The surprising movie Christopher Nolan watches every Christmas
When the onslaught of Christmas films becomes too much to bear, it’s always worth turning to some of the non-festive movie directors for a welcome antidote, and the brilliant works of Christopher Nolan provide an intense and refreshing alternative to the mind-numbing repetition of Santa Claus and his sleigh bells.
With the fire on and the wine topped up, it’s worth diving into the excellence of Inception, Interstellar, or The Dark Knight to make a festive film experience that is genuinely enjoyable rather than drudgingly banal. And who knows, perhaps one of Nolan’s masterpieces might just become a new tradition in the family.
According to a piece on Oppenheimer by The Hollywood Reporter, when Christmas time approaches each year, Nolan himself sets about watching the same film to get himself and his family into the festive spirit. Knowing the legendary director’s knowledge of all facets of cinema, one might think that Nolan would crack out a reel of a leftfield choice, but the truth is that he has a soft spot for romantic comedies, too.
The film Nolan watches every festive period is, in fact, the 2003 British Christmas rom-com Love Actually, directed by Richard Curtis. This shows that even a cinephile like Nolan doesn’t find himself too highbrow to delve into a piece of lighter-hearted cinema from time to time, proving his acceptance of all kinds of the film medium.
Featuring a truly stellar British cast, including Hugh Grant, Liam Nesson, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Bill Nighy and Kiera Knightley, Love Actually examines the different aspects of the nature of love and tells ten different stories during the five-week approach to Christmas that occasionally link with one another throughout the film.
Nolan’s Oppenheimer star, Emily Blunt, explained that Nolan is fearless when it comes to cinema; he loves all kinds of movies and can find the quality in them regardless of their genre. “He watches every single movie of every type of genre,” the actor said. “And you never hear him shit-talk other people’s movies. He knows how hard it is to direct a great movie.”
So while many would think that Nolan might take the festive downtime to stick on one of his favourite underground movies that no one has ever heard of or to revisit some of classic Hollywood’s best offerings, the reality is that the iconic filmmaker, just like the rest of us, likes to stick his feet up on the settee with his slippers on and watch a loveable Christmas rom-com.
