Even if you’re not an avid cinema fan, it’s no secret that Christopher Nolan’s movies are known for being a little… complex.
With hits like The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Interstellar on his résumé, moviegoers over the years haven’t held back from sharing their thoughts and theories on what the deeper meaning behind Christopher’s perplexing storytelling might be.
However, it’s not every day that you inadvertently find yourself sharing these thoughts with the director himself — which is exactly what happened to one Peloton instructor.
While accepting the award for Best Director at the New York Film Critics Circle ceremony this week, Christopher recalled an unexpected situation during a Peloton workout when his instructor started dragging his 2020 film, Tenet, midway through the class.
In case you haven't seen it, the mind-bending sci-fi film centers on the premise of time manipulation as the characters attempt to prevent a world disaster from happening by traveling backward and forward through time.
And if that plot summary is sounding a bit bizarre, you might better remember it as the movie that stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kenneth Branagh.
So, giving his NYFCC speech this week, the Oppenheimer director reflected on criticism of his work and jokingly called out the Peloton instructor who said mid-workout that Tenet was “a couple hours of [her] life [she'll] never get back again” — clearly having no idea that the filmmaker was in the class.
“Directors have a complex emotional relationship with critics and criticism,” he began before talking about how commentary surrounding his movies has become more widespread and pervasive over the years.
“For example, I was on my Peloton … gasping and dying, and the instructor started talking about one of my films and said, ‘Has anyone else seen this, because that’s a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back again,’” he said to laughter from the audience.
Then, referencing film critic Rex Reed, he added, “When Rex Reed takes a shit on your film, he doesn’t ask you to work out!”
“In today’s world, where opinions are everywhere, there is a sort of idea that film criticism is being democratized,” he went on. “But I, for one, think the critical appreciation of films shouldn’t be an instinct, but it should be a profession.”
And it wasn’t long before sleuths on social media were able to unearth footage of the Peloton class in question, which shows instructor Jenn Sherman admitting that Tenet wasn’t exactly her cup of tea.
“This song is from the soundtrack of a movie called Tenet,” Jenn said while cycling along to Travis Scott’s song “The Plan,” which was written for the film. “Anybody see this shit? Did anybody see this besides me? ’Cause I need a manual. Someone’s gotta explain this.”
“What the fuck was going on in that movie?” she went on, admitting that she had no clue what was happening throughout the film. “Seriously, you need to be a neuroscientist to understand. And that’s two and a half hours of my life that I want back. I want it back.”
And while the fact that Christopher took the class is certainly a little awkward, Jenn recently addressed the blunder and made it clear there’s no hard feelings on her part, describing him as “one of the leading filmmakers of the 21st century.”
“Listen. It was 2020. It was a dark time. I’m on the platform, teaching my little class, and I’m running my mouth off like I’m known to do. And I make a random comment about a movie I had seen the night before,” she said in a recent Instagram post about the debacle.
“What do you think the odds are that the director of said movie would take that ride some four years later? That would only happen to me,” she said.
And while she confessed that she still doesn’t understand Tenet, Jenn said she was a big fan of Christopher’s most recent movie, Oppenheimer.
“I have seen Oppenheimer twice. And that’s six hours of my life that I don’t ever want to give back,” she said before joking that she’d love the director to return for another workout.
“Mr. Nolan, I’m inviting you to come for a ride with me in the Peloton studio. You can critique my class,” she told her followers. “You’ll have a great time. You’ll sit in the front row. And I promise you it’ll be insult-free.”
