“Tenet” director Christopher Nolan is being showered with awards for “Oppenheimer,” but he revealed that he knows not everyone’s a fan of his films during an acceptance speech for Best Director at the New York Film Critics Circle on Thursday.
During a virtual Peloton class during the early COVID lockdown period, Nolan said, the instructor spent a chunk of the workout trashing one of his movies.
“I was on my Peloton. I’m dying. And the instructor started talking about one of my films and said, ‘Did anyone see this? That’s a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back again!’” Nolan said.
He added, “When [film critic] Rex Reed takes a s–t 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 — but I for one think the critical appreciation of films shouldn’t be an instinct, but it should be a profession.”
Internet sleuths were quick to locate the clip, sharing it on a Peloton Facebook page, and it quickly trended on TikTok as well.
The movie in question was the time-traveling, often head-scratching 2020 action film “Tenet.” The critic was Peloton instructor Jenn Sherman, who led the virtual “intervals and arms” class on Dec. 28, 2020, according to 404 Media.
“This song is from a soundtrack of a movie called ‘Tenet,’” Sherman said in the clip, citing the Travis Scott song backing the ride.
“Anybody see this s–t? Did anybody see this besides me?” she asked of “Tenet.” “Because I need a manual. Someone’s got to explain this. Yeah I’m not kidding, what the f–k was going on in that movie? Do you understand? Seriously, you need to be a neuroscientist to understand. And that’s two-and-a-half hours of my life I want back. I want it back.”
“Tenet’s” theatrical release was delayed because of the lockdown and Nolan’s insistence that it play on the big screen before it hit streaming.
He got his wish with the acclaimed biopic “Oppenheimer,” which set box office records in 2023 as part of the fan-led “Barbenheimer” phenomenon with fans going to see it alongside Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie.”
