Robert Downey Jr. trekked to Sundance Movie Competition‘s opening evening gala to disclose {that a} “horrible tragedy” has befallen Christopher Nolan. However don’t fear concerning the filmmaker behind “Oppenheimer.”
His hardship is absolutely only a dangerous case of the blues, and it’s as a result of Nolan — as Downey defined on Thursday whereas bestowing Nolan with the first-ever Trailblazer Award — “has turn into recognizable on the road.
Based on Downey, the crucial and industrial success of “Oppenheimer” implies that informal moviegoers have began to identify the British director. And, in consequence, “he recoils, as if from a scorching flame, from this new and unwelcome actuality.”
Effectively, Nolan will not be retreating from the highlight anytime quickly. The director, an awards season favourite, was lauded by Downey as an “enigmatic auteur” and “as impartial a voice we’ve ever had in cinema.” However the actor, who has additionally been on the Oscar circuit for portraying Lewis Strauss in “Oppenheimer,” additionally playfully skewered his director.
“We now have turn into extraordinarily shut,” Downey advised the packed home at a venue about half-hour exterior of Park Metropolis. “As in, we had dinner on location as soon as.” He additionally teased the director for limiting rest room breaks on set to “11 a.m. and 6 p.m. sharp,” including that “diuretics are his kryptonite.”
Nolan could also be over the eye, however he expressed pleasure in returning to Sundance. He received his large break on the competition with 2000’s “Memento,” a time-bending thriller starring Man Pearce as a person who suffers from anterograde amnesia. He’s gone on to make beloved blockbusters, such because the “Darkish Knight” trilogy, the mind-bender “Inception” and the World Conflict II epic “Dunkirk.”
He wasn’t all the time breaking field workplace information. Nolan recalled making an attempt to promote “Memento” within the early aughts, however “no person wished the movie. It was an appalling place to be.”
It wasn’t till a screening at Sundance that “Memento” ignited any traction in North America. “In the event you get your movie [to Sundance], you will get an viewers,” Nolan mentioned, acknowledging that spotlight doesn’t assure enthusiasm from critics and moviegoers. “They received’t all the time see eye to eye with you.”
Nolan wasn’t the one Sundance alum who was feted on opening evening. Kristen Stewart, who headlines two movies at this 12 months’s Sundance, the sci-fi romance drama “Love Me” and the queer crime thriller “Love Lies Bleeding,” was honored with the Visionary Award. Celine Track and Maite Alberdi, who premiered “Previous Lives” and “The Everlasting Reminiscence,” respectively, on the 2023 competition, every acquired the annual Vanguard Award.
Company, adhering to the “mountain stylish” costume code, included a number of filmmaking luminaries there to assist movies on the competition in varied capacities, together with Jodie Foster, Jesse Eisenberg, Darren Aronofsky and Christine Vachon, in addition to Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum, who moderated Sundance’s opening press convention earlier that day.
Stewart remembered first attending the competition 20 years in the past, when she “received my first pair of Ugg boots and received to be the place the cool children are.” Since then, Stewart has returned with “The Runaways,” “Lizzie” and her directorial debut “Come Swim.”
“Sundance is the fucking shit,” she mentioned to applause. “I like being right here.”
Eisenberg, who offered the award to Stewart, has remained in “awe” of her since they labored collectively the romantic comedies “Adventureland” and “Cafe Society” and the motion movie “American Extremely.” Or, as he described these indies, “two mild talkies and one aggressive shoot-em-up.”
“She’s so genuine [on film sets] that you just nearly wish to ensure that she’s OK on the finish of the day,” he mentioned. “It’s such a present for audiences.”
Track, in the meantime, reminisced about bringing her first movie to the competition final 12 months. “At Sundance,” she mentioned, “being a first-time filmmaker with a low funds is a badge of honor and the best fucking factor on this planet.”
Robert Redford, who based the competition 40 years in the past, wasn’t in attendance within the mountainside city that hosts Sundance. However his daughter Amy introduced a message from her father, who expressed sorrow for lacking the annual celebration of movie.
“Whereas I’m sorry I can’t be with you in individual tonight,” Amy shared on her dad’s behalf, “I wish to welcome you to Sundance Movie Competition.”