“It is almost a Fahrenheit 451 level of responsibility”: Guillermo del Toro Responds to Christopher Nolan’s War Against Streaming Giants
Christopher Nolan and his dislike for online streaming platforms are no secret at this point. He made headlines earlier when, in 2020, Warner Bros. suddenly decided to remove the theatrical release window and debut 17 films that were slated to release in 2021 on the very same day as their theatrical release. Christopher Nolan bluntly called them the “worst streaming service,” and it created a whole debate online.
Now, in 2023, Christopher Nolan is again going head-to-head with streaming platforms, it seems. The director had been enjoying massive success with his newest venture, Oppenheimer, and Nolan insists on people owning a Blu-ray copy so “no evil streaming services” can steal it from their audience.
From the tone of it, anyone could guess that it was probably said in a jestful manner. However, it did create a spark again online, hitting the headlines. But this time, Guillermo del Toro came in support of Christopher Nolan in his seeming war against online streaming platforms.
What did Guillermo del Toro say in support of Christopher Nolan?
In an interview with IGN recently, Christopher Nolan went all out against streaming platforms while making his case for owning Blu-rays:
“If you buy a 4K UHD, you buy a Blu-ray, it’s on your shelf, it’s yours. No company is going to break into your house and take it from you and repossess it. It’s yours and you own it. That’s never really the case with any form of digital distribution.”
This can be seen as a jab against Warner Bros., who pulled out six HBO Max (Now Max) original movies from their platform suddenly, without any notice. They also did not release Batgirl in theaters or in streaming, completely blindsided the filmmakers and the audience that gave birth to the #releaseBatgirl movement on the internet.
Nolan, however, did a follow-up interview with The Washington Post to clear matters out and said:
“It was a joke when I said it. But nothing’s a joke when it’s transcribed onto the internet.”
He continued, saying:
“There is a danger, these days, that if things only exist in the streaming version they do get taken down, they come and go.”
Guillermo del Toro actually came out in support of Christopher Nolan, emphasizing how important it is to own physical media and bringing up connotations from the dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 quite aptly.
Physical media is almost a Fahrenheit 451 (where people memorized entire books and thus became the book they loved) level of responsibility. If you own a great 4K HD, Blu-ray, DVD etc etc of a film or films you love… you are the custodian of those films for generations to… https://t.co/ETGUNhKNoL
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 20, 2023
He calls it a responsibility, as one becomes the custodian of knowledge for generations to come.
What is Christopher Nolan’s next project?
Usually, Nolan’s films are quite dark and bleak. Be it the Dark Knight Trilogy or Insomnia, it crawls under your skin and brain and forces you to think or go to a dark place of imagination. However, there might be a change on the horizon; as he said while talking to Yahoo Entertainment, he said that after Oppenheimer, “part of [him] wants to leave the story behind.” He also mentioned that he wants his next film to be “not quite as bleak.”
“Part of me wants to leave the story behind. I mean, you know, it’s a great privilege to be able to talk about a film that you’ve made that’s now going into the home and on 4K and Blu-ray and all the rest. It’s great to be able to sit here and talk to you about the success of the movie. That’s a huge privilege. But the subject matter is very dark. It’s nihilistic. And, yeah, there’s part of me that’s quite keen to move on and maybe do something, you know, not quite as bleak.”
Oppenheimer’s 4K Ultra UD, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital release will include many things, like exclusive behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with Nolan and other cast and crew that would give a glimpse into the creative journey.
