Entertainment
Christopher Nolan’s Favorite Series Is This Near-Perfect 10-Part Thriller “Unlike Anything” on TV
While Christopher Nolan is best known for delivering critically acclaimed, groundbreaking films throughout his career, he’s also got some surprising tastes when it comes to movies. He’s called the Fast and Furious films a “tremendous action franchise,” named Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby as one of his favorite films of all time, and even shown appreciation for the Marvel Cinematic Universe for bringing audiences into theaters, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. If Nolan’s fans are surprised by his taste in movies, they’ll definitely be shocked by his favorite TV show. Nolan has showered praise upon Showtime’s black comedy The Curse, saying that it’s “unlike anything” that’s currently on TV.
What Is ‘The Curse’ About?
The Curse focuses on Asher Siegel (Nathan Fielder) and his wife, Whitney (Emma Stone), as they host an HGTV show called “Fliplanthropy” where they attempt to help renovate the local neighborhoods. They’re also trying to start a family in the process, until a girl named Nala (Hikmah Warsame) curses Asher when he pretends to give her a $100 bill for the show. Strange and horrific things begin to happen to Asher after he’s “cursed”. His marriage to Whitney starts to unravel. They learn they’re having a child, but the pregnancy is ectopic, meaning that there’s a slim chance it’ll survive. Asher is even cursed again by his friend and producer, Dougie (Benny Safdie), during an argument. Fielder, who co-created The Curse with Safdie, said he based the series on a real-life experience he had where a woman supposedly cursed him:
“I don’t believe in that stuff, but I can’t get those things out of my head. Sometimes if someone says something to you, even conversationally, where you feel like you messed up something, it can linger in your mind and grow and consume you. Then we just started riffing on that idea, like, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if that vibe was hanging over an entire show?’”
The Curse received universal acclaim, with critics praising its mix of black comedy and drama. It’s well deserved, as the series doesn’t just deal with a potential curse but also tackles multiple topics, including gentrification, marriage, and Asher and Whitney’s struggle to be considered “good people.” Despite “Flipantrophy’s” premise, The Curse reveals that the show is more or less gentrifying the town it works in; Whitney’s parents are also revealed to be slumlords. Asher is also revealed to have his own hangups, including some deeply rooted insecurities about his marriage and his position in life. That The Curse can balance all of these different stories shows why it made such an impact, and it probably explains why Christopher Nolan was drawn to the series.
Christopher Nolan Compared ‘The Curse’ to ‘Twin Peaks’
Christopher Nolan hosted a Q&A after a screening of The Curse‘s pilot with Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie, where he delivered praise for the series and even made a surprising comparison to another beloved, twist-filled TV show. “It’s an incredible show, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television before. There are so few shows that come along that have genuinely no precedence. 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 said. Comparing Twin Peaks and The Curse might be surprising, but it makes sense: both series start in one genre, then take some surprisingly sharp narrative turns throughout their run. In the same vein, Fielder’s other projects, including Nathan For You and The Rehearsal, feature the kind of surreal edge that David Lynch would have been proud of.
Nolan also had praise for Emma Stone’s performance as Whitney. “I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say, as the series develops, she can be pretty maddening at times, in a very credible way. The performance, I think, is absolutely amazing and wonderful. She’s totally in it,” he said. Stone slowly unveils more layers to Whitney as The Curse progresses, showcasing that she isn’t that happy in her marriage to Asher; it all boils over in the penultimate episode “Young Hearts”, where Whitney delivers a searing monologue to Asher about how he’s held her back from her dreams. It’s a very uncomfortable, intense sequence that’s magnified by Stone’s performance, as she layers levels of escalating scorn throughout the monologue. It wouldn’t be the first time that a 2023 project starring Stone had an intense performance from her, as she shocked audiences with her turn in Poor Things.
‘The Curse’ Has an Ending That Nolan Would Be Proud Of
The biggest plot twist in The Curse involves its finale, “Green Queen.” Though Asher and Whitney’s marriage seems to have improved, and Whitney’s ready to give birth to their baby, things take a turn for the weird for Asher. It’s a completely unexpected moment, but it’s proof that the curse never left Asher — and it’s made darkly more hilarious when the fire crews get involved. It’s the kind of plot twist that Nolan loves putting in his films, which might explain part of why he was drawn to The Curse. Nolan has also drawn Benny Safdie into his cast of recent collaborators, as Safdie had a role in Oppenheimer as physicist Edward Teller; Safdie will also appear in Nolan’s Greek epic The Odyssey.
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Despite its critical acclaim, The Curse has yet to be renewed for a second season. Both Fielder and Safdie have mentioned that they have ideas for a second season, with Fielder telling The Hollywood Reporter, “There definitely could be. From the start, we had it mapped out beyond the first season.” If The Curse returns, hopefully it keeps the same mix of black comedy and drama that looped in Christopher Nolan… or, at the very least, get him to direct an episode or two.
The Curse is available to stream on Paramount+.
- Release Date
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2023 – 2024-00-00
- Network
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Showtime
- Directors
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Nathan Fielder
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