Christopher Nolan Reacts To Oppenheimer Leading Oscars Nominations: Not What We Expected…

The nominations for the 96th annual Academy Awards have been announced with Oppenheimer leading with 13 nominations in several categories. The film has been nominated for Best Picture, Cinematography, Film Editing, Costume Design, Production Design and Makeup And Hairstyling. Cillian Murphy has been nominated as Best Actor In A Leading Role while Christopher Nolan has been nominated as Best Director for the film. Emily Blunt has been nominated as Best Actress In A Supporting Role and Robert Downey Jr for Best Actor In A Supporting Role for Oppenheimer. On bagging 13 nominations, director Chritopher has opened up about the level of success that the film has received. 

Christopher Nolan on Oppenheimer’s success

While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Christopher said, “We’ve clearly caught a wave with the film and that’s something we’re very grateful for.” He added, “We never imagined this level of success. But we did have faith that it was a great story. You know, certainly audiences going to it in the summer, I think it was the strength of the story itself, this great piece of American history that was driving things for us. Also, for a film that came out in the summer to be recognized by the Academy at the end of the year or beginning of next year, it’s just a very rewarding thing to wake up to. Frankly, it’s not really what we expected when we set out with this project and it’s a wonderful surprise.”

Oppenheimer falls short of creating history 

Despite 13 nominations, Oppenheimer fell short of creating Oscars history for the maximum number of nominations in a single year. Earlier, director Damien Chazelle's La La Land bagged a total of 14 nominations. However, the Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling starrer ended up winning in 6 categories.