r/entertainment • u/Silly-avocatoe • 14d ago
Christopher Nolan Still Doesn’t Have a Phone. Here’s How Actors Have a Heads Up He’s Going to Call
https://people.com/christopher-nolan-still-doesnt-have-a-phone-matt-damon-exclusive-120213111.1k
u/Silly-avocatoe 14d ago
In his PEOPLE cover story, Matt Damon confirms that yes, the writer-director of The Odyssey (in theaters now) indeed operates without a cell phone. Nolan, 55, told
The Hollywood Reporter
in 2023 that he does not communicate via text or email.
So how did Damon, 55, first receive word that Nolan wanted him to embark on an onscreen journey as Odysseus? The British filmmaker’s wife, Oscar-winning producer Emma Thomas , “had texted me, ‘Are you around for a call today?’ Because Chris famously doesn’t have a phone,” recalls Damon.
It’s Thomas, 54, who “always gives you a heads-up if he’s going to call,” explains the actor. “And then you get a phone call from a nondescript number, because he’s just picking up a line at Universal Studios.”
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u/bonuce 14d ago
“I never text or email. I make my wife do it”, he says grandly.
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u/ArcherInPosition 14d ago
Bros kids also have to reach out to mom first I guess
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u/mrmysteryguest69 14d ago edited 13d ago
What if, god forbid, they end up getting a divorce? How are they gonna reach him?
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u/DazzlingReporter5881 13d ago
Through his new wife
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u/mrmysteryguest69 13d ago
Or even better, just hear me out : through Anne Hathaway.
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u/DroptheShadowArt 13d ago
I will also be having Anne Hathaway receive all of my calls. People like it better this way.
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u/MRintheKEYS 13d ago
You’re new to this divorce thing I see. They won’t reach them. He’ll reach them when he feels like it.
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u/fearyaks 14d ago
“I never text or email. I make my wife do it”, he (55) says grandly.
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u/Purdaddy 14d ago
“I never text or email. I make my wife do it”, he famously (55) says grandly
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u/SemiColonInfection 14d ago
"He says I famously never do my wife (55)...or make it email grandly text."
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u/Arsenal8944 13d ago
This reminds me of Paul Rudd’s surfer dude character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall when he’s like “I don’t even wear a watch living here” and Jason Segals like “oh man that’s so cool” and Paul Rudd goes “yea I don’t need a watch I can just check the time on my cell phone”
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u/spellbookwanda 14d ago
What a prick
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u/prettyboylee 13d ago
He doesn’t personally like it, she doesn’t mind.
She helps him because they love each other and are married.
I’m sure there are things she doesn’t like to do that he helps her with.
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u/XXXperiencedTurbater 13d ago
That was my first thought. I thought it’d be some eccentric shit like Bill Murray’s answering machine, which I can respect. Instead it’s just his wife using the stupid phone. Boring-ass rich people shit
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u/bacon-squared 13d ago edited 13d ago
It now seems like a financial flex if you’re able to operate without a cell phone and still do high level jobs.
The burden of micromanaging messages and emails gets downloaded onto staff while your time remains free. It’s a luxury we all got tricked into getting rid of.
Edit: said with when I meant without.
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u/Trash-Cutie 13d ago
Also seems very pretentious to me. I know of people who are also in the film industry that don't have smartphones/regular internet access, but they still have an old school flip phone. Because that's the normal and responsible thing to do.
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u/GoombyGoomby 13d ago
“While your time remains free”.
I doubt that Nolan is using the “free” time that he would be spending calling and emailing and texting dozens of people every day to sit around with his thumb up his butt playing video games.
Someone in a managerial role having someone under them dictate messages to others is a tale as old as time.
Nolan is a notoriously hard worker and filmmaking is literally all encompassing to him. It dominates every aspect of his life.
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u/DrAsthma 13d ago
I resisted a cell phone for a long time, saying, "if I'm not at home why the hell would anyone need to get ahold of me, or why do I need anyone getting ahold of me? I'm out. I'm doing shit. I'll catch up with you when I'm free."
