Christopher Nolan and wife Emma Thomas get royal seal of approval after Oscars triumph

Oppenheimer finally netted Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas Academy Awards – and now titles (Picture: Getty)

British filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his wife and producer Emma Thomas are to receive a knighthood and damehood for their services to film.

Their recognition comes after their biopic Oppenheimer swept the 2024 awards season, winning seven Oscars and seven Baftas.

London-born filmmaker Nolan, 53, actually won his first Oscar for directing the movie about the scientist dubbed the ‘father of the atomic bomb’, J, Robert Oppenheimer, which starred Irish actor Cillian Murphy in the titular role.

He had previously been nominated for six Academy Awards for examining important questions throughout his body of work but had never won an Oscar until this year’s ceremony.

Nolan and Thomas, 52, have collaborated on all of his major feature films including The Dark Knight trilogy, 2010’s Inception, 2014’s Interstellar, 2017’s Dunkirk and 2020’s Tenet, since his filmmaking debut in 1998 with Following.

Nolan was careful about his own expectations around the gongs Oppenheimer might bring to him and his wife and professional partner, calling the possibility of an Oscar ‘a dream come true’ and ‘thrilling’.

The couple met at university and have worked together on all of Nolan’s films (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)

Oppenheimer was one of the biggest films of 2023 (Picture: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal)

‘But it’s not something that’s ever on our mind while we’re actually making the film because it’s so tough to get a film done and to get it out there in the marketplace that can work for an audience – that requires all of your attention and all of your focus. You can’t take your eye off that ball at any point,’ he told Metro.co.uk ahead of the film’s home release in November.

It’s unlikely the modest but highly revered filmmaking team would have been expecting to receive titles for their efforts, either.

Born in London to a British father and American mother, Nolan read English at University College London (UCL), choosing the school because of its filmmaking facilities.

It is also where he met his future wife, Thomas, with whom he has four children – Flora, Oliver, Rory and Magnus.

Together they co-founded and run a production company, Syncopy, which has been behind many of their blockbusters.

When Nolan was presented with the British Film Institute (BFI) Fellowship for being ‘one of the world’s most innovative and influential film directors’, he credited his wife.

He said he never felt alone making films as Thomas ‘always saw things the same way I did in terms of the importance of the medium’.

‘Working together on these films is a huge benefit in terms of we both completely understand what the other’s going through. And we also remind each other to draw a line under it at the end of the day – or try to – and not bring everything home,’ Nolan revealed to Metro.co.uk.

Thomas and Nolan with producer Charles Roven (L) accept Oppenheimer’s best picture Oscar win, surrounded by the cast and crew (Picture: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

He considers himself ‘very, very lucky’ to work with Thomas, but insisted that they try ‘not to talk about work all the time when we’re at home’, and instead strive for ‘a bit of a distinction there’.

The most challenging part of working with her husband for Thomas is that it can be tricky ‘to get perspective on things because you’re in it 100% of the time’.

‘Being able to step back and take the 30,000-foot view is sometimes a little bit difficult, although we’re pretty good between the two of us [at] sort of looking at each other and saying, “Well, no, you’re quite worried about that. But I think…”’

She’s satisfied, however, that that is one of the marks of their partnership working ‘really well’ – coupled with their ability to have ‘very honest conversations’.

‘I think all the positives outweigh the negatives, I’ll put it that way!’ she revealed.

The co-chief executive officer of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, has also been made an honorary CBE for his services to creative industries in the March 2024 Honours list.

The American businessman has been responsible for content operations at the streaming giant since 2000 and was appointed to his top position in July 2020.

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