Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan has worked with some of the greatest Hollywood stars of this generation, and while fame and fortune may come and go, the veteran filmmaker thinks there are a handful of actors whose legacy will last for eternity.
The world of cinema is unpredictable, trends change, and actors’ popularity fades, but for Nolan, the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino will never go out of style.
Christopher Nolan Mentions Actors He Thinks Have Timeless Qualities
In his interview with Rolling Stone, director Christopher Nolan discussed working with Leonardo DiCaprio in 2010’s Inception. As someone who has been in the industry for a long time, it’s not hard to see why the filmmaker thinks the Titanic actor has got “that timeless quality about him, like a Jack Nicholson or an Al Pacino. He’s going to be a movie star forever.”
Nolan also spoke with Deadline and revealed his approach when he started collaborating with DiCaprio. He regarded him as someone he would completely show the full script to because he trusted his opinions and input.
“When you go to an actor like Leonardo DiCaprio you have to be extremely respectful of his creative role in things. You have to embrace him as a fully-authorized collaborator. It was very important to show him a complete script and talk to him over a number of days and fill him in on every aspect of what I was going to do with it.”
With that note, he has a different experience working with Al Pacino in the 2002 thriller Insomnia. Nolan regards the actor as a timeless one as well, as evident in the account he shared via Los Angeles Times:
“I had gone up to Pacino after a series of takes and given him a note on what I wanted. He told me, ‘I’ve already done that. You can’t see it to the eye, but I’ve done it on the dailies.’ I looked for it, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God,’ because there it was.”
Jack Nicholson, who is widely recognized as Joker in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman movie, admitted feeling furious at the thought that he was not asked to return to the villainous role in Nolan’s The Dark Knight films. Still, he remains one of the most famous Jokers in cinema, which proves the director’s statement about Nicholson being a movie star forever.
Christopher Nolan On Working With Robert Downey Jr. And Cillian Murphy
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer allowed him to work with two of the most sought-after actors of today, Robert Downey Jr. and Cillian Murphy. The director revealed via the Los Angeles Times that he hired the Iron Man star because he wanted him to do something different.
“He’s one of our great actors, and though a generation of kids know what a great movie star he is, they’ve not seen his subtlety and brilliance.”
Meanwhile, Nolan’s casting of Murphy was a different story. He recalled staring at the cover of the American Prometheus book and imagined someone who would fit into the descriptions of the photograph. The next thing he knew, he was contacting Murphy.
With the spectacular performances of Downey Jr. and Murphy, they definitely have that timeless quality as well, and it’s only a matter of time until Nolan mentions that in a future interview.
