The very serious-minded Christopher Nolan says he has “no guilt” about being a ‘Fast & Furious’ fan. Here he is in a recent InSession podcast:
I watch those movies all the time, I love them… you don’t need to watch them all in one sitting, it’s only the last few where a very specific arc of mythologies develop, I would start with ‘Tokyo Drift.
‘Fast & Furious’? Really? The only films from that franchise that I found semi-watchable were “Fast Five” and “Tokyo Drift.” The rest? Not very good. I’ll admit, “Tokyo Drift” is definitely one of those outliers in the franchise — a completely different film from the rest of them.
Deemed a failure upon release, “Tokyo Drift” is now seen more favorably, and was ranked second best of the ‘Fast’ franchise by IndieWire, The Washington Post, TheWrap, and Collider. Not surprising, “Fast Five” topped all of those lists.
Hey, just because you’re a top-notch filmmaker doesn’t mean you can’t also like the most mainstream, and dumbed-down, of blockbusters. Remember, a few years back, when Paul Thomas Anderson stated his love for “Venom 2” and “Shang-Chi”? There’s something about a genuinely great director somehow having a passionate liking for mediocrity.
Let us not forget that 10 years ago, Nolan was quoted as praising Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel”:
I believe that what Zack has done in Man of Steel will define Superman for our time. [...] I've seen a lot of concept art in my time, but I've rarely seen such focused visual power. And I've rarely seen the promise of such imagery actually delivered onto the screen. But that's what Zack does.
Other low-brow films Nolan has professed his love for over the years include “Love Actually,” and “Talladega Nights” which he says is “one of the great comedies.”
If there's an old movie playing, I mean, anything by Kubrick, it's a remote drop. And one of the great comedies too, I mean Talladega Nights, I'm never gonna be able to switch that up.
At least Nolan has major love for the howlingly funny 2010 comedy “MacGruber.” Anne Hathaway even mentioned Nolan’s silly penchant for randomly quoting “MacGruber” lines on the set of “The Dark Knight Rises.” It’s still one of the cleverest comedies of the last decade. Taste!
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.