Christopher Nolan Says a Peloton Instructor Complained About His Movie While He Was in the Class
The director said today "opinions are everywhere"
Christopher Nolan can't evade movie reviews, even during a workout.
The Oppenheimer director, 53, said during the New York Film Critics Circle Awards Gala on Wednesday that he was once in the middle of participating in a Peloton class when the instructor criticized one of his films.
"I was on my Peloton. I’m dying. And the instructor started talking about one of my films and said, ‘Did anyone see this? That’s a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back again!' " Nolan said while accepting the best director award, according to Variety.
"When [film critic] Rex Reed takes a s--- on your film he doesn’t ask you to work out," joked Nolan. "In today’s world, where opinions are everywhere, there is a sort of idea that film criticism is being democratized, but I for one think the critical appreciation of films shouldn’t be an instinct but it should be a profession."
Though Nolan did not say which movie was panned or who the instructor was, fans on social media resurfaced a clip of cyclist instructor Jenn Sherman, circa December 2020, talking about Nolan's movie from that year, Tenet, starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson.
Related: Christopher Nolan Praises How Taylor Swift Released Her Eras Tour Movie: 'Incredibly Valuable'
Laurent VU/SIPA/Shutterstock
Christopher Nolan"This song is from a movie called Tenet. Did anybody see this s---? Did anybody see this besides me? Because I need a manual," Sherman said in the clip. "Someone’s gotta explain this. I’m not kidding."
"What the f--- was going on in that movie — do you understand?" she continued. "Seriously, you need to be a neuroscientist to understand. And that’s two and a half hours of my life that I want back. I want it back."
Reps for Sherman and Peloton did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Oscar-nominated writer/director Nolan is known for movies like The Dark Knight, Inception, Dunkirk and, his latest, Oppenheimer. Elsewhere in his Wednesday speech, per Variety, he said filmmakers "have a complex emotional relationship with critics and criticism."
"A question we’re always asked is: Do we read reviews? Let’s start with the fact that I’m British," he said. "A typical family gathering will involve relatives saying to me, ‘You know, Christopher, you probably shouldn’t open The Guardian today.' "
In July, Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter that he doesn't use a smartphone or email. He said he writes scripts on a computer that doesn’t have an internet connection. “My kids would probably say I’m a complete Luddite,” said Nolan. Though, he noted he “would actually resist that description."
While he thinks “technology and what it can provide is amazing,” he added, “My personal choice is about how involved I get. It’s about the level of distraction. If I’m generating my material and writing my own scripts, being on a smartphone all day wouldn’t be very useful for me."
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
