Long before The Odyssey hit cinemas, director Christopher Nolan and other filmmakers were trying to make sure motion picture film would not become extinct.
Mr Nolan’s name shows up among hundreds of thousands of Sony documents leaked in 2014 and some of which concentrate on preserving the way films are captured
“Chris Nolan reached out to me yesterday, which was an interesting phone call to get. I love his movies, but have otherwise never interacted with him,” an email from Breaking Bad producer and writer Vince Gilligan to Sony executives read.
“He reached out because, as I’m sure you’re aware, we’re at a potentially historic moment in our business: film manufacture is teetering on the brink, and could effectively end.”
Mr Gilligan explained that Mr Nolan had said Kodak’s new chief executive, Jeff Clark, had reached out to studio heads to find “creative ways to keep his markets open and his production line going”.
He asked the Sony executives to do everything they could to make sure physical film did not disappear for the directors who prefer to use it rather than solely relying on digital methods.
“If there’s any possibility of our studio working with Kodak to help them keep film alive, I believe it would not only be a wonderful mitzvah, but a contribution to world cinema, and to art itself,” Mr Gilligan wrote, a “mitzvah” being a good deed in Judaism.
“It would also garner the appreciation and respect of filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Rian Johnson and many others … and me, too.”
Other documents from the tranche of emails show correspondence between former Sony executive Amy Pascal and Mr Clark.
“Amy, thank you again for your consideration of participating in the Kodak joint venture on film manufacturing,” Mr Clark wrote. “I have attached a proposed term sheet and a list of questions potential investors may have.”
A follow-up email between two Sony executives, however, points out that not every studio wanted to be part of the venture, but an alternative plan to make it possible for Kodak to continue manufacturing film is proposed.
“I’ll let you know when I have an idea of what our financial commitment could be, Kodak is eager to have a commitment from the studios by early next week,” it reads.
Though the emails stop short of detailing what the final Kodak deal entailed, the publishing and printing company still makes motion picture film – and Mr Nolan uses it.
“Captured entirely on Kodak 65mm film. Presented in theatres on Kodak 35mm and 70mm film in 5-perf and IMAX,” reads an Instagram post by Kodak about Mr Nolan’s latest blockbuster, The Odyssey.
Although Kodak, based in Rochester, New York, declared bankruptcy in 2012, the company is still afloat. It is, however, a shadow of what it was during the 1980s and 1990s, when it had the cultural cachet now reserved for a modern Big Tech company.
But many filmmakers still hold the company in high regard.
During a recent interview with CBS News’s 60 Minutes, a copy of the book How to Make Good Movies, published in 1950 by Kodak, was visible on Mr Nolan’s desk.
“That’s the secret,” he laughed when asked about the book. “I’m old enough to have started recording things on a Super 8 camera … My family had a Super 8mm camera instead of a video camera.”
