Those who follow behind-the-scenes tidbits know that Christopher Nolan is quite famous for his strict rules on set. But his latest ban on the set of his 2026 mythical drama ‘The Odyssey‘ might be his most unexpected yet.
Turns out, the legendary filmmaker didn’t let his actors wear ugg boots, one of the comfiest pairs of shoes out there. He completely banned them from the production, proving that no detail is too small for him to police. But why did he arrive at such a strange decision?
Why Did Christopher Nolan Ban Ugg Boots?
During Christopher Nolan’s recent appearance on CBS Mornings, host Gayle King recalled what Anne Hathway earlier told him. “Anne Hathaway said something interesting. She said ‘Chris says no Uggs on the set.’ What does that mean?”
In response, the Oscar-winning director revealed that it started as a joke with Emily Blunt (his actress during ‘Oppenheimer’) and Hathaway. He wound the spot them wearing these fluffy boots because their legs hurt from normal pair of footwears.
“And the funny thing is, you can be on a set, where you’ve got 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,” Nolan said.
“And for me, I think that’s always been something, where, it’s like if someone’s eating a bag of chips off-camera or something,” he added. While this restriction might seem ridiculous to an outside audience, he explains that such items symbolize the modern world too obviously.
To preserve authenticity, he believes the cast and crew should fully immerse themselves in the invented reality. “And so for me, Ugg boots are a signifier of modernity,” Nolan said. However, he did admit that banning uggs is “absurd” and they are gret when not used on the movie set. As Nolan stated earlier, this isn’t the first time he has taken such drastic measures on a movie set.
Nolan’s Long-Standing Feud With Cozy Boots
In 2023, Emily Blunt not only wore the pair of ugg boots to the wrap-up party of ‘Oppenheimer,’ but she also gifted it to Nolan as a parting gift. “For people who have been on a set, people know how it works,” he told The View in July 2023.
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“We’re there, losing the light, ‘Okay, we need the actors to come in,’ and sometimes they’ll come straight from wardrobe, but they’ll have these big coats on top and they’ll be wearing these big Ugg boots, because the shoes of the character are uncomfortable. You know, 1940s shoes.”
So, whenever Blunt wore those to the set and not something more appropriate with the movie’s timeline, it would really drive Nolan nuts. He would immediately tell her to go and change into into another pair that could match with the set’s energy.
“And she got so sick of me saying that time after time, she thought I should join the cult of Ugg boots,” Nolan added. In a July 2023 interview with USA Today, Blunt even confessed that she doesn’t know anybody who hate ugg boots as much as the ‘Inception’ director.
“I would sometimes put on some Uggs and I’d just get this withering look down to my feet—it was like being in The Devil Wears Prada again. Just the look down to the shoes. And I’d go, ‘I know, I know. But I’m just sitting on an apple box in the background today!’” she added.
But after receiving a “pretty comfortable” footwear, the filmmaker understood what the hype was all about. In fact, his wife, Emma Thomas, described them as “brilliant.” Meanwhile, ‘The Odyssey’ is playing in theaters at the time of writing.
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