Christopher Nolan Reportedly Doesn’t Allow Chairs on Set, and Twitter Let Him Have It

Chair-gate is upon us. In a new Variety Actors on Actors interview, Anne Hathaway claimed that The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan “doesn’t allow chairs” on set, as sitting down implies that actors are not actively working. Nolan’s alleged anti-chair stance caused quite a stir on Twitter, where users called out the “ableist” practice. “This seems… unethical at best, abusive at worst,” wrote Bustle’s Olivia Truffaut-Wong.

This week, Les Miserables co-stars Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman reunited as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors series, and their discussion quickly made its way to certain directors’ extreme methods. When Jackman said that he’s worked with two directors that don’t allow cell phones on set, Darren Aronofsky and Denis Villeneuve, Hathaway reminded him that he’s actually “worked with three” such auteurs, the third being Christopher Nolan.

“Chris also doesn’t allow chairs,” said Hathaway, who starred in Interstellar and The Dark Knight Rises. “I worked with him twice. 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. 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.”

Hathaway’s claim ignited a firestorm on Twitter, but one prominent figure stepped up to contradict her account. “I was on the sets of both The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar, and people, I’m telling you, there were chairs,” tweeted former Entertainment Weekly journalist Jeff Jensen. “I even sat in a couple.”

It should surprise no one to learn that Jensen’s tweet didn’t deter users from dragging Nolan all night long. “I went back to look at his films… and seriously. The dude has no chairs on set,” wrote one user. “Give your crew fucking chairs,” said another. “Disabled actors exist and shouldn’t have to fight for the basic right to sit,” added another.

Check out Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman’s (seated) Actors on Actors interview on Variety.

Where to stream The Dark Knight Rises