Cillian Murphy has become a household name after his performance in Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan. With a host of Oscar nominations coming his way, the actor might see a great beginning to the year, and no doubt, Christopher Nolan might also see a host of Academy Awards come his way.
Academy Awards come to those who are willing to put in the effort, and when you are on a set with Christopher Nolan, you know the effort is going to be put in. There was one odd quirk about the set of Oppenheimer, something that Robert Downey Jr. revealed in an interview, and Cillian Murphy confirmed, hilarious contradicting Christopher Nolan during an interview.
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer set had no seats
As revealed by Robert Downey Jr, in conversation with various colleagues during Variety’s show, Actors on Actors, Downey revealed that the set of Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer was devoid of any seats on set.
While there was some debate around the topic, Nolan slipped up in a cast interview, where he said that there were seats on set. Cillian Murphy, sitting right next to the director, immediately corrected Nolan, saying to the present audience that there were no seats, something that made Robert Downey Jr. fist bump. However, Downey was quick to acknowledge that Nolan can create a very conducive environment due to practices like these on set. The actor said:
“People that work with you, afterwards, if they are smart, they go ‘He’s kinda on to something’, Now whether we can do it is something else entirely, but if you can create that kind of environment, you get this kind of result”
The Iron Man star was addressing Nolan directly, as the director tried to justify the choices he made on set while filming Oppenheimer.
Christopher Nolan keeps chairs away from his set to keep actors focused.
Actors on Actors is a show where artists talk about their experiences on sets. A Christopher Nolan set’s lack of chairs has been a mainstay for whichever actor has had the privilege to come and talk on the show, such as Anne Hathaway has collaborated with the director in two instances: The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar. Speaking to Hugh Jackman, she talked about the lack of chairs as well:
“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,”
Nolan’s idea of working on set, and keeping the actors in the zone clearly works in his favour, given that whenever the director produces a film, more often than not it is a critical and commercial success. And as Robert Downey Jr. said, those who observe what the director is doing, usually come to the conclusion that there is some sort of genius at work, which is accurate, if the final product is anything to go by.
