This was all immensely amusing to read (I guffawed at the Penelope is the true hero TwitTok with Taylor Swift thingy). Like everyone else, I'm gagging to see this. Also, I know exactly what you mean about the insufferable tide of Nolan hot takes. It drove me absolutely bananas when Oppenheimer was out. But I suppose that's the price you pay for making films that are this successful.
Here's my irritated pushback on the Nolan naysayers re: Oppenheimer, if you're interested. :)
(For the record, whilst I generally love Nolan's work, they are not above criticism. It may surprise you to know that I have some serious issues with the screenplay for The Dark Knight, for instance, but I'll bore you with those another day.)
Uhhh it's so good to hear you found this amusing 🤗 This was 100% my intention. Yes, this is something that I've come to reflect on over the last couple of years. I noticed I started to feeling some sort of irritation towards Nolan but I couldn't quite place the source. Ultimately, I realized it was mostly because of his very annoying, very online "fans". Similar to you, I have mixed feelings about his work but I also have tremendous respect and admiration for him. Love the title of your article, haha - can't wait to read the whole thing!
Thank the gods you kept a diary on this, this made me laugh and think about Nolan's films, especially The Odyssey, in ways I didn't think about.
But also- dear Lord, I think I literally felt the exhaustion of how Nolan fanboys and the internet will have their critical take on The Odyssey JUST by being reminded how Nolan fanboys and the internet will have their critical take on The Odyssey. You'll find me underground for the next few months from July until it blows over.
I still don't know how I feel about Nolan making The Odyssey. Maybe it'll be like that one time James Cameron decided to make a romance movie set on the Titanic; or maybe it'll be like that time Ridley Scott made a romantic comedy-drama with Russell Crowe (A Good Year; I have mixed feelings about that film). Or maybe it'll be like when Nolan himself made Batman Begins after three noir films.
This much I'm certain of: Ludwig Göransson's getting another Oscar nomination.
It's going to be absolutely insane, I can't even fathom the level/type/magnitude/scale of the impending discourse. And yes, I think it could easily be any of these things! Which makes the anticipation pretty exciting tbh.
"Insane" is an understatement. It's going to be a full-on "lunatics running the asylum while hopped on pills and cheap speed" discourse.
But do you know what I find funny? It's that Nolan was supposed to direct Troy before WB gave it to Wolfgang Petersen, who dropped out of making Batman/Superman, which is when WB gave Batman to Nolan as a consolation prize- and now it's like Nolan's making an unofficial sequel to Troy! I can easily see Damon's Odysseus existing alongside Pitt's Achilles.
My goodness, the "Dad" of it all was fucking with my head in that trailer. Really glad to hear you're also a bit nonplussed by how contemporary the dialogue is. We'll see how it all pans out, I guess...
Sure, the backlash has been severe. But that also led to a plethora of people defending the original story, showing various translations and their differences, there’s been etymological takes, and all of this has been super interesting. The trailer is so bad that even people who don’t normally post got up in arms and I am SO HERE for THAT content.
Wow, Simon! I actually made it to the end. Lol. You're quite an entertaining writer! To be honest, Christopher Nolan wasn't on my radar until my long-time friend & producing partner, Willie Burton, did the Sound on "Tenet." Willie has now worked on two more of Nolan's films: Oppenheimer and The Odyssey. I've shared some of Willie's behind-the-scenes stories, only with a few close friends and a paid subscriber or two.
Nolan's films aren't my kind of movies, but Willie insisted I see Oppenheimer. He treated me to it and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I've told him I'm not going to see The Odyssey. That it's gonna be too long and too violent for me. We'll see how it goes. 😂
This was all immensely amusing to read (I guffawed at the Penelope is the true hero TwitTok with Taylor Swift thingy). Like everyone else, I'm gagging to see this. Also, I know exactly what you mean about the insufferable tide of Nolan hot takes. It drove me absolutely bananas when Oppenheimer was out. But I suppose that's the price you pay for making films that are this successful.
Here's my irritated pushback on the Nolan naysayers re: Oppenheimer, if you're interested. :)
https://fanfare.pub/why-i-disregard-oppenheimer-whataboutism-51ecbf714549?sk=9bf6a19175a23b326ed4909b9d457214
(For the record, whilst I generally love Nolan's work, they are not above criticism. It may surprise you to know that I have some serious issues with the screenplay for The Dark Knight, for instance, but I'll bore you with those another day.)
