'Oppenheimer' filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his producer wife Emma Thomas have received top honours at Buckingham Palace. The filmmaker shared that King Charles told them that he liked his latest release 'Oppenheimer'. Nolan received knighthood on Wednesday and his producer wife Emma Thomas, received a damehood.
Emma and Nolan have collaborated on all of his films which have become blockbusters, including 'The Dark Knight' trilogy to 'Inception', 'Interstellar' and 'Oppenheimer' which won big at the Academy Awards this year.
How the royal family announced Christopher Nolan's knighthood?
"Arise, Sir Christopher Nolan and Dame Emma Thomas,” the royal family's post on social media handle read.
Pictures from the ceremony were also shared on Instagram with the caption, "Congratulations to all who received honours during today’s Investiture ceremonies, including film director Christopher Nolan and film producer Emma Thomas. The couple were recognised for their extraordinary contribution to Film, with their partnership producing major blockbusters such as The Dark Knight trilogy and Oppenheimer. ⬅️🧐 How many of these Nolan-Thomas films can you identify?."
Christopher Nolan said that meeting the King was 'wonderful' and receiving the top honour was even 'more special'. Emma Thomas added that she had never even dreamt of anything like this happening.
Speaking to the PA agency, Christopher Nolan said, "It was very nice that he knew our work and was aware of it, and, yes, he was hoping that I would take this as encouragement to do more of it.”
“He’d seen Oppenheimer, and he liked it, so that was very gratifying to hear.”
For those unaware, 'Oppenheimer' is a biopic of American theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, who helped develop the atomic bomb used during the Second World War.
“What I was really thrilled by is the fact that I’ve heard anecdotally since about lots of younger people having their first experience of this story on the big screen, and then delving deeper and doing more of their own research into the events that we portrayed,” Nolan told the agency.
Nolan's advice to young filmmakers out there
When Nolan was asked a good advice he would give to budding filmmakers, Nolan said, "Find a good partner. We met on the first day of university at UCL and we’ve been making films ever since. “The only other useful advice I’ve really thought of is to stick to your guns. If you have something unique to say, just keep at it and try to find an outlet for that.”