Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas Set to Receive British Knighthood and Damehood

The ‘Oppenheimer’ producers are fresh off their first Oscar win for best picture.

BY CHRISTY PIÑA, MARCH 29

Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are the newest British celebrities up for knighthood and damehood in the United Kingdom for their services to the film industry, according to The Associated Press.

The newly Oscar-winning director and producer of Oppenheimer took home best picture at this year’s Academy Awards for their J. Robert Oppenheimer biopic, starring Cillian Murphy. The film won six other awards that night, including best actor for Murphy, supporting actor for Robert Downey Jr. and directing for Nolan, among others. The acclaimed filmmaker had previously been nominated for Memento, Inception and Dunkirk.

Typically, the news of who will be receiving the honor of knighthood and damehood is announced at the beginning of the year and on King Charles III’s birthday, since he is the one who does the knighting. However, the honor is sometimes awarded after special achievements, which would explain why Nolan and Thomas are getting it a few weeks after winning their Oscar.

The knighting often takes place at a formal awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace by a U.K. monarch in person. However, with King Charles currently taking a break from royal duties as he receives cancer treatment, it’s difficult to know when the married couple and producing partners will receive their honors.

Nolan and Thomas first met at the University College London, where they were both studying. Together, they run their production company, Syncopy, and have four children. Through the company, they have produced many of the filmmaker’s biggest hits, including the Batman trilogy, The Prestige, Interstellar and Tenet.

During Nolan’s Oscars best director speech, he thanked Thomas, the “producer of all our films and all of our children.” Similarly, during her acceptance speech for best picture, she shouted out her husband.

“I have been dreaming about this moment for so long, but it seemed so unlikely that it would actually ever happen,” she said at the time. “The reason this movie was the movie it was, was Chris Nolan. He is singular, he is brilliant, and I am so grateful to you.”