The Director of Big-Budget Blockbusters Has No Email and No Smartphone
Christopher Nolan uses a flip phone, meets in person, and still cuts his movies on actual film.
Founders · #426 How Obsession Built Christopher NolanChristopher Nolan, the director behind giant spectacles like Inception and The Dark Knight, has no email account and no smartphone. He carries only a flip phone.
Anyone who wants to reach him must first contact his aide, and then show up in person at a set time and place. The biography describes this as part of his effort to stay rooted in the physical world, using technology rather than being used by it.
He works the same way. Before shooting, he types a single-page note capturing what the film is really about and returns to it through production so the heart of the movie survives the chaos. Around his 2006 film The Prestige, the studio expected the negative to be converted into digital files for electronic editing. He kept shooting on film, editing electronically, then using frame numbers to cut the actual film by hand for release. Most of the industry moved to the new digital workflow, and Nolan did not.
Questions people ask
How do you get in touch with Nolan if he has no email?
People who need him go through his assistant to arrange an in-person meeting at a set time and place. The book drew on interviews conducted over many years.
Does shooting on film look different from shooting digital?
Film records images on chemical stock, which can give a different grain and texture than digital images. Whether a viewer prefers one or the other is a matter of taste.
Why does he type a one-page note before shooting?
He wants to protect the heart of the movie during chaotic production. He writes the vision down before shooting and returns to it repeatedly so he never loses that heart.