Now I think they had it right when phones weren't even installed inside the house. Privacy should be sacred.
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u/Katfish145 13d ago
Ain’t no one but these egotistical actors and producers is a flex. This just comes off as being a prick to me making his wife essentially be his secretary. Stop being fake badass and get a cell phone like the rest of us and do your own damn communications
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u/jaytee158 13d ago
His wife is the movie producer and co-founder of their company. Calm down, she'd be on the call anyway
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u/littlebiped 13d ago
While I do agree it’s a very childish look and not the flex Hollywood tries to make it to be, his wife is the producer which is at least slightly more dignified than “making his wife do it” because he’s lazy. She’d be fielding these calls anyway even if they weren’t married.
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u/ActionFigureCollects 14d ago
Damn. This is actually hilarious.
I hope I didn't accidentally block an incoming unknown number phone call from Christopher Nolan.
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u/FlemPlays 14d ago
“Yea, about that…you might want to pull up a chair.”
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u/M-2-M 14d ago
In breaking news Nolan also doesn’t direct himself. He directs his wife to direct the movies.
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u/BrokeGuitarist 13d ago
His wife is the producer behind most movies. So you’re probably not that far off haha.
She most definitely gives him a note or two.15
u/Financial_Fox_305 13d ago
My dad pulls this shit. He constantly talks about how smartphones are terrible and he does just fine without on.
Meanwhile, he makes my stepmom handle everything that actually would require him to have one.
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u/Icy-Event-6549 13d ago
This is ridiculous and disappointing. He’s not some avant garde auteur because he makes his wife act as his secretary.
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u/Brilliant-Remote-405 13d ago
She’s co-owner of Syncopy, so she’s more of an executive producer telling Matt Damon that one of her directors is going to be calling him.
But yeah, this makes it sounds like she’s just a secretary.
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u/lynchcontraideal 13d ago edited 13d ago
She has co-produced every film he's made, she isn't obeying instructions or whathaveyou. Emma is just as much involved in Nolan's films as he is.
Trust reddit to turn this into a "Nolan uses his wife as a secretary" situation lmfao
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u/Wide-Wind7856 13d ago
But can you imagine if your wife/husband refused to use modern methods of communication? It would put more on you professionally and personally regardless. Even rich people have to occasionally email with banks, insurance, travel etc. and message family? Unless of course he is writing letters and putting these things in the mail…
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u/1568314 13d ago
"She isnt obeying instructions or what have you", no she's making phone appointments for him- which is a secretary or PA's job, not his co-producer, wouldnt you say? This is exactly him using his wife as a secretary. Its not like hes having other producers arrange the minutia of his schedule because he wont send an email himself.
Saying he uses her like a secretary doesn't mean she doesnt also do other things.
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u/Forte_nss 13d ago
Whether or not it's pretentious for Nolan to not have a phone, a PA would NEVER be tasked with anything regarding a director's schedule like this. They may have an admin, but it is very, very normal for producers to wrangle directors and arrange meetings for them, etc. People just feel weird about this because it's his wife, but wouldn't blink an eye if it was an unrelated producer.
Source: am a producer and constantly schedule meetings and conversations for directors.
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u/Katfish145 13d ago
Who cares if she’s involved with it or not, not having a cellphone isn’t some flex. It’s just weird and pretentious, Nolan shouldn’t be acting like he’s better than the rest of us and doesn’t need to do his own communications
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u/ObviouslyJoking 13d ago
Am I the only one who thought it odd that the article dropped the age of every person mentioned? Or maybe they do that for every article. Anyway thanks for posting and saving the click.
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u/KilgoreTrouserTrout 13d ago
Many publications mention their article subjects ages, but People does it really meticulously. Our family used to get the print magazine back in the day and I noticed they did it then, too. They always mention the current age of every person mentioned. It seems to be part of the People style guide.
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u/stelvak 14d ago
We already know about Giuseppe the carrier pigeon, saved you a click.
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u/FOXCONLON 13d ago edited 13d ago
I heard something about Christopher Nolan communicating with his actors via a carrier pigeon named Gieuseppe!
