Paul Thomas Anderson Praises Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk’

The Oscar nominations are still a couple of months away, but you can pretty much already guarantee that Christopher Nolan has a Best Director slot secured. Filmmakers are always happy to recognize when one of their peers is at the top of their game, and the technical accomplishments in “Dunkirk” are the kind of thing that directors drool over. So, it’s not a big surprise that among the fans of the intense WWII movie is none other than Paul Thomas Anderson.

The director, who has his own awards season hopes stitched into “Phantom Thread,” took some time away from the editing bay to praise “Dunkirk.”

READ MORE: Steven Spielberg Reveals The Advice He Gave Christopher Nolan Before He Made ‘Dunkirk’

“Its practically wordless structure was so exciting to me,” he told Variety. “It’s stripped down to bare essentials.”

Indeed, Nolan’s no-frills, white-knuckle movie gets the most out of using as little as possible. Anderson was undoubtedly also wowed by the visual style of the picture, shot on 70mm. As you’ll recall, along with Tarantino and Nolan, the trio have an unoffical little club where they talk all things analog. They are all big proponents of the pure, theatrical experience, which means projecting movies from reels instead of hard drives. So it’s probably safe to say that Anderson found his way to a 70mm screening of “Dunkirk.”

By the way, this isn’t the first time Anderson has had a kind word to say about Nolan — he was also a big fan of “Interstellar.”

It seems like the garlands are already being prepared to be thrown on “Dunkirk” come Oscar time, but as know, anything can happen in the weeks and months ahead.