Christopher Nolan thanks nuclear disarmament campaigners in BAFTAs acceptance speech

Christopher Nolan used his acceptance speech at tonight’s BAFTA Film Awards to acknowledge the people who have fought for nuclear disarmament. 

• READ MORE: ‘Oppenheimer’ review: Christopher Nolan’s mind-blowing biopic hits like a bomb to the brain

He won the Best Director award at the ceremony in London tonight (February 18) for his work on Oppenheimer, a biopic about Robert J. Oppenheimer, the real-life American physicist who played a pivotal role in the creation of the atomic bomb in World War II. 

Often dubbed ‘the father of the atomic bomb’, Oppenheimer was instrumental in the creation of the nuclear weapons that were used in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict in human history. 

Nolan took to the stage at the Royal Festival Hall to accept his award, and made reference to the end of his film, in which the title character articulates his fear that his work may not have saved the world, but hastened its end. 

“I do just want to say, our film ends on what I think is a dramatically necessary note of despair,” he said. “But in the real world there are all kinds of individuals and organisations who have fought long and hard to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world.” 

“Since its peak in 1967, they’ve done it by almost 90%. Of late, that’s gone the wrong way. And so, in accepting this, I do just want to acknowledge their efforts and point out that they show the necessity and potential of efforts for peace.” 

Oppenheimer was the biggest winner of the night at the BAFTAs, winning a total of seven, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy. Poor Things came in second, with a total of five wins, and The Zone of Interest won three. 

Sophie Ellis-Bextor also took to the stage at the ceremony to perform her resurgent hit ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’, which has had a major viral revival in recent months due to its inclusion in the memorable final scene in Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn. 

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