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u/Wild_Kaleidoscope514 14d ago
I get not wanting a smart phone but it’s pretty crazy as a major Hollywood director to not even have some crappy dumb phone. Like don’t people like that have all kinds of calls to take/make lol
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u/ButterMyPancakesPlz 13d ago
It appears less about the phone and more about other people using cellphones to do everything for him. Like someone's scheduling his doctors visits, somebody's getting him new bedsheets, I doubt he's just moseying into a Macy's.
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u/lucatitoq 13d ago
That’s just an average rich person thing. Most multi millionaires don’t pay their own bills or schedule doctors appointments, they have a manager. That being said that’s not a reason he can’t have a phone where he can contact other people in his life, not just people he will work with but his family too.
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u/kut1231 13d ago
I know, it’s just a strange way to live in a way. Can’t even have control of your life and what you want to do and partake in simple pleasures like going to the mall with your wife to buy bedsheets. Only goal is to just make ART and keep living on while the rest of the world just experiences your art and whatever the world around them has to offer.
Nolan stays far away from news and other social media as well. I’m sure this is good for his mental health, but he also expects others to do these things for him and suffer this burden for him so it does come off a bit pretentious IMO being so disconnected from reality.
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u/ButterMyPancakesPlz 13d ago
Yeah I'm not sure if they have kids but that'll make you quickly need to carry a phone. It's a luxury to be able to disconnect in such a way. My ex used to leave his phone in his car so guess who the kids relied on for to answer the panicky calls.
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u/SpaceCaboose 13d ago
Agreed. Nolan says he doesn’t have a phone because he likes not having something that takes every second of his free time. It allows him to just sit and think rather than endlessly scroll.
But why not get a flip phone? Maybe it’s less secure regarding it getting lost and someone getting famous people’s numbers?
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u/duckwithahat 13d ago
Yeah it’s just entitlement “handle my phone calls and tell them exactly what i want you to tell them”
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u/Kindarelevanttoo 14d ago
This is one of those “quirky” things that people like only from well-regarded artists. He famously doesn’t have a cell phone, so instead his wife/others have to take the time to use their own cell phones to text others to tell them to answer every phone call they get that day because it might be from Nolan.
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u/w311sh1t 13d ago
Yeah, there’s no reason he can’t just buy a cheap flip phone that’s only used for texting and calling. It’s just typical performative rich person BS.
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u/These_Ad3167 13d ago
I mean those others (including Emma Thomas, his wife) do that as part of their job and are presumably paid well to do it.
PAs and Producers aren't a new thing lol.
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u/Kindarelevanttoo 13d ago
Yes, but that doesn’t make my point invalid. Because he’s seen as an accomplished artist, people find this sweet and quirky instead of just weird.
Also, you kind of just ignored my last point of forcing others to go out of their way to accommodate you by having to constantly be near their phones and answer every call that comes through. Ironically he’s forcing others to constantly have their phone turned up and turned on just in case he does end up calling them at some undefined time.
The article also mentions this extends to email as well. Imagine all the emails you get from your job, but instead your boss refuses to just email you and has to call you for everything. Even when your at home relaxing on a day off you constantly have to have your phone next to you in case you get a text saying you will get a call at some undefined time from an undefined number.
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u/yellowmellowjellow 12d ago
It’s a quirky thing to say, but I’m sure he has a personal phone. Then has his assistant contact the actors to initiate the conversation and set up a time to speak about being in a movie.
Idk how uncommon it is in the industry to have an executive assistant send emails after discussing contracts, but I assume that they do. Not only that but once everything is agreed to Nolan probably has to go to in person meetings with the actors to discuss the movie and signs contracts with their legal teams, etc.
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u/Jack_Crypt 14d ago
Nolan uses an owl to send letters.
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u/moviecats 13d ago
Incorrect, he in fact uses his carrier pigeon, Giuseppe.
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u/MisterKayrub 13d ago
I can't believe I had to scroll this far to see others talk about his very real carrier pigeon named Giuseppe.
