Film fans might already be aware that The Odyssey director Christopher Nolan can be quite particular on his film sets.
Repeat Nolan collaborator Anne Hathaway has previously claimed that he doesn’t allow chairs on his movie sets, reasoning that if people are sitting “they’re not working” (he later clarified this only referred to clusters of directors’ chairs around monitors), while the man himself has also shared that he doesn’t allow smoking or mobile phones, either.
But it seems there’s also one more taboo item on his ban list.
Appearing on CBS Mornings this week, he confirmed that he doesn’t allow his cast members to wear Ugg boots behind the scenes of his production.
The Oscar winner shared that he thinks that if an actor is wearing the comfy boots, they’re less likely to stay in character, claiming: “I want the actors to stay in the moment. For me, the Ugg boots are a signifier of modernity, absurd though that is.”
He added: “It’s like if someone’s eating a bag of chips off camera. There’s certain things that just remind you’re in the real world, as opposed to the world we’re trying to create for the actors.”
“Sometimes actors will turn up – because the footwear hurts – they’ll turn up in these big fluffy, comfy slippers,” he added.
“The funny thing is, you can be on set with a guy holding a microphone, you’ve got a giant camera, you’ve got crew everywhere. But something like that can actually weirdly take you out of reality.”
Anne has also corroborated this story, revealing to USA Today: “I did show up one day with Uggs, and he looked down and went ‘Nope’. I just went ‘No problem!’ And they never came back.”
Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt also told The Late Show in 2024: “I walked in wearing [Uggs] one day, and it was like The Devil Wears Prada. He literally just stared at them.
“I was like, ‘Chris, come on’. He goes, ‘Take those off’.”
The Odyssey is in cinemas now.