppenheimer is now available to stream on Peacock.
