King Charles awards Knighthood to Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas

The Inception director formally received a knighthood on Wednesday and his wife, who has produced all his films.

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan and his producer wife Emma Thomas have said King Charles told them he liked Oppenheimer, as they received honours at Buckingham Palace.

Their partnership has led to major blockbusters, including The Dark Knight trilogy and their most recent venture, the epic biopic Oppenheimer, which swept the 2024 award ceremonies.

Nolan said it was "really wonderful" to meet the King, adding that to receive the honours together was "very special". Thomas said receiving a damehood was "mind-blowing" and she had "never even dreamed of anything like this happening", adding it was "even more meaningful" to be honoured alongside her husband.

Discussing their conversation with Charles, Nolan, 54, told the PA news agency: "It was very nice that he knew our work and was aware of it, and, yes, he was hoping that I would take this as encouragement to do more of it."

Speaking at Buckingham Palace, Thomas, 53, added, "He'd seen Oppenheimer, and he liked it, so that was very gratifying to hear." The biopic of American theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Los Alamos Laboratory that developed the atomic bomb during the Second World War, marked the first time the couple had won the Best Picture Oscar and Best Film Bafta.

Thomas said: "What I was really thrilled by is the fact that I've heard anecdotally since about lots of younger people having their first experience of this story on the big screen, and then delving deeper and doing more of their own research into the events that we portrayed."

The couple, who have four children, met while studying at University College London (UCL), with Nolan introducing Thomas to the university's film society, where he was president and produced short films. Asked what his advice for budding filmmakers was, Nolan replied: "Find a good partner."