Summary

• Christopher Nolan's success can be attributed to his no smartphone rule that allows him to focus on creativity without distractions.
• Nolan's dedication to analog methods has helped him maintain a glowing track record and create critically acclaimed and successful films.
• The director's influence extends beyond his films, as other Hollywood directors have adopted his no cellphone rule on set for better concentration.

Christopher Nolan is responsible for some of the greatest blockbusters of the 21st century, and it seems the secret to the director's genius can be explained by his own golden rule. Over the course of his career, Nolan has made a name for himself as one of the most reliable and influential filmmakers of his generation, with almost every Christopher Nolan movie garnering acclaim from both critics and audiences. The director's ability to craft a great film is likely a result of Nolan's innate talent and the strict rule he imposes on himself and others.

Like many of the other best directors of all time, Nolan is a perfectionist who works tirelessly to ensure that his movies are as good as they can possibly be. He's a stickler for detail and is known for getting the best performances out of his actors. While Nolan's methods are largely a mystery to those outside of his film sets, one of the British-American filmmaker's biggest rules has been revealed, and it sheds a lot of light on Nolan as a person and his creative process.

Christopher Nolan's No Smartphone (Or Email Or Internet) Rule Explained

The Director Has No Time For Modern Tech

In 2024, smartphones and the internet play large roles in the lives of most people, be they for work, recreation, or both. Ever since the internet was invented, it's had an increasingly greater hold over society and the vast majority of people in the West. Not Christopher Nolan, though. The director doesn't own a smartphone, nor does he use email. In fact, Nolan writes all of his scripts from a computer that lacks access to the internet. Instead, he prefers to do most things the good old-fashioned analog way. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter while promoting 2023's Oppenheimer, Nolan said:

My kids would probably say I'm a complete Luddite. I would actually resist that description. I think technology and what it can provide is amazing. My personal choice is about how involved I get.

The filmmaker also clarified that he's not against technology per se, he just finds it far too distracting. Obviously, being one of the world's most influential people means that important people constantly need to get in contact with Nolan, and it falls to the job of his assistant to take care of his emails. Meanwhile, during the early development of Oppenheimer, Nolan personally flew to Ireland to hand-deliver the script to the movie's star, Cillian Murphy, demonstrating the lengths he's willing to go to not use the internet. He does, however, own a small flip phone for emergencies only.

How Having No Technological Distractions Has Helped Nolan's Creativity

The Rule Has Certainly Benefited The Director's Career

Of course, Nolan hasn't eschewed modern technology simply for the sake of it or to make himself look edgy. Like everything he does, Nolan follows this rule to benefit his creative process. After all, smartphones are undoubtedly distracting and can easily get in the way of one meeting work deadlines. Nolan explains, "If I'm generating my material and writing my own scripts, being on a smartphone all day wouldn't be very useful for me." It's hard to argue with his point, especially given his glowing track record.

While most people have filled their time with endless scrolling, Nolan has been thinking and creating, and the results speak for themselves.

The director has released twelve movies over the past 26 years, all of which have either been critically acclaimed, commercially successful, or both. In 2023, Nolan received the Academy Award for Best Director for his work on Oppenheimer, and in 2024, he was given a knighthood for his contributions to film. All the while, Nolan has been the innovator of his own unique cinematic style, which has had an influence on many young filmmakers. While most people have filled their time with endless scrolling, Nolan has been thinking and creating, and the results speak for themselves.

Christopher Nolan's movies have a combined box office total of a little over $6 billion (via The Numbers).

Several Hollywood Directors Have A "No Cellphones" Rule On Set

Nolan's Influence Goes Beyond Simply What's Onscreen

Nolan doesn't restrict the ban on technology to himself and actively implements a "no cellphones" rule on set. He does this to allow his actors to concentrate on the job at hand and be in the moment, free of distractions from the outside world. Interestingly, Nolan's unconventional methods have been picked up on by several other Hollywood directors, who have similarly outlawed phones from their sets.

Quentin Tarantino, who is no stranger to bizarre self-imposed rules, has banned cellphones on his productions ever since the filming of Kill Bill. An incident that occurred while shooting the movie involved a phone ringing during a take, which effectively rendered it unusable. Even Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio had to follow Tarantino's rule on the set of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Additionally, during an installment of Variety's "Actors on Actors" series, Hugh Jackman revealed that both Darren Aronofsky and Denis Villeneuve enforce the same rule.

Meanwhile, the ban on cellphones isn't Nolan's only unorthodox rule. According to The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar's Anne Hathaway, Christopher Nolan also doesn't allow chairs on his sets. This is because chairs encourage people to sit down and, according to his logic, if people are sitting down, they aren't working. While Hathaway's claim has been disputed, the "no chairs" rule has since been adopted by Bradley Cooper, who outlawed sitting down on the set of his 2023 Oscar-nominated movie Maestro. It appears it's not just Nolan's work onscreen that has great influence.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter, The Numbers, Variety