Christopher Nolan is unquestionably one of cinema’s most celebrated directors working today. When all’s said and done, he may go down as one of the best to ever do it. From his incredible early works such as “Memento” to “The Dark Knight,” his $1 billion take on the Batman legend, he’s not only made lots of acclaimed films, but he’s also displayed a ridiculous range along the way. Nolan now has a great deal of control over his sets, given that box office dollars tend to follow his critical acclaim. While the filmmaker does have certain things he bans from his sets, chairs aren’t one of them, despite reports to the contrary.
For those who might not be aware, several years back around the release of “Tenet,” reports surfaced that Nolan had banned chairs from his sets. It all began with Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway, who worked with the director on both “Interstellar” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” In a 2020 interview with Variety, Hathaway made the claim that Nolan did not allow chairs on his sets. The idea being that if you’re sitting, you’re not working. Here’s what she had to say about it at the time:
“Chris also doesn’t allow chairs. I worked with him twice. He doesn’t allow chairs, and his reasoning is, if you have chairs, people will sit, and if they’re sitting, they’re not working. I mean, he has these incredible movies in terms of scope and ambition and technical prowess and emotion. It always arrives at the end under schedule and under budget. I think he’s onto something with the chair thing.”
Hathaway didn’t seem to be annoyed by the lack of chairs. On the contrary, she was defending the idea, suggesting that the results speak for themselves, justifying the notion. After all, if one makes a movie as good as “The Prestige” or “Inception,” who is to question the method?
Christopher Nolan does allow chairs on his sets – but he has banned other items
Despite the fact that Hathaway wasn’t condemning the notion of not being able to sit on a comfy chair while filming, there was a pretty abrupt backlash to the whole thing online. The director was pretty quick to clear things up. Nolan’s spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, sent out a statement (via IndieWire) in 2020 to set the record straight:
“For the record, the only things banned from [Christopher Nolan’s] sets are cell phones (not always successfully) and smoking (very successfully). The chairs Anne was referring to are the directors chairs clustered around the video monitor, allocated on the basis of hierarchy not physical need. Chris chooses not to use his but has never banned chairs from the set. Cast and crew can sit wherever and whenever they need and frequently do.”
So, chairs are allowed, although the confusion was understandable. Smoking is also an understandable thing to not want around while filming. Cellphones are likewise a huge distraction and, in a perfect world, it’s also not hard to see why Nolan wouldn’t want those around, but that’s a tough ask. This is a particular filmmaker who has earned the right to be particular. Nolan still likes to shoot on film and he doesn’t like 3D. But let’s not assume he’s some tyrant who doesn’t want people to have a seat when they need one.
Whatever the case, the whole thing didn’t hurt the filmmaker’s reputation any. Nolan’s latest film “Oppenheimer” not only took home Best Picture at the Oscars, but it also made nearly $1 billion at the box office as well. Much of that is credited to the stellar ensemble cast, all who seemed more than happy to sign up to work with Nolan.
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