Culture news “I am tormented”: Christopher Nolan feels jealousy for his film The Dark Knight because of a cult line of dialogue!
Christopher Nolan is in 2024 one of the most influential and polar directors in Hollywood. With Oppenheimer, it could even overshadow all the other films in the running to win an Oscar this year. Despite his meteoric rise, he declares himself “tormented” by a line of dialogue taken from the film The Dark Knight.
The Oppenheimer phenomenon
Oppenheimer was one of the big surprises of 2023 in cinema. Certainly directed by Christopher Nolan which guarantees him strong exposure, the biopic centered on the father of the atomic bomb played on screen by Cillian Murphy has raked in no less than 960 million US dollars at the box office (barely missing the symbolic milestone of one billion) for an estimated budget (excluding marketing costs) of 100 million. Nominated 13 times for the 2024 Oscars, Oppenheimer is collecting the awards while waiting for the American ceremony. At the British Academy Film Awards (or BAFTAs) alone, the film took home seven awards including best film, best direction and best actor. At the Golden Globes, he “settled” for five awards, including best dramatic film and best director.
Here is the list of nominations for the Oppenheimer film at the 2024 Oscars which will be held on Tuesday March 11, 2024 between midnight and 3:00 a.m.:
- Best film
- Best Director
- Best actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Photography
- Best editing
- Best film score
- Best decors
- Best costumes
- Best makeup and hairstyles
- Best sound mixing
Chistopher Nolan and the most cult line from The Dark Knight
Christopher Nolan has long collaborated with his brother Jonathan. The two fraternal writers are at the origin of the screenplays for Memento (2000), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and finally Interstellar (2014). If the Oppenheimer director is recognized in Hollywood for his talents as a screenwriter, he is not at the origin of the most cult and most significant replica of The Dark Knight. Pronounced by Gotham prosecutor Harvey Dent, who later became Two-Face, it was born from the mind of Jonathan and not Christopher. During an interview given to our colleagues from DeadlineChristopher Nolan expressed his frustration:
I’m tormented by a line from The Dark Knight, and I’m tormented because I didn’t write it. My brother wrote it. This kills me, because this is the line that resonates the most. And at the time, I didn’t even understand it. He says, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to take on the role of a villain.” I read it in his script and I was like, “Okay, I’ll keep it, but I don’t really know what it means.” (…) Then, over the years, since the film came out, this seems more and more true. In this story, that’s exactly it. Build them, destroy them. It’s how we treat people. -Christopher Nolan