‘Basis of hierarchy not…’: When Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan had to put out a statement explaining Anne Hathway’s claims about THIS

Anne Hathaway is a talented and highly respected actress in Hollywood with the experience of working with some of the biggest and bravest directors of her generation. One of those directors is none other than Christopher Nolan. The actress worked with him in two films and has always been quite vocal about how that has always been a lovely experience. Though a careless remark by her in 2020 almost created a big controversy for the director so much so that he had to put out a special PR statement regarding this.

Anne Hathaway on Christopher Nolan’s approach to filmmaking on sets

It’s the dream of many actors to work with Christopher Nolan on one of his films. Anne Hathaway is one of the lucky few who was able to work with him in not just one but two incredible films. Her first was in portraying the role of Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises and the second time was when she was cast as the female lead in Nolan’s space adventure film Interstellar.

While talking to Hugh Jackman in 2020, for Variety’s Actors on Actors, the Oscar winning actress revealed the extraordinary environment that she witnessed on the sets of Christopher Nolan.

“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,” the Serenity actor had revealed. “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.”

Though what she most definitely meant as a praise for the director’s commitment as a filmmaker was quickly taken out of the context and Nolan was brought under fire for being tough to work with and having a bad working environment on his sets.

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Christopher Nolan’s clarifications on Anne Hathaway’s comments

Seeing the way he was being targeted in the media for his working environment, the Oppenheimer director was quick to dissuade the claims that he was tough to work with through a PR statement.

“For the record, the only things banned from [Christopher Nolan’s] sets are cell phones (not always successfully) and smoking (very successfully),” Nolan’s spokesperson had said in a statement to E! News. “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.” 

The clarification must have brought some relief to the director’s rabid fanbase who were starting to question the working environment of their favorite director’s sets.

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