Uhhh it's so good to hear you found this amusing 🤗 This was 100% my intention. Yes, this is something that I've come to reflect on over the last couple of years. I noticed I started to feeling some sort of irritation towards Nolan but I couldn't quite place the source. Ultimately, I realized it was mostly because of his very annoying, very online "fans". Similar to you, I have mixed feelings about his work but I also have tremendous respect and admiration for him. Love the title of your article, haha - can't wait to read the whole thing!
"Very annoying, very online "fans"" is absolutely the right way to describe them.
The Dark Knight is one of my favourite films so I’d be curious to hear someone’s else’s criticisms on it
In this house we love TDK 😂
I enjoy it too, to be clear. But... Well, see my article above. :)
It looks as though I’ve found the right house!
OK, since you're curious as to my take, here it is (this is a "friend link" so should bypass the paywall: https://fanfare.pub/my-dark-knight-of-the-soul-d4a33db6839f?sk=cd14c07fa308f14f44f15e7b8a98395c
Thank the gods you kept a diary on this, this made me laugh and think about Nolan's films, especially The Odyssey, in ways I didn't think about.
But also- dear Lord, I think I literally felt the exhaustion of how Nolan fanboys and the internet will have their critical take on The Odyssey JUST by being reminded how Nolan fanboys and the internet will have their critical take on The Odyssey. You'll find me underground for the next few months from July until it blows over.
I still don't know how I feel about Nolan making The Odyssey. Maybe it'll be like that one time James Cameron decided to make a romance movie set on the Titanic; or maybe it'll be like that time Ridley Scott made a romantic comedy-drama with Russell Crowe (A Good Year; I have mixed feelings about that film). Or maybe it'll be like when Nolan himself made Batman Begins after three noir films.
This much I'm certain of: Ludwig Göransson's getting another Oscar nomination.
It's going to be absolutely insane, I can't even fathom the level/type/magnitude/scale of the impending discourse. And yes, I think it could easily be any of these things! Which makes the anticipation pretty exciting tbh.
"Insane" is an understatement. It's going to be a full-on "lunatics running the asylum while hopped on pills and cheap speed" discourse.
But do you know what I find funny? It's that Nolan was supposed to direct Troy before WB gave it to Wolfgang Petersen, who dropped out of making Batman/Superman, which is when WB gave Batman to Nolan as a consolation prize- and now it's like Nolan's making an unofficial sequel to Troy! I can easily see Damon's Odysseus existing alongside Pitt's Achilles.
My goodness, the "Dad" of it all was fucking with my head in that trailer. Really glad to hear you're also a bit nonplussed by how contemporary the dialogue is. We'll see how it all pans out, I guess...
Exactly 🤣
The color grading and the light look too northern for a mediterranean seafaring adventure, yes, GoT-like
Yes!
Sure, the backlash has been severe. But that also led to a plethora of people defending the original story, showing various translations and their differences, there’s been etymological takes, and all of this has been super interesting. The trailer is so bad that even people who don’t normally post got up in arms and I am SO HERE for THAT content.
Appreciate you! Yes the discourse apocalypse has officially begun I would say lol
👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼
💓💓
Sophie... My apologies for accidentally calling you Simon.
Wow, Simon! I actually made it to the end. Lol. You're quite an entertaining writer! To be honest, Christopher Nolan wasn't on my radar until my long-time friend & producing partner, Willie Burton, did the Sound on "Tenet." Willie has now worked on two more of Nolan's films: Oppenheimer and The Odyssey. I've shared some of Willie's behind-the-scenes stories, only with a few close friends and a paid subscriber or two.
Nolan's films aren't my kind of movies, but Willie insisted I see Oppenheimer. He treated me to it and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I've told him I'm not going to see The Odyssey. That it's gonna be too long and too violent for me. We'll see how it goes. 😂
Hey Dorez, thanks for your comment! Regardless of whether you see it or not, I appreciate you reading through my entire piece ♥️
You're welcome, Sophie... Your article has actually made me more curious about the film.