Christopher Nolan paid tribute to the late actor Heath Ledger as he accepted the Best Director award for Oppenheimer at the 81st Golden Globes on Sunday.
Nolan, became emotional as he received his first ever Globe, after previously being nominated Memento (2000), Inception (2010) and Dunkirk (2017).
In his speech, Nolan noted that he’d only ever given a speech at the Globes on behalf of Heath Ledger, who starred in the director’s smash hit The Dark Knight in 2008.
Ledger died of an accidental drug overdose in his New York apartment aged 28, after filming was completed but before the film was released.
His haunting portrayal of the Joker earned Ledger a posthumous Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Christopher Nolan (pictured) paid tribute to the late actor Heath Ledger as he accepted the Best Director award for Oppenheimer at the 81st Golden Globes on Sunday
‘The only time I’ve ever been on this stage before was accepting one of these on behalf of our dear friend, Heath Ledger, and that was complicated and challenging for me,’ Nolan said.
‘In the middle of speaking, I got all stuck, and Robert Downey Jr. caught my eye and gave me a look of love and support — the same look he’s giving me now.’
Nolan to admit he’d thought it would be ‘simpler’ accepting the award for himself this time around, but now realises he ‘can only accept this on behalf of people’.
‘As directors, we bring people together and we try to get them to give their best,’ he explained, before praising the ‘incredible’ cast of Oppenheimer including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr. and Florence Pugh.
Oppenheimer was released four months ago on July 21 – the same day as Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
The double screening prompted many to flock to the cinema to see both films in a phenomenon dubbed ‘Barbenheimer’ – boosting the sales of both.
Since its release, Oppenheimer grossed over USD $953million worldwide and became the third-highest grossing film of 2023.
The film is adapted from the 2006 book American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
The book, which won the Pulitzer Prize, details Oppenheimer’s personal life and his time leading the Manhattan Project in the early and mid-1940s
