Actually, Christopher Nolan Is Cool With You Not Seeing His Movies In Theaters

The Nolan Variations, a new book written in collaboration with film critic Tom Shone and director Christopher Nolan, apparently has a surprising insight into the latter's preferences on how audiences view his work. In a page scanned and shared online by a reader, the fastidious director says he has "no problem" with fans watching his films on, for example, phones. It's an interesting and perhaps somewhat inconsistent twist of logic considering how steadfastly Nolan insisted that Tenet should have a theatrical release in spite of the pandemic.

When asked by the author, "Well, do you have a problem with people seeing Dunkirk on my phone or whatever?" Nolan replied, "No, I don't, but the reason I don't is because it's put into these big theaters as its primary form, or its initial distribution. And the experience trickles down, to the extent where, if you have an iPad and you’re watching a movie, you carry with you the knowledge and your understanding of what that cinematic experience would be and you extrapolate that. So when you watch a TV show on your iPad, your brain is in a completely different mindset."

Nolan's insistence that Tenet be in theaters was a position that caused the movie to be delayed more times than anyone can remember offhand before finally getting a staggered international release in late August and early September. But before that, Tenet debuted a trailer in the game Fortnite--which, well, is not a movie theater. So maybe this past year, Nolan has had a change of heart?

Meanwhile, Tenet is now on track for a proper home release December 15. There's still no word on whether Nolan has also softened his stance against and reported ban on chairs.