Christopher Nolan Heaps Praise on ‘The Curse’: ‘It’s Unlike Anything I’ve Ever Seen on Television’

Christopher Nolan is one of the biggest theatrical distribution purists you’ll find in Hollywood, but he still knows a good TV show when he sees one.

Nolan recently moderated a Q&A with his “Oppenheimer” star Benny Safdie and Nathan Fielder, co-creators and stars of the acclaimed Showtime series “The Curse.” In a new video of the panel released by Showtime, Nolan praised the dark real estate satire as one of the most exciting television projects in recent memory.

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“It’s an incredible show,” Nolan said. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television before.”

Nolan compared “The Curse” to landmark television events like David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks” for its ability to transcend conventional television boundaries and tell a genre-bending story with its own distinct format.

“There are so few shows that come along that have genuinely no precedence,” he said. “You’re going back to things like ‘Twin Peaks,’ or ‘The Prisoner,’ or Dennis Potter’s ‘Singing Detective’ and things like that, so you’re in an amazing space, and I can’t wait to catch up with the climax.”

Nolan is far from the only person to fall in love with “The Curse.” Many critics have praised the show for combining Fielder’s distinct brand of comedic discomfort with cutting social commentary. Fielder and Safdie also received the Wavelength Award at the 2023 IndieWire Honors for their collaboration on the show.

“Like its co-creators’ past work, ‘The Curse’ will not be for everyone,” IndieWire’s Ben Travers wrote in his initial review of the series. “Cringe comedy is a niche genre, and even if you’re able to appreciate the series’ caustic commentary, you may be too uncomfortable to hear its message through to the end. I hope not, though. ‘The Curse’ puts a lot on its plate — casting aspersions on reality TV and the entertainment industry at large, cultural erasure and cultural appropriation, classism and social media — but if I had to sum it up succinctly, I’d say it’s about people inserting themselves where they don’t belong. In America, a country built on top of its native people, that’s a thorny subject to examine, especially in its modern form. But Fielder and Safdie prove yet again to be masters of wielding excruciating discomfort toward enlightening results. Don’t lose out.”

All episodes of “The Curse” are now streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime.

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