Special effects and the cult film

In 2012 British Hollywood film director Christopher Nolan gave an interesting interview. In an article published in the Directors Guild of America Quarterly (amongst other places) Nolan responded to a question from reporter Jeffrey Ressner as to why he was “among the last holdouts who shoot on film in an industry that’s moved to digital”, explaining that, while he had felt under increasing pressure over the past ten years to move to digital, he remained with celluloid and the techniques of “practical effects” (also seemingly referred to interchangeably as “physical effects”) as much as possible. Explaining his reasoning, Nolan stated that:

The thing with computer-generated imagery is that it’s an incredibly powerful tool for making better visual effects. But I believe in an absolute difference between animation and photography. However sophisticated your computer-generated imagery is, if it’s been created from no physical elements and you haven’t shot anything, it’s going to feel like animation.