Christopher Nolan On The Chances Of Winning An Oscar For THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

While Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his role as The Joker in 2008's The Dark Knight, neither Christopher Nolan or the film itself were nominated by the Academy. Here, the director shares his thoughts on that and the chances of winning those awards for The Dark Knight Rises.

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By Josh Wilding - 7/12/2012
Shockingly, Christopher Nolan has NEVER been nominated for a "Best Director" Academy Award. Inception is his only film to have received a "Best Picture" nod, while both that and Memento were nominated for "Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen". However, he has yet to be awarded anything from the Academy; a truly shocking statement when you look back on the films mentioned above as well as the likes of The Prestige and The Dark Knight. Hopefully that is set to change next week with his third and final Batman movie. Talking in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, here's what the director had to say about those snubs and the chances of being nominated for The Dark Knight Rises.


"This is how I honestly feel: I've been nominated for an Oscar three times. My films have had more than 20 nominations. The Academy has honoured my films in spectacular fashion, and I couldn't be happier."

"You don't take on Batman as a character because you think you'll win a prize. That's absurd. We want this to be the most exciting, emotionally engaging, and enjoyable blockbuster and audience can see this summer. I'm happy with it. It's the film I wanted to make. I look at what everyone has done, and I think they've done a good job. [Laughs] And I think I've done a good job of not obscuring it."


A very diplomatic answer from Nolan, although criticising the Academy wouldn't strengthen his chances come awards season! Regardless, it does seem as if prizes such as these mean very little to the director in comparison to making worthwhile and memorable films. From what we've seen of The Dark Knight Rises so far, comic book movie fans and film lovers alike should start crossing their fingers that 2013 is Christopher Nolan's year!






Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ "The Dark Knight Rises" is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. The screenplay is written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on “Batman Begins” and the record-breaking blockbuster "The Dark Knight." The executive producers are Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer. The film is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.


STARRING:

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman
Michael Caine as Alfred
Gary Oldman as Commissioner Jim Gordon
Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox
Tom Hardy as Bane
Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake
Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate
Josh Pence as Ra's Al Ghul

RELEASE DATE: July 20th, 2012


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Sabconth - 7/12/2012, 3:30 AM
I'd love it to win, so long as it's as good as the early buzz suggests.

A comic book movie winning the best picture Oscar? What a fire that would light up under future CBM directors to come.
TopCat89 - 7/12/2012, 3:43 AM
I'm really lost on how this Batman franchise would carry on after the Nolan films. Would they keep the realistic approach....would they stick with the Tumbler or go back to the Batmobile or even a new vehicle perhaps....would it be an entire reboot again or start with him already as the Batman. I think Nolan has pretty much covered everything except for a few villains, i truly can't picture what they would do next. Fans would be expecting a lot!
RidiculousFanBoyDemands - 7/12/2012, 3:44 AM
I don't want any spoilers, but any word if this is a linear film?
TopCat89 - 7/12/2012, 3:44 AM
I truly can't picture what they would do next, that would be accepted after this*
SUPERMAN2013 - 7/12/2012, 3:52 AM
I think batman is going to be ruined again after this,but heres hoping
marvel72 - 7/12/2012, 3:54 AM
until i see the other nominations i can't really tell if he'd win it,if i gave a prediction right now it would be no.

BlackCat1 - 7/12/2012, 3:54 AM
Let us all hope that Anne gave an Oscar-worthy performance and that it is recognized.
Jolt17 - 7/12/2012, 3:54 AM
Great statement.
Theodora - 7/12/2012, 3:54 AM
Anne for Best Supporting Actress!

KingEmperor - 7/12/2012, 3:59 AM
I've lost faith in the Oscars ever since "Saving Private Ryan" lost the best film award to "Shakespeare In Love" back in '98.
Nubase - 7/12/2012, 4:11 AM
nolan will win an oscar soon but the problem is that the people at the academy are all old school and have not moved on with changes in hollywood.

