Ever the urbane chap, filmmaker Christopher Nolan buttoned up one his waistcoats, took a sip of tea, and proceeded to walk-back his anti-Netflix comments. The Dunkirk director had previously had harsh words towards the streaming giant but after a nice strong cup of PG Tips, the acclaimed director settled down a bit and sent Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos an apology. What a guy! Find out more about the Christopher Nolan Netflix apology below.
If there’s one thing Christopher Nolan loves more than stories about men haunted by their deceased wives, it’s the theatrical experience. Nolan is a big picture sort of fellow, and he wants films projected on the biggest screen possible. Back in July, the Dark Knight director had some less-than-charitable words to say regarding streaming juggernaut Netflix, going so far as to call their policies “mindless,” which is properly as vulgar as Nolan gets. Here’s what the filmmaker originally said:
“Netflix has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films. They have this mindless policy of everything having to be simultaneously streamed and released, which is obviously an untenable model for theatrical presentation. So they’re not even getting in the game, and I think they’re missing a huge opportunity.”
When someone was uncouth enough to ask Nolan if he’d ever work with Netflix, the director scoffed, saying “No…I think the investment that Netflix is putting into interesting filmmakers and interesting projects would be more admirable if it weren’t being used as some kind of bizarre leverage against shutting down theaters. It’s so pointless. I don’t really get it.”
Well, time has soothed Nolan a little, and the filmmaker recently revealed he felt kind of rotten about his harsh Netflix words. The director told Variety that after issuing his anti-Netflix statement, he proceeded to send an apology email to Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos. Nolan still holds fast to his pro-movie theater stance, but he admits he could’ve worded his opinion better. “I should have been more polite,” the director conceded. “I said what I believe, but I was undiplomatic in the way I expressed it. I wasn’t giving any context to the frankly revolutionary nature of what Netflix has done. It’s extraordinary. They need appropriate respect for that, which I have.”
There you have it: Christopher Nolan, very nice man. While I am a fan of Nolan’s work and understand where he was initially coming from, I’d also wager he hasn’t spent time in a normal movie theater in quite a while. If he had, he’d know what a miserable hellscape most moviegoing has become, with low-quality projection, noisy theater goers, and management and projectionists who could care less about a quality experience. The idea of the hallowed halls of a movie theater has long since faded into history, replaced by an overall unpleasant experience. I’m perfectly fine with streaming movies at home as a result. Netflix, meanwhile, has continued their journey towards streaming domination, with plans to spend up to $ 8 billion on original content for 2018.
Speaking of streaming movies, you can stream Nolan’s excellent film Dunkirk when its released on digital HD on December 12, 2017. Just don’t tell him you’re watching it that way – he might frown.
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