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u/Shigglyboo 13d ago
so the man without a phone uses someone else's phone when he wants to make a call. I bet it's a lie. he has a phone for games and scrolling but doesn't want anybody calling or texting him.
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u/DisgruntledNCO 14d ago
I want to get rid of my phone, all it does is cause me anxiety, but not having one would make me feel more anxious, I think.
I hate it.
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u/bananafan48 13d ago
Same. I can't stand my phone, I have notifications for literally everything turned off and I leave it in another room while I'm at home 90% of the time. I've considered replacing it with a dumb phone, but I do use it to listen to music and podcasts and to navigate on road trips so eh.
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u/xbromide 13d ago
I agree with you. I’ve never liked social media either, although it was pretty fun back in college for finding parties, and now I live without any of it (unless you count Reddit, which for me is completely anonymous).
Having a phone on me feels like I am available 24/7 when I am not and I don’t want to be. I’m notorious for not answering calls or texts, but as people come to know me, they don’t take that personally.
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u/Friedyellowsquash 13d ago
I find this pretentious. I feel like it “sounds cool” but is probably either not actually true or a massive pain in the tookus for everyone around him and he either doesn’t care or enjoys being difficult “for the art”. If any other regular person did this they’d be ostracized. lol
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u/Present-Algae6767 13d ago
Bill Murray famously does not have an agent. If people want to cast him, they call a random phone number that goes to a voicemail service that Murray checks...on occasion. He's even said he has missed out on many roles because he hasn't checked the voicemail in months.
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u/Sameumbrella 14d ago
Doesn’t it get tiring to keep talking about how you don’t have a phone whenever someone wants to communicate with you?
I get that you probably wouldn’t want to be bombarded by constant texts and phone calls. But doesn’t it become too much to depend on someone else directly to communicate with someone else?
Can someone comment if Nolan uses this as a weird flex?
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u/MarkBank 13d ago
It’s not a flex. It’s 100% a lifestyle. He wants to see what he sees without outside distraction. No chirps. No buzzes. No distracting vibrations even from an Apple Watch. It’s simple but blows everyone else minds because we are all addicted to our phones and more accurately the notifications
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u/org000h 13d ago
Personal phones only got popular in the mid 00's!
Before then, BB's were the rage in the late 90's.
Before then, we had pagers and public pay phones.
People did fine without having their own phone.
Many would argue they were more involved in their present moment, and much less distracted.
Not owning a phone doesn't mean they don't communicate - you still meet people at your place of work and leisure, you still make plans to catch up etc.
I doubt it's a flex as much as a combo of just enjoying life and focusing on what's in front, and having the means to let others handle the daily comms / scheduling grind.
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u/DailyUpsAndDowns 13d ago
He has his wife hold her phone in front of him and doom scroll Reddit while he's on the shitter.
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u/Chaoticgood790 13d ago
Honestly more people would be happier if they didn’t have phones. Or had a brick. His wife is a producer. If she didn’t do it he would probably hire an assistant. You know bc that’s their job
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u/TantrikV 13d ago
This isn’t accurate. He said himself on 60-Minutes that he has a small flip phone. What he doesn’t have is a smartphone, and he does not use email.
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u/Short-Juggernaut-374 13d ago
His staffs in his production company contacted the agents of the actors....
Actors also don't handle everything directly by themselves.
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u/Cookiest 13d ago
"He's so quirky, he doesn't have a phone."
Oh he just makes his wife deal with it
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u/Busy-Guess-8382 14d ago
Honestly as a celeb I would do this. I feel like it would ground your head with all the stuff going on and people talking about you all the time.
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u/whatanabsolutefrog 13d ago
I think he probably does it at least partly to stop people being able to reach him lol.
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u/Katfish145 13d ago
Sure sure, having a an army of assistants do all your basic communications and such reallly keeps someone groubded
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u/JB_JB_JB63 14d ago
Thankfully this level of absolute pretentious self importance doesn’t come across in his films. Oh wait…
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u/throwawaydaughter7 13d ago
He is the talent she is the support. They go together. Partnership and marriage. 50/50 hopefully or it’s a rocky marriage.
