Christopher Nolan reflected on accepting award for Heath Ledger in emotional Golden Globes speech

Christopher Nolan has reflected upon his emotional speech at the Golden Globes after he won the best director role.

Nolan, a director like no other, has been around a lot of famous faces, but there are only few that he welcomes into his inner circle when it comes to return work.

One of those was his ‘dear friend’ Heath Ledger.

Christopher Nolan accepted an award on behalf of Heath Ledger (CBS)

Having worked together for his Batman movies, as Ledger played the Joker at the time and Christian Bale played Bruce Wayne, Nolan became close to the Aussie.

But decades after the Gotham City films, Nolan bagged himself a Golden Globe for Best Film Director for Oppenheimer – which was only one of five wins for the movie.

Instead of boasting about his own successes, he chose to dedicate it elsewhere.

Oppenheimer won so many awards after it came out, such as the awards for Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr and Best Original Score - Motion Picture for Ludwig Göransson.

When collecting his award, Murphy paid tribute to Nolan and their 20-year-long collaboration that has seen them work on six movies together so far.

He said: “I knew the first time I walked on a Chris Nolan set it was different.

“I could tell by the level of vigour, focus, the level of dedication and the complete lack of seating options for actors.”

And when it was Nolan’s turn to step on stage to collect his award, he recalled the moment he accepted an award for the late Ledger, who died in 2008 aged just 28.

Ledger tragically passed away before the release of Nolan’s The Dark Knight, in which he played the Joker.

Ledger’s performance in the Batman movie was met with critical acclaim, and he posthumously won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor, and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He reflected on that moment at the Golden Globes (CBS)

Nolan said: “The only time I have only ever been on this stage before was accepting one of these on behalf of our dear friend Heath Ledger and that was complicated and challenging for me.

“In the middle of speaking Robert Downey Jr caught my eye and gave me a look of love and support, the same look he is giving me now, the same love and support he’s shown so many people in our community over so many years.

“I thought it would be simpler accepting for myself but as a director of course I accept on behalf of (everyone), as directors we bring people together, we try and get them to bring their best.”

Downey Jr won the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer.

Appearing on stage, he joked: “I took a beta blocker so this is going to be a breeze.”

The 58-year-old then thanked the cast and crew which helped them ‘render a God damn masterpiece’ in Oppenheimer.