Christopher Nolan | Best Directing | 'Oppenheimer' | Oscars 2024 Press Room Speech

Please welcome winner of the Best Directing Oscar for Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan. Thank you, thank you. Number 120 and 236 on deaf. Bingo. 22 your right. Hi Chris, congratulations. It's Alison Boshoff from the Daily Mail here. We were at school together. No stories, please. No, we'd never tell him what happened in Mr Turnbull's history class stays between us. Congratulations. What are your plans? Do you mean Trotsky Turnbull? Wow, that's not what I was expecting to talk about in this moment. But yeah, sorry. Celebrations. What are your plans? My plans to hit the governor's ball and meet up with my kids again and have a little celebration with the family. And yeah, really looking forward to it. So thank you. Number 236 with 319 on deck. Hi, Chris. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm curious because I know that being a director is really involves having confidence in your ideas and your vision. How has it been for you to see Oppenheimer be embraced by both audiences and now your peers at just the highest possible level? It's just the most incredible thrill. When you make a film on a large scale, obviously you have to believe there's some audience for it out there. But starting with the release of the film in July, the response from people around the world far exceeded anything that I'd imagined possible. And, you know, winning this recognition from my peers is just, I mean, the icing on the cake. It's just very, it's very important to me. It's really a wonderful finish to what's been an incredible year. Number 319 with 133 on deck. Here. Sorry, I don't want to stand up because of the camera. Cristina Ibanez from Box Office Company and Webedia Group. I think it has been a long journey. You deserve an Oscar a long time ago, but also it has been a long journey telling this story. So what's your take on about making this movie, but also the real story now that the journey has ended? I mean, I think it's difficult to have perspective on something you're still in the middle of really. And this has been a long journey for all of us. But as I was saying, starting with the response of audiences around the world to Oppenheimer, which far exceeded our expectations, you know, the fact that particularly young people were coming to see the film, they were seeking it out on large format film. There were so many things that came together for us with this film. So it's been an incredible journey, incredible process. I don't think I have much perspective on it. You know, ask me again in six months or something, but thank you. Number 133. Hi Christopher, in the back. How are you doing? Hey, remember, if you remember at the Critics Choice Award, I asked you, are you ready for the Oscar? And you told me, don't jinx it. So are you ready for the Oscar now? I am. Thank you. And thank you for not jinxing it. Yes. But no, I'm I'm ready for it. Happy to receive it. And I'm very, very grateful to the Academy. So thank you. So what does it mean to have two now in your hands? It means I can do curls. They're very heavy. It's it's such a thrill. I mean, to be recognized as a director by my peers, the nomination itself from the directing branch of the Academy, that's very, very special to me, as was winning the Director's Guild Awards. For the film to win Best Picture is just a testament to so many different people who were involved in the film, our incredible cast and our incredible crew. So that's that's really an unbelievable thrill. And final question is virtual. If you could please look into the camera. It's from film critique. Nancy, go ahead. Hi, my name is Nancy Green with Film Critique. And congratulations on your win. And one thing I would like to know with being with there being so much history in this story, how did you decide what to keep in, what to leave out? And what were some of the things that you had to leave out that you you really struggled with? Well, I think as with any story, wherever it's coming from, you have to go through a process of looking at all the detail of what the story could be, and then trying to settle on something that's practical to tell. So really, I tried to be guided by my initial emotional reaction to reading Kai Bird and Marta Children's America Prometheus. That was the guide for what to leave in. And I wouldn't point to one particular issue in that struggle. There were facets to all the characters that could have been fleshed out. There were so many people in this film, so many characters in this film who could have had a film who can have an entire film made about their lives. So it was it was a constant struggle, but a very, very interesting one. So thank you.