When Anne Hathaway's comments on Christopher Nolan's ‘no-chair’ policy on set sparked controversy

Earlier today, an interview excerpt went viral where Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr., during a conversation with Mark Ruffalo, talked about Christopher Nolan’s working process on Oppenheimer sets which had no on-set chairs. The actor also informed that he would try his best to avoid spending any time on mobile phone, for the fear of missing out on the bustling activity on shoot.

If they're sitting, they're not working, Hathaway had recalled Nolan telling her

This is not the first time an actor has spoken about Christopher Nolan’s strict policies on sets, particularly when it comes to chairs. Back in 2020, Anne Hathaway during an online conversation with Hugh Jackman, opened up about how there was no on-set chairs for actors when she was shooting with Nolan for the films The Dark Knight Rises and Inception. Hathaway had said then, “"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 37-year-old star said. "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."

A little later, Nolan’s official spokesperson had immediately cleared the air from their end, stating "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.”

Hathaway's claims were refuted by other actors of Nolan's films

Much to the relief of Nolan and his team, more people from the film industry soon opened up on the subject. Mandy co-writer Aaron Stewart-Ahn, who was an extra on The Dark Knight Rises posted on Twitter that they had plenty of chairs and tables in our staging area. Similarly, journalist Jeff Jensen also said there were plenty of chairs when he visited the sets of The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar.

However, the recent comments by Robert Downey Jr. will most likely reignite a controversy that was assumed to have died down.