Inside Call Director Oppenheimer

Oscar season always feels like it’s never-ending, but it feels even more so this year, as the Best Picture race has been closed since July. Christopher Nolan Oppenheimer He will win. The rest is just a formality at this point.

Over the past couple of months, Nolan’s stunning biopic of the conflicted father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer, decisively cutting through the field of contenders like a hot knife through butter. The film won Golden Globe Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, and National Board of Review Awards, and swept the PGA, DGA, AFI, and BAFTA Awards. Meanwhile, the Sharps in Las Vegas currently have odds Oppenheimer Winning Best Picture at -4000. In other words, it’s a reality where you only have to bet $4,000 to win $100.

The question then is not whether Oppenheimer He will win, rather Why he will win. How did a three-hour movie about a theoretical physicist — in which the difference between fusion and fission is a major plot point — manage to gross $958 million at the global box office? The answer can be summed up in four words: “A Christopher Nolan movie.”

Like Alfred Hitchcock in the 1950s and 1960s, when he produced classics like vertigo, North northwestAnd mental patientNolan was no longer just a brand phenomenon, he had become an enduring quirk with a distinct appeal among moviegoers. While Hitchcock was famous for setting up suspenseful traps and appearing in cheeky, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it roles, he also produced films that were hugely popular And Intellectually rich. Most Hollywood directors can do one or the other. But Nolan, like Hitchcock, is talented at both. He produces large canvas glasses that are both serious and smart at the same time. He indulges his sweet tooth while also presenting the audience with art that sticks to your ribs.

Since his appearance at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival with the twisty indie Möbius strip, souvenir, Nolan’s combination of wide-ranging visual spectacle and clever (sometimes, very clever) narrative has made him a master of the thinking person’s blockbuster. Nolan maintains a very high level of quality control. Over the past 25 years, he hasn’t made a single bad movie. In fact, he hasn’t made a single movie that wasn’t great, which is something, if we’re honest, you can’t say about Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Spike Lee, and Ridley Scott. His ridiculously high batting average is the reason why his fans are constantly lining up for the opening weekend of his latest epic, whether it’s about a theoretical physicist, a crew of high-tech thieves roaming people’s dreams, or a rich playboy vigilante dressed as… Bats.

I’m sure there are a lot of people who still write off OppenheimerBox office success was a fluke, having been released as counter-programming to Barbie And take advantage of the viral portmanteau of the summer “Barbenheimer.” But this is not just nonsense, it is nonsense on stilts. The audience went to see Oppenheimer Not because of or in spite of it Barbie, But . . . It was a “Christopher Nolan movie.” It was made by the same person who directed it Dunkirk, Interstellar, beginning, The Dark KnightAnd prestige. Nolan’s name means something, and that’s rare.

For decades, until sometime in the mid-2000s, there were actors whose names a studio’s marketing team could simply put on a movie poster to ensure it opened well: Tom Cruise, Hanks, Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Adam Sandler, etc. that. Today, perhaps the only name among those that still holds the same juice is Cruz. At 61 years old, he still puts his life on the line by performing his death-defying stunts in… Mission: Impossible Sequel (while being a thoughtful guardian of our collective nostalgia; see Top Gun: Maverick). There has always been a shortage of famous brand directors, and now they have slowed down to a trickle. M. Night Shyamalan, for example, ended up painting himself into a tighter corner with his signature twist endings until he ultimately became a victim of his own brand of twist.

Today, when Netflix is ​​right down the block with a Brinks truck parked outside, movie studios are in a position to take any marketing advantage they can get. That’s another reason why “Christopher Nolan’s movie” is a brand that has a lot of buzz in 2024. And it’s what makes the failed release of his previous film, 2020, so bad. TenetVery confusing. Warner Bros. was It has been Nolan’s actual home ever since souvenir. During that period, his films combined grossed more than $6 billion at the global box office. But when the pandemic hit, the studio decided to make its debut Tenet on its streaming service instead of giving it an exclusive theatrical release first. (The film ended up as a commercial disappointment, but in retrospect, it might have done poorly no matter how it was released during those dark times.) It’s no secret that Nolan makes big movies that people want to see. Big screen. He still prefers shooting on actual celluloid rather than digital. Needless to say, he was not happy with this decision. It was a stupid move for Warners, if not from an immediate financial perspective, then at least from a brand management perspective, which carries long-term costs.

Warner Bros. By alienating the biggest assets in its portfolio, the studio may have alienated a lot of other filmmakers who might have been thinking about making their next film there. Meanwhile, Nolan emerges from the whole mess looking like a principled artist, with his brand completely intact. When it’s time to find a home for OppenheimerHe went with rival studio Universal. And you can be sure that they did everything they could to keep Nolan happy.

This was not a calculated fight that Nolan picked to look good. I think he would have preferred it not to have been published at all. Rather, it was a genuine attitude from someone who cared about his craft and his art. Which of course happened to add to the luster of his brand. It may seem like an absolute paradox, but it’s just another reason why when we say “Christopher Nolan movie,” we feel a sense of Pavlovian excitement as our hand automatically reaches for our wallet. It means something because Nolan doesn’t attempt To be a brand. It is of course the best kind of brand you can get.