If the dark knight rises win an oscar for best picture it will be history in the making but the thing is those academy judges will simply look at it as a comic book movie.

l mean look at this years oscar where the movie the artist won everything and at kingemperior post regarding saving private ryan

The dark knight rises will be nominated but will it win, well it all depends on those judges
BenderDickCumPatch - 7/12/2012, 4:15 AM
I can't see it winning anything other than best screenplay/writing. MAYBE just MAYBE this time, but time will tell.
Daniellantern - 7/12/2012, 4:17 AM
Oscar for Gary Oldman!
siggisuperman - 7/12/2012, 4:23 AM
I don't believe in Oscars. The Wrestler is not better than Slumdog Millionaire ?
Jimdlux - 7/12/2012, 4:26 AM
Its nice to see that not even Nolan realizes that TDKR isn't going to win any awards!
blvdnoise - 7/12/2012, 4:26 AM
@TopCat
They would have to open with an already established batman, like Burton did. I say the Warner fellas need to focus on getting an open universe in motion, with Bats not returning until like the last film in the set up to JL. Perhaps not even show back up until JL.
kingshnake - 7/12/2012, 4:28 AM
Oscars below movies like TDKR and Inception, Oscars are for Danny Boyle
UltimaRex - 7/12/2012, 4:29 AM
Absurd or not, TDK should have been nominated.
Robert - 7/12/2012, 4:44 AM
If the movie is great I hope Nolan is nominated and wins an Academy award. Comic book movies are normally looked down upon, so I doubt Nolan will win anything. The Academy committee will do their normal "nomination" to quiet the critics, but will ultimately and traditionally NOT give the award to an action or comic book movie. Sad but true.

I'll even say that Heath Ledger "won" his award, due to his death. I honestly think that if Heath Ledger was still alive, the Academy would not have awarded him with an award.
SteveRogersSon - 7/12/2012, 4:48 AM
Shrug....

Sirwhine..is the model nolanite...blindly going along like a lemming, towards the cliff.
Ric - 7/12/2012, 4:54 AM
JUST GIVE HIM THE OSCAR dear academy :p
AtomicChipmunk - 7/12/2012, 4:54 AM
A cbm winning an oscar would be weird, but the Artist won several oscars. A french mute film? Really?

a french mute film in 2011> a cbm?
I don't think so. That does not make any sense.

Whatever, I hope several cbm gets nominated this year.


(I'm French btw. Bonjour Teabag)
silverdog - 7/12/2012, 4:54 AM
I´ll reserve my judgement until I've seen the movie.. maybe then I´ll see what all this "oscar for hatthaway" fuss is all about, cause from everything I´ve seen so far her character seems as generic and cliché "femme fatale" as they come.

Gary Oldman and Heath Ledger are the only ones here that deserve nominations and awards, everybody else is kinda meh..
Batman27 - 7/12/2012, 5:08 AM
If The Dark Knight Rises gets nominated for Best Picture and wins a few oscars it's going to make the other Comicfilms that came out this year look like a joke.
REDSTORM - 7/12/2012, 5:12 AM
Avengers was NOT Oscar worthy. Lets not kid ourselves.
AtomicChipmunk - 7/12/2012, 5:21 AM
Is Imax worth it?
Batman27 - 7/12/2012, 5:31 AM
Look guys The Avengers was a great Superhero film. It's beyond epic for comic fans,but overall as a film story wise and acting wise it's just pretty good.
inky - 7/12/2012, 5:39 AM
the oscars is in need of updating to the new wave of movie comic book capers have been going on for years and are mostly overlooked by the oscars for reasons most fans wouldnt understand.
sequals and extras should never be concidered oscar material unless they are direct ties to the previous work like lord of the rings trilogy.
thus the oscars need to ammend there catagories to include the comic book movies as a class of there own thus generating more competition and better movies.
as for directors some greats never recieved the oscar this will always be so mr nolan just be thankfull your working doing the job you like and bringing pleasure to millions unlike some who never get the chance.
SuperDan89 - 7/12/2012, 5:41 AM
The oscar buzz for this film is huge and it still has a week to go!
ClarkFarley2012 - 7/12/2012, 5:53 AM
Man hate to say but no CBM is getting a Oscar.
Batman27 - 7/12/2012, 5:57 AM
If this doesn't get nominated for Best Picture no Comicbook film ever will.
NerdyDarkPassenger - 7/12/2012, 6:03 AM
I don't think he was criticising the Academy, but a good answer nonetheless.
CrimsonReign - 7/12/2012, 6:04 AM
He is a fantastic Director and his attitude regarding winning a prize for Batman is refreshing.
R888 - 7/12/2012, 6:25 AM
[frick] yes hopefully dark knight rises will win some awards it deservers too
SmithWillSuffice - 7/12/2012, 6:28 AM
They waited until after Return of the King to start throwing Oscars at Peter Jackson, and I see this being no different. Nolan has accomplished something truly great with this trilogy that will stand up there with the all time great films for generations to come.
stealthboy - 7/12/2012, 6:30 AM
@ELgUaSoN - I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion - but in this case your opinions are just plain wrong. Heath Ledger "overacted"? "Worst comic book character portrayals"?

