Christopher Nolan is on the road to an Oscar Award for his biopic Oppenheimer. The director recently won the Golden Globes and the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Director for the biopic on the Father of the Atomic Bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer. The Inception director is also nominated for the Oscar and has largely been the frontrunner for the award.
While Nolan is known for his cinematic epics such as The Dark Knight Trilogy, Tenet, and Interstellar, he cited smaller dramas to be his favorite films in the recent past. The director mentioned the A24 coming-of-age drama Aftersun and last year’s romantic drama Past Lives to be his favorite films recently. The latter is up for the Best Picture Oscar along with Oppenheimer.
Christopher Nolan Liked Fellow Oscar Nominee Past Lives
Christopher Nolan became known around the world due to his unique style of blockbuster films. While he first gained notoriety for his experimental psychological thriller Memento, which had a reverse screenplay, he turned mainstream when he was hired to helm Batman Begins. The film was the first of Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, which was credited with changing the superhero genre and how it was perceived.
Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster style of filmmaking scaled up when he released the dream-heist film Inception and the sci-fi epic Interstellar. He turned to the war drama with Dunkirk and went back to the sci-fi action genre with Tenet. Talking to Time Magazine about his penchant for large blockbusters, he said,
“I’m drawn to working at a large scale because I know how fragile the opportunity to marshal those resources is. I know that there are so many filmmakers out there in the world who would give their eye teeth to have the resources I put together, and I feel I have the responsibility to use them in the most productive and interesting way.”
However, despite being drawn to blockbuster-scale films, Nolan cited two small dramas as some of his favorite films in the recent past. First, he admired A24’s coming-of-age drama Aftersun, which featured Paul Mescal in the lead role, fetching him Oscar and Critic’s Choice Award nominations for Best Actor. Nolan called the film “beautiful”.
The other small drama that Nolan cited as his favorite film of 2023 was Past Lives, the Celine Song-directed romantic drama. The director called the film “subtle in a beautiful sort of way.” Past Lives was nominated along with Oppenheimer at the Golden Globes for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Screenplay, and shared the Best Picture Oscar nomination.
Will Past Lives Beat Oppenheimer at the Oscars?
While it may be possible to figure out what kind of films might be an Oscar contender, the actual winner of the coveted award can never be accurately predicted. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has been a top contender at the Oscars ever since it had a dream run at the beginning of the Awards season.
The biographical period film had a stalwart director, Christopher Nolan, to helm the project, while critical darlings Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt led the ensemble cast. Actor Robert Downey Jr., who was known for being the foundation of the MCU had an image-redefining role in the film as Lewis Strauss, which fetched him a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and an Oscar nomination for the same category.
While Oppenheimer may be a sure-shot winner, the Oscars can always pull a misdirect and grant the award to another film. The romantic drama that Nolan raved about Past Lives is still a strong contender at the Oscars as it has been a critical darling ever since its release. The film has been nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
The film is directed by debutant Celine Song. While debutants rarely get the opportunity to win the coveted trophy, it is not an impossibility. Sam Mendes won the Academy Award for Best Director for the romantic drama American Beauty while actors Kevin Costner and Robert Redford won the award for their first films as directors.
