Christopher Nolan continues to advocate against digital filmmaking. The director, who was at CinemaCon to promote his upcoming film "Interstellar," told filmmakers to go to movie theaters and experience cinema to see why film is better than the digital medium currently being used.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the director said, "Film is the best way to capture an image and project that image. It just is, hands down. That's based on my assessment of what I'm seeing as a filmmaker."
He continued, "As far as innovation and experimentation, I'm in favor any technological innovation but it will always have to exceed what came before. None of the new technologies have done that."
The comments come a number of months after studios decided to no longer create film prints. Additionally the majority of movie theaters have converted to digital projection systems. As a result studios will only distribute digital prints.
However for his upcoming film, Paramount is making an exception to make film prints. The director stated that the reason filmmakers do not see a difference between film and digital because they do not go to the movies enough. Nolan said, "I've gone to movie theaters and watched it. Not enough filmmakers do that. And not enough people in our industry spend enough time in theaters and see the end result."
Nolan remains one of the last filmmakers to shoot exclusively in film. His latest film was shot on IMAX cameras as well as 35 mm cameras. Nolan has been advocating for film throughout his career as well as his frequent collaborator Wally Pfister. Back in 2012, Pfister said "Chris and I-and I'm hoping other filmmakers-will fight as hard and long as we can to keep it going."
A number of filmmakers still continue to use film including Pauil Thomas Anderson, Stephen Spielberg, Steve McQueen and J.J Abrams. However a number of auteur directors have switched including David Fincher, Alexander Payne, Peter Jackson and James Cameron. Additionally the majority of studios are advocating digital because they believe it is cheaper.
During the CinemaCon conference Nolan also spoke about his upcoming film. He said, "I grew up in an era that was a golden age of the blockbuster when something we might call a family film could have universal appeal. That's something I want to see again. In terms of the tone of the film, it looks where we are as a people and has a universality about human experience,"
Regarding his casting for Matthew McConaughey, he said that after seeing the actor in "Mud," he was convinced. He said, "[Mud] showed me a side of Matthew's capabilities that I never knew was there. It was a transformative performance. From when I first saw it, I had an inside track on how great he could be."
The director also spoke about McConaughey's character and said, "I needed someone who is very much an everyman, someone the audience could experience the story with. He's just a phenomenal, charismatic presence in the movie. His performance is shaping up to be extraordinary."
"Interstellar" opens in November and also stars Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Ellen Burnstyn, Wes Bentley, and Bill Irwin.
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