Christopher Nolan Says He’s “Quite Keen To Move On” From ‘Oppenheimer,’ Responds To Spike Lee’s Take On His Film

As awards season approaches, many consider “Oppenheimer” a frontrunner for all kinds of awards. But while Christopher Nolan and his film will undoubtedly be in the running for Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars, the director is ready to leave the film behind. In a new interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Nolan expressed that while he appreciate the film’s success, he wants to “move on” from the “very dark” and “nihilistic” tones of “Oppenheimer.”

READ MORE: ‘Oppenheimer’ Review: Christopher Nolan Majestically Turns The Manhattan Project Into American Myth

“I definitely– part of me wants to leave the story behind,” Nolan told the outlet. “I mean, it’s a great privilege to be able to talk about a film that you’ve made that’s now going into the home and on 4k and Blu-ray and all the rest. It’s great to be able to sit here and talk to you about the success of the movie. That’s a huge privilege. But the subject matter is very dark. It’s nihilistic. And, yeah, there’s part of me that’s quite keen to move on and maybe do something, you know, not quite as bleak.”

Of course, Nolan has no idea what his next picture will be, but when have the director’s film ever had a light tone? There’s levity to parts of “Inception,” but has Nolan ever done anything that approaches lightheartedness? It’s interesting to consider, especially since “Oppenheimer” feels like a culmination of a lot of Nolan’s favorite themes in his filmography. Maybe he’ll surprise us in his next outing?

Nolan also responded to fellow director Spike Lee‘s comments about “Oppenheimer” he made in October. Last month, Lee told The Washington Post he would have preferred Nolan show the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings from the Japanese perspective. “[Nolan] is a massive filmmaker… and this is not a criticism. It’s a comment,” Lee said. “If [“Oppenheimer”] is three hours, I would like to add some more minutes about what happened to the Japanese people. People got vaporized. Many years later, people are radioactive. It’s not like he didn’t have power. He tells studios what to do. I would have loved to have the end of the film maybe show what it did, dropping those two nuclear bombs on Japan.”

So how did Nolan take Lee’s comments? “Spike Lee’s one of my idols. And for him to say that he thought Oppenheimer was a great film, that was the bit I focused on,” said Nolan. “I was just blown away by it. And he was very specific and respectful in what he was saying, that he would have done a particular thing because he’s a different filmmaker. And different filmmakers interpret things differently. So I honestly was just thrilled that he got something out of the movie.”

“Oppenheimer” producer Emma Thomas, also in the interview, backed up Nolan’s statement. “When I looked at what [Lee] said, it was kind of perfect,” she said. “He just talked about the film that he would have made. And that’s always really fascinating to me, is the ways in which different directors take a subject matter and sort of do different things with it.” And Nolan’s lack of a Japanese perspective of the bombings stems from how the film is so immersed in the titular nuclear physicist’s point of view. “The way Oppenheimer receives the information about what’s done with his invention is exactly as it happened in real life,” Thomas continued. “He heard about it on the radio, just like the rest of America. And so the way Chris told the story was very true to what happened in real life and also the way he set out to make it.”

Even though Nolan is ready to move on from “Oppenheimer,” he’ll still have to see how his film does this awards season. Then, who knows? Maybe the director will surprise us with the least serious-minded film he’s ever made.