Christopher Nolan Couldn’t Believe Emma Stone’s Oscar-Winning Movie Was That Good, Had to Watch It 3 Times in Theatre

The film has been considered to be one of the greatest musicals of all time, and Chris Nolan agrees.

Christopher Nolan is one of the most prolific directors of the generation.
He recently won the Oscar for Best Director for Oppenheimer and has been one of the most successful in the field.

Christopher Nolan is one of the definitive filmmakers of this generation. The Oscar-winning director recently made the biopic Oppenheimer, which won big at the Academy Awards this year. The director is known for his blockbuster films, which are as cerebral as they are thrilling and have garnered a loyal worldwide fanbase.

Nolan has also been a vocal supporter of other films. While he has professed his love for Stanley Kubrick, he has also appreciated films that are not considered high art such as the Fast and the Furious franchise. However, one film that reportedly blew his mind was Emma Stone’s 2016 musical La La Land, for which she won her first Academy Award.

Christopher Nolan Watched La La Land Multiple Times In The Theater

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in La La Land | Credits: Summit Entertainment/Marc Platt Productions/Impostor Pictures/Gilbert Films

Musicals are usually a hit or miss, and while the genre had its heyday in the Golden Age of Hollywood, they have now become rare. However, few musicals in the recent past have defined the genre as much as Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. The romantic musical starred Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, with the latter winning the Oscar for Best Actress.

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The film also received fourteen nominations at the Academy Awards and won Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography, among others. The film has often been considered to be one of the greatest musicals of all time. And Gosling and Emma Stone’s pairing has been compared to that of the greats.

The film also impressed filmmaker Christopher Nolan, who claimed he watched it multiple times in the theater. In the book, The Nolan Variations: Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan, the Oppenheimer filmmaker mentioned that he enjoyed the film a lot,

La La Land, to me, is an extraordinary film. I saw it three or four times, it’s just an amazing piece of directing, and I don’t usually like musicals.

MNolan has also expressed his love for other films such as Godzilla Minus One, Past Lives, and even Will Farrell’s Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Christopher Nolan Revealed Why He Went Back To Watch La La Land Thrice

A still from La La Land | Credits: Summit Entertainment/Marc Platt Productions/Impostor Pictures/Gilbert Films

Christopher Nolan has been extremely vocal about the movies he has liked, and his list sometimes includes films that are uncharacteristic of his personality. He has appreciated films such as the Fast and Furious franchise and mentioned that films such as Speed and Unstoppable were influential for his WWII drama Dunkirk.

Nolan then admitted to watching La La Land multiple times in the cinemas. The filmmaker mentioned that as he grew older, he reduced repeated viewings in the theater, but the Emma Stone-starring musical was an exception. He told EW,

The one thing that I did notice changing from when I was a kid is, it’s very rare as an older person — I’m almost 47 now — that I’ll go back to see a film because I enjoyed it in a theater. [Though] I did with La La Land; I went back to see that a couple of times. 

That basic joy of the possibility of a new movie and being there on opening night with a crowded audience — I don’t think that ever changes. That’s just a magical experience. Why did I go back? I think I almost went back to see if it was as good as I had thought, and it was if that makes sense.

Though the filmmaker has had a reputation for making serious and ‘colder’ movies, he has been known to enjoy films of the opposite category. His wife and producer Emma Thomas even called the filmmaker an ‘old softie’ and called his sense of humor underrated (via Variety)