I’ve held off on linking to Geoff Boucher’s three-part interview with “The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan at Hero Complex for two reasons. First of all, it just seemed wiser to wait until it had run its course in full. But mainly, I was waiting on the inevitable Oscar query.
Obviously, as Anne Thompson noted in a recent item, an interview like this is strategically placed to launch what hopes to be a successful Oscar campaign for the film. Yes, the news peg of the Scream Awards was significant, but this kind of a deep one-on-one with a filmmaker of Nolan’s caliber serves a specific, immediate purpose: get “The Dark Knight” back on the radar in a deep, tangible way before Oscar advertising kicks in by the middle of November.
In today’s third and final entry, Boucher finally gets to the issue of awards, specifically the potential for Heath Ledger’s instantly iconic portrayal to land a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In response, Nolan had this to say:
I think the thing that has always been important to me in light of Heath’s death is the responsibility I’ve felt to his work. The responsibility of crafting the film in such a way that his performance came across the way he intended. Clearly, that has been the case. That’s one of the reasons I take such pride in the film.
I felt a great wave of relief, really, as people first started to see the performance and it was clear that they were getting the performance. It’s easy to forget with everything that’s happened what an enormous challenge it was for Heath to take on this iconic role. He rose to that challenge so admirably that any expression of people being excited or moved by his performance is a wonderful thing. Whatever form that takes. People coming to see his performance and getting it. It’s been extremely satisfying for all of us already. Anything that adds to that would be wonderful.
Do yourself a huge favor and read this series: Part One, Part Two and Part Three. Whether you’re a Bat geek, a recent convert or simply an admirer of Nolan’s work, there is something for everyone. A fine interview and, as I’ve noted before, a fine outlet for geekdom in Traditional Media.
Comments
12 responses to “Nolan talks Ledger and Oscar”
Fascinating interview. Love it.
This year Oscar has a great opportunity to recognize a pack of the most visionary filmmakers in the bussiness
Christopher Nolan
David Fincher
Gus Van Sant
Danny Boyle
Darren Arronofsky
Baz Luhrman
Andrew Stanton
Best Director nominees could be the Dream Team!!!
I really hope Nolan and Christian Bale do William Monahan’s Tripoli next. It could really be Nolan’s Lawrence of Arabia, and if he filmed it in Imax…oh baby.
Ridley is still on Tripoli, no?
Nolan BETTER do Batman 3, or whatever it will be called…without him…I don’t know…it just wouldn’t be right…
Whatever happens, I pray Nolan’s next film is not a sequel to The Dark Knight. And I get the vibe that if he does do a third film he will sandwich another passion project like The Prestige in between again
It’ll be a travesty if Heath doesn’t win best supporting actor this year. It has been the most hailed and talked about performance of the year, supporting or otherwise. I just don’t see how anyone could possibly outdo him.
Ledger’s performance is not only the finest of the year it is the most original — iamgine getting the script, the word on the page, the memory of Nicholson firmly in the mind, and doing what Ledger did, creating that insane character!!! — an acting genius — My God will he be missed, can you imagine what he might have done had he lived??? His Ennis Del Marr and Joker were just previews of what could have been. Give the man’s memory an Oscar already.
Kristopher, thanks so much for the very kind comments and the links. I’m trying to make Hero Complex a special corner of the Internet and your generous words mean a lot…
Of course, Geoff. Keep up the solid work.
[…] Boucher’s substantial interview with Christopher Nolan at the Los Angeles Times. As Kris mentioned, it’s strategically placed to launch “The Dark Knight†into the awards season. And Nolan has, […]
Best Film. Best Director. Best Supporting Actor.
Best Score. Best Adapted Screenplay.
Should be! Nuff said!
Oh and Best Cinematography too!
Wally Pfister’s work was amazing!