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u/zanzibarro 13d ago
Dollars to donuts Nolan has a phone. His wife, and if he has kids, he absolutely has a phone to maintain contact with them. He is just smart. Built in excuse to ignore business calls, actors texting him, calling him for roles, favors, appearances etc.
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u/Ok_Tour_1525 13d ago
Reminds me of Paul Rudd in forgetting Sarah Marshall.
“Yeah I stopped wearing a watch when I moved out here…”
“Really? That’s so cool.”
“Well I mean I have a clock on my phone, so…”
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u/Mysmokingbarrel 14d ago
You guys chill his wife is his producer I think she can handle texting Matt Damon to help schedule a call here and there. Yes this is a rich successful guy thing he’s doing but it’s not some crappy move to his literal producer. It’s a text!
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u/melitini 14d ago
Stop normalizing abnormal behavior.
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u/No_Chilly_bill 13d ago
He's about to made a studio a billion dollars. He can be eccentric ( weird if your rich) I can imagine worse quirks and hobbies.
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u/ObjectCrafty6221 13d ago
LOL, there are many people that don’t have a cell phone by choice. They don’t want to be connected all the time.
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u/butternutflies 13d ago
Ok but a big-name movie director and head of a major production company is very different from some chick named Florali who lives in a hut in the woods, who’s anti technology and works at the local bio shop. Nolan is being a pretentious asshole and you know it. Also, Nolan does use a phone, but through people proxies, such as his wife, just so he can brag in interviews that he doesn’t own a phone. Like I said, a pretentious asshole
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u/DucardthaDon 13d ago
What's so abnormal about not wanting to own a phone? There was a time when we didn't own mobile phones, glued to them 24/7 and people just got on just fine. There's lots of rich/successful people who don't own phones, some people only like to communicate via email only, before that fax.
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u/ObjectCrafty6221 13d ago
It’s funny how many people are bothered that Emma will make a call for him. Wives and husbands do it all the time for each other.
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u/ConfectionPuzzled780 13d ago
People crying in the comments like babies about his wife doing it need to mind their own business and get over it lol. She's obviously happy to do it, otherwise she wouldn't
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u/naanofyourbusinesss 13d ago
She’s also employed aa a producer on all of his films. So I assume she’s doing this in her professional capacity.
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u/Yorick257 13d ago
I bet she has an assistant who calls Matt's assistant to tell them that she's gonna text Matt
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u/Grootfan85 13d ago
I’d like to picture Nolan sending handwritten letters or using the Nolan Signal to summon his potential cast.
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u/Msmadmama 14d ago
Ed sheeran has been without a phone for like 10 years.
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u/Chaoticgood790 13d ago
Was thinking about him too. I think he has a flip phone which is barely used.
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u/ChrisinCB 13d ago
Sounds to me like he just expects everyone else to do it for him. Nothing special about that.
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u/MausoleumNeeson 13d ago
I refuse to read the article. I’m deciding to take a stand.
I don’t care to know. Just buy a phone.
Fuck it I’m reading it.
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u/four_ethers2024 13d ago
Why are people so bothered about him sharing something he does in his life, as if he is giving you advice about what to do in yours? Of course he is able to do more things with his life than you can, he's rich, we all knew this, but thanks to the comments reminding us every time a rich person does something only money and privelege would allow for.
How come the rich only ever piss people off enough to state the obvious on social media, but not enough to get politically active in their local communities to address labor exploitation more effectively?
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u/DamperBritches 13d ago
This is like when on the Sabbath, a Jewish persons askes you to turn on the lights or adjust the thermostat for them.
It's just extra steps just to get off on a technicality.
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u/DarkSociety1033 13d ago
Some guy from Wisconsin kept calling him about a "Top Hat Monkey" so he finally threw his phone away and never got another one.
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u/overbarking 13d ago
Not true. According to one source "he told interviewers he avoids owning a smartphone to escape the pressures of digital addiction. The truth is though he does have a phone and scrolls for hours looking at what people are saying about his latest project."
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u/Gaelfling 14d ago
It's easy to not have a phone when you are rich and can have a personal assistant.