Last Sunday at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, Empire Magazine along with Jameson hosted their film awards. Christopher Nolan attended and ended up walking away with 3 awards. Christopher Nolan was guaranteed the Empire Inspiration award, presented to him by Jessica Chastain. Henry Cavill presented Nolan with the Best Director award for Interstellar. Interstellar also won the big prize of the night, Best Film, which Emma Thomas and Jessica Chastain joined Nolan on stage to accept.

Read on for the transcripts of the acceptance speeches.

EMPIRE INSPIRATION

“Inspiration is not a word that can be used lightly. Since his debut in 1999 he has inspired audiences. Never once has he underestimated our ability to follow complex ideas. He’s shown that the leap from independent cinema to blockbuster filmmaking need not be that huge. He’s a traditionalist in the finest sense, but also incredibly progressive, and he’s inspired studios, making them realise that investing in a single filmmaker’s vision is not an impossible gamble. Lastly, he’s inspired the lexicon. His name has become a verb: ‘to Nolanise’, defined by the Urban Dictionary as taking an unrealistic idea for a film and making it work in a realistic world.” – Jessica Chastain presenting

“Thank you to Empire. Not to get Paul King in any more trouble with his wife, but I’m going to start by thanking my wife. I’d like to talk about inspiration, and my main inspiration is Emma. She’s produced all the films you saw there and a couple of others. She’s been there from the start and nothing would be possible without her. And thanks to Jessica and all the actors I’ve worked with over the years, who inspire me. I’m old enough to remember the dark days before Empire magazine. I have always been inspired by movies, and I was thrilled when Empire came along. It has a respect for the craft of filmmaking but never leaves behind the mass appeal of movies and the fun. So I do want to thank the readers of Empire and the people who produce it. Movies are the things that inspire me the most, and outside of that the pages of Empire are one of the few places that I’ve been able to enjoy the love of movies.” – Christopher Nolan

BEST DIRECTOR

“You’ve heard far too much from me already, so thank you to Empire, the readers of Empire, so I’ll just thank my brother Jonah who wrote the script and Kip Thorne who gave us the science.” – Christopher Nolan

BEST FILM – INTERSTELLAR

“Thank you so much to Empire and the readers. It means so much when it’s people who actually watch movies who give you an award like this. Interstellar was an amazing film to make. We became like family, so it’s wonderful to have Jessica here.” – Emma Thomas

“All I have to say is that the second I got a call from my agent asking if I was interested in a role in a Christopher Nolan film I said I didn’t even need to read the script because I love this team. What I loved was the message that love transcends time and space, because I believe that.” – Jessica Chastain