The U.K. government released a statement on Thursday announcing that Christopher Nolan, the Oscar-winning filmmaker of “Oppenheimer,” along with his wife Emma Thomas, the producer, will be awarded a damehood and a knighthood for their contributions to film.
Their honor comes after their film, which is a biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” dominated the film festival circuit and took home seven Oscars, including best director and best picture at the Academy Awards earlier this month.
The 53-year-old Nolan has previously received nominations for “Dunkirk,” “Inception,” and “Memento.”
It came as a bit of a surprise to learn of their awards because King Charles III, who bestows them, generally gives them out twice a year—once to celebrate the start of the new year and again on his birthday. They are sometimes given out in recognition of exceptional accomplishments, frequently in the fields of sports and the arts.
The awards are formally given out at a ceremony held at Buckingham Palace, frequently in person by the British queen. However, because he is receiving cancer treatment, the king is not performing any royal obligations at this time.
Nolan, who was born in London to an American mother and a British father, first made the acquaintance of his future wife, Thomas, 53, at University College London. Along with running Syncopy, a production firm that has produced several of their successes, they are parents to four children.
Earlier this year, Nolan acknowledged his wife when he accepted the British cinema Institute Fellowship, describing himself as “one of the world’s most innovative and influential film directors.”
Thomas “always saw things the same way I did in terms of the importance of the medium,” the filmmaker claimed, thus he never felt alone while creating movies.
It is just a little over a century ago that director Christopher Nolan addressed the crowd at this year’s Academy Awards.
Nolan, who won a share of the best picture prize with his spouse and producer, stated, “Imagine being there 100 years into painting or theater.” “We don’t know where this incredible journey is going from here. But to know that you think that I’m a meaningful part of it means the world to me.”