I'm constantly amazed at the comments here. Some of you really are just out of touch and live in some weird separate world, and just say things to sound stupid I think.

Batman27 - 7/12/2012, 6:36 AM
The haters won't be able to stop the great recognition this film will get.
R888 - 7/12/2012, 6:42 AM
After this film, I hope the same goes for man of steel :)

Ceejay - 7/12/2012, 6:48 AM
The fact that once you watch more films outside the fantasy and scifi genres, only then do you realise why they don't get nominated for the main Oscars outside of technical merit ones like SFX, Sound mixing, Costume and Set Design.

The average Joe seems to think a film being popular means it should be nominated for an award, well popular films are not actually always made very well nor are they very original in most cases.

Nolan is an outstanding film-maker, the fact that he's made just over ten movies and two of those are totally original concepts never before visited on screen (Memento and Inception) means he's on the right track for an academy award at some point in his career.

I can't see how many TDKR won't be nominated for several awards simply on the undertaking of the production alone. He's shunned CGI for real Golden age Hollywood approach to TDKR, building large sets, shooting on location and employing thousands of extras. He's even developed smaller IMAX camera's so they could shoot over 100 minutes of the movie in ground-breaking higher definition film, not digital!

Nolan's approach to this film is of that from the likes of Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Huh or Gone With the Wind. He definitely deserves a consideration for a future Irvin Thalberg award if not this year then soon.
R888 - 7/12/2012, 6:50 AM
In fact all the 3 cbm should win something, because I think fanboys should be happy that none of these films fail




R888 - 7/12/2012, 6:51 AM
Can someone do a mash up trailer of comic films after they release man of steel trailer :)
RamonSuarez - 7/12/2012, 6:55 AM
LOL @ anyone who compares a director to a fascist war criminal.

Please take a step back and let reality slap you in the face.
Batman27 - 7/12/2012, 6:57 AM
Very well said Ceejay.
RamonSuarez - 7/12/2012, 6:58 AM
@Ceejay

Inception is NOT an original concept.

Not even in the least bit.

See an anime movie titled Paprika made in 2006.
whoelsebutkevin - 7/12/2012, 6:59 AM
@ Itbegins2005

Actually did you see King Speech that year? Colin Firth did an absolutely amazing performance in it. Inception, yes it was great but not as good as King's Speech.

@Black and yellow. That poster is REALLY sick and creative. Very nice my friend.
Godzillafart - 7/12/2012, 7:11 AM
@itbegins2005: "I guess at this point, the Academy Awards serve only to highlight and promote films no one would have seen otherwise".

What the hell are you talking about? Return of the King, Titanic, No Country for Old Men, Gladiator (which was shit), Crash (which was shit), Braveheart, Slumdog Millionaire, etc, etc, etc.

All movie that were crazy popular before they won the award. Only a few that were great movies. Seems to me more like Hollywood's circle-jerk.

The King's Speech was one of the ones that WAS a great movie.
RamonSuarez - 7/12/2012, 7:14 AM
Am I the only one who thought King's Speech was woefully overrated?

Guess so.

I don't put much stock into the Oscars. They are a popularity contest and always choose very safe pictures with directors who don't deviate from the mainstream.
Ceejay - 7/12/2012, 7:21 AM
@RamonSuarez - I have seen Paprika and also Dreamscape which is similar to Paprika and pre-dates it by 20 years! Neither of them are what Inception is all about. They're both about utilizing the exploration of dreams as a therapy for patients. Inception is all about corporate espionage and information theft taken to another level, not just retrieving information but actually planting a seed of a new thought or concept into the mind of an individual not through their dreams but through their actual memories!

There has been many films about corporate espionage but none have come up with the concept that one day we'll be able to steal information from the minds of our competitors let alone manipulate their decision making by planting original thoughts in their genuine memories.
Godzillafart - 7/12/2012, 7:21 AM
@RamonSuarez: "They are a popularity contest and always choose very safe pictures with directors who don't deviate from the mainstream"

What?! Do people even think before they post here? "The Artist" didn't deviate from the mainstream?! It's a freakin' silent film!

Sheesh.
Ceejay - 7/12/2012, 7:27 AM
The Kings Speech was magnificent, both lead performances deserved the award for best actor.
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