Rotterdam Heads Talk Fest’s Christopher Nolan, Sandra Hüller Connections & Focus On New Talent

When you think of filmmakers working today in terms of teams, one of the easiest ways to separate them is by their public statements about Marvel films. (Yes, this is reductive, but it’s sadly quite true.) There are folks like Martin Scorsese who famously called out Marvel and franchise filmmaking in general as detrimental to the art of cinema.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Robert Downey Jr. made headlines earlier this month when he revealed that he first met his “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan back in the early 2000s in order to nab the role of Scarecrow in the director’s 2005 superhero tentpole “Batman Begins.” Downey said Nolan wasn’t too interested in casting him, which Nolan fully admitted in a recent interview with the actor for The New York Times. “I 100% knew you weren’t the guy [for Scarecrow],” said Nolan, who eventually cast his “Oppenheimer” leading man Cillian Murphy as the Batman villain.

Oppenheimer‘s steamroll of awards season continued with filmmaker Christopher Nolan walking off with the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Theatrical Feature Film.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Christopher Nolan appeared on “The Late Show” for a lengthy discussion with Stephen Colbert in which the filmmaker heaped praise on his “Oppenheimer” star Robert Downey Jr., who is widely considered the Oscar frontrunner for best supporting actor. Nolan said he always wanted to work with Downey because of his “generosity” and “charisma.” The director went on to call Downey’s role as Iron Man, which birthed the Marvel Cinematic Universe and carried it for a decade, one of the most important casting decisions ever made. “With anybody you work with, with actors…you’re looking for some kind of connection emotionally, empathetically,” Nolan said about being drawn to Downey.

Christopher Nolan has spoken about his 2020 film Tenet and criticisms that the film is too convoluted to follow.Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Nolan spoke about the complexities of his films, touching on Tenet’s time-bending themes in particular.When asked by Colbert if viewers have to “get” Nolan’s films or if they can just experience it, the filmmaker said: “If you experience my film you are getting it. I feel very strongly about that. I think where people encounter frustration with my narratives in the past, sometimes I think that they’re slightly missing the point.

Christopher Nolan had a Shakespearian moment when he came to The Late Show. In a reverse of Marc Antony, he came to praise Robert Downey Jr., his Oppenheimer star, not to bury him.

Given so much time has passed, most of the “what if” legends of most superhero films are out there already. For Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins,” we all know that Cillian Murphy lost out to Christian Bale for the Batman role.

Unless you’re Quentin Tarantino, if you’re a really intensely celebrated filmmaker, sometimes you just don’t praise anything because it sometimes draws attention away from less work or becomes reductive absorbed. The great Stanley Kubrick once famously said, “I am always reluctant to single out some particular feature of the work of a major filmmaker because it tends inevitably to simplify and reduce the work,” when deciding to praise Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “The Decalogue,” regardless.

Christopher Nolan is one of the only filmmakers who is able to demand a huge budget for a period drama like “Oppenheimer.” How is he able to do that? Well, his films are spectacles that earn hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. And Nolan is able to earn that box office because when people go to buy a ticket for one of his films, they know it’s going to be an epic experience.

Christopher Nolan has praised TV series The Curse, calling it “unlike anything [he’s] ever seen on television before”.The Oppenheimer director shared his enthusiasm at a recent screening for the Showtime series, which stars Emma Stone and Nathan Fielder and made its debut last year.While moderating a discussion with co-creators Fielder and Benny Safdie – the latter of whom starred in Oppenheimer – Nolan said: “Congratulations on an incredible show that’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television before.“There are so few shows that come along that genuinely have no precedents,” the director added. “I mean, you’re going back to things like Twin Peaks or The Prisoner or Dennis Potter’s Singing Detective — things like that.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor The line sprawling along the corridors and staircases of De Doelen, the heart of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, alerted passersby that there was a star in town. The actor in question? German thesp Sandra Hüller, at the festival to support Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” and to give an in-depth talk about her career and latest projects. Hüller, who landed her first Oscar nomination for best actress last week for Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” said she is “definitely not” used to the growing attention.

Christopher Nolan recently moderated a panel for The Curse, the Showtime series that stars Nathan Fielder and Emma Stone.

Caroline Brew editor Christopher Nolan moderated a Q&A with Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie to discuss “The Curse,” the satirical comedy series starring Fielder and Emma Stone from Showtime and Paramount+, following a screening of the first episode. The “Oppenheimer” director said the show is “unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television before.” “There are so few shows that come along that genuinely have no precedents,” Nolan said.

Some shows meet their moment immediately; some slowly build a following, maybe even creating a cult audience. The latter might be the case for “The Curse,” the wild, subversive, uncomfortable, and audacious new Showtime/Paramount+ series.

Naman Ramachandran Award-winning artist Justin Anderson’s debut feature “Swimming Home” has its world premiere in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam. Variety has secured access to the first clip from the film. The film, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2012 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel, centers on poet Joe (Christopher Abbott) and war photographer Isabel (Mackenzie Davis), whose marriage is dying when Kitti (Ariane Labed), a naked stranger found floating in the pool at their sunny holiday villa in Greece, is invited to stay.

Isn’t this interesting? Variety reports that Warner Bros. is giving Christopher Nolan‘s 2020 time-looping actioner “Tenet” a re-release in theaters, IMAX and 70mm next month as part of the build-up to “Dune: Part Two” on March 1. “Tenet” will run for one weekly only starting on February 23 in the US and select international markets with exclusive footage of Denis Villeneuve‘s sequel attached.

Ethan Shanfeld Christopher Nolan is reuniting with Warner Bros. for a theatrical re-release of his time-hopping 2020 sci-fi film “Tenet.” It will return to movie theaters — on 70mm Imax, Imax, digital and 70mm film screens — for one week only, starting Feb. 23.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor “Oppenheimer” has surged ahead of its competition, potentially becoming one of the most dominant Oscar winners since “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), which garnered eight statuettes. Looking at the state of the race post-nominations, the Universal Pictures’ blockbuster could make an even bigger impact. Christopher Nolan’s historical drama about the father of the Atomic bomb leads the tally with 13, making it the 11th movie to reach such a gargantuan Oscars nomination count.

Colman Domingo organized his closet to distract himself, “The Holdovers” actor Paul Giamatti was sound asleep and “Killers of the Flower Moon” breakout Lily Gladstone texted with Leonardo DiCaprio after making history as the first Native American nominee. On the morning of the 2024 Oscar nominations, Variety spoke to this year’s contenders — including “The Holdovers” star Da’Vine Joy Randolph and “Past Lives” director Celine Song — about getting recognized by the Academy. How does it feel to make history with this nomination? It’s truly something that belongs to my community.

Marc Malkin Senior Editor, Culture and Events Shortly after the Oscar nominations were announced on Tuesday morning, “Oppenheimer” director Christopher Nolan recalled watching Cillian Murphy transform into J. Robert Oppenheimer for the first time. “It was really in the hair and makeup tests, which we shoot on Imax and in black-and-white,” Nolan told Variety.