Being an actor working on a movie must be an altogether surreal experience. If anecdotes are to be believed, it seems that many actors spend hours waiting around to film their scenes, before shooting for yet more hours on end and subsequently returning to their trailers once more.
These things are rarely as glamorous as we might imagine, though the adrenaline rush one might get from performing in front of all those cameras and members of film crews must be considerable.
However, if you ever happen to find yourself working on a movie set with acclaimed director Christopher Nolan, then you might find that you have some extra rules by which to abide.
Yes, Anne Hathaway has been spilling the beans on Nolan's on-set rules, having worked with the director twice - on The Dark Knight Rises and again two years later on Interstellar. There was one particular rule that demanded particular attention.
“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,” Hathaway told Variety during a recent video interview with fellow actor Hugh Jackman.
“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," she went on, "I think he’s onto something with the chair thing.”
Twitter users soon picked up on this unusual revelation.
The actress also revealed that Nolan banned mobile phones on-set, something which seems a little more commonplace. Jackman confirmed that two other directors he'd worked with - Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain) and Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners) - had also enforced this rule.
“Both of them had exactly the same reason, which is exactly what you were saying: It’s about intentionality. Both of them talk about the space being sacred. If you’re on a cellphone, it dissipates that energy,” he explained.
