The movie Christopher Nolan was “jealous” of
The British director Christopher Nolan has honed a filmography that is more than deserving of envy than many other esteemed filmmakers in the industry. Blending big-budget blockbuster visuals and star-studded casts with weighty themes of time, morality, and legacy, Nolan’s dark movies have attracted an audience of cult film fans and casual cinema-goers alike.
After making his feature debut with a £6,000-budget film titled Following in 1998, Nolan cemented his place in modern cinema with Memento two years later. The film preempted the characteristics that would come to define his filmmaking – unconventional structures, complex themes, and an undertone of intensity.
In the two decades since then, he has provided a series of modern classics. From the subversive superhero series The Dark Knight to the time-bending worlds of Inception and Tenet, Nolan has maintained a consistency in quality like few other directors. Interstellar, Dunkirk, Oppenheimer – it’s a fiercely impressive filmography, one that is sure to invoke jealousy from his contemporaries.
Despite the enduring excellence of his own work, Nolan still harbours admiration and envy for his peers, but to stir jealousy in the acclaimed filmmaker is no easy feat. It’s hard to match the technical ability and precision of the Inception director but, in 2014, Damien Chazelle did precisely that.
Almost a decade ago, Chazelle delivered Whiplash, the story of Andrew Neiman, played by Miles Teller, on his quest to become the greatest jazz drummer of all time. It’s a reasonably straightforward story which is elevated by all-consuming performances from Teller and J.K. Simmons as his abusive instructor Terrence Fletcher, as well as masterful editing, and an excellent soundtrack. It’s intense, thrilling, and terrifying all at once, viscerally reflecting the pressures of musical education and artistic obsession.
Though it lacks the magnitude of Nolan’s world-building – forgoing nuclear weapons and dream extraction in favour of a drum kit – Chazelle’s film is equally thrilling and technically excellent. Consequently, it has garnered appreciation and envy from the director, who once shared his love for the film during a talk at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Nolan shared: “I really loved Whiplash last year. I thought that was an incredible piece of work.” He was particularly complimentary towards the film’s precision, which is integral to its intensity: “That was the kind of film where when you see it, it’s very precisely put together and you’re very jealous.”
The precision Chazelle applies to the film is a masterful reflection of its themes. In tightly edited drum sequences and beautiful slow-mo shots of Neiman placing his bleeding hand into a tub of ice, Chazelle’s filmmaking reflects his protagonist’s extreme longing for perfection. While the main character desperately tries to perfect his own art, so does Chazelle, and he succeeds – at least insofar as to attract the envy of Nolan.
