Christopher Nolan Calls TALLADEGA NIGHTS One of the Great Comedies and Never Passes Up a Chance to Watch It
Christopher Nolan is known for his films with complex storylines and star-studded casts like Memento, Inception, the Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar, Tenet, and his most recent blockbuster, Oppenheimer. But just like any other film buff, Nolan has his own guilty pleasures, and his favorite is Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
Nolan revealed on The Rich Eisen Show during his Oppenheimer press tour that he considers Talladega Nights to be one of the “great comedies,” which may come as a surprise to anyone who assumed the Oscar-nominated filmmaker is a film snob. Eisen asked Nolan to name his favorite “remote drops,” referring to films that you just have to watch any time you’re scrolling through TV channels and see it’s airing.
“I mean, god, anything by [Stanley] Kubrick, you know? It’s a remote drop,” said Nolan. “And some of the great comedies too, I mean Talladega Nights, I’m never gonna be able to switch that up.”
“The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a Christopher Nolan mic drop movie?” Eisen asked.
“If you ain’t first, you’re last,” replied Nolan, referring to Will Ferrell’s famous catchphrase from the 2006 comedy about the rise and fall and rise again of a race car driver. Ferrell starred in the Adam McKay-directed comedy opposite John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Gary Cole and Michael Clarke Duncan.
Nolan has previously sung the praises of Kubrick, citing 2001: A Space Odyssey as one of the greatest films ever made, but isn’t it way more interesting that he loves Talladega Nights? I think so.
via: Variety