Christopher Nolan Names This 97%-Rated Flick the Best Disney Movie Ever Made: ‘It's Extraordinary’
Did you think the director only liked serious, big-budget sci-fi masterpieces and epic historical dramas? No, the creator of Interstellar and Inception knows a thing or two about children's movies, too.
Christopher Nolan is one of the most influential directors of our time. His approach to non-linear and complex scripts is beloved by viewers and critics alike, and his name has become a powerful brand – Nolan's films gross hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office.
This makes it all the more interesting to find out what kind of movies Nolan himself likes. Not only does the director like classic sci-fi masterpieces like 2001: A Space Odyssey or masterfully written dramas like 12 Angry Men, but, as it turns out, he also likes Disney movies.
Christopher Nolan Has Nothing But Praise for 1964's Mary Poppins
Christopher Nolan admitted to admiring Robert Stevenson's Mary Poppins, which was released in 1964:
“Mary Poppins is great. [...] When I look at Mary Poppins, what's interesting to me technically is that it's so well made – it's extraordinary. Not just visual effects. You've got these performers singing and dancing with no cuts [...], which is extremely extraordinary.”
Mary Poppins remains one of the studio's crowning achievements. The film received a slew of Oscar nominations and earned its creators five statuettes and $30 million.
Re-releases of the film brought its box office total to $102 million. Today, it is considered one of the greatest achievements in Hollywood children's cinema, and millions of viewers still adore it.
Mary Poppins Adaptations Was Hated by Pamela Lyndon Travers
However, with so much love from the audience, it is surprising that the adaptation did not satisfy the author of the original story. Walt Disney tried to buy the movie rights from Pamela Lyndon Travers as early as 1938. But it wasn't until 1961 that the author agreed to the deal.
As a result, Travers' dislike for the movie was so deep that it grew into a separate movie – Saving Mr. Banks, which presents in detail Travers' relationship with the industry and Walt Disney himself.
The writer did not like anything: primitive, in her opinion, animated scenes, an overly idealized image of Mary Poppins and the environment itself, which she called fantasy without magic. Travers was so upset by Disney's work that she considered the movie a betrayal.
