Playing Kitty Oppenheimer opposite Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt recently told ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ what it was like to work with Christopher Nolan on the set of ‘Oppenheimer.’ She explained whether the director was open to new ideas on set:
“He is wonderfully curious and freeing and excited by what you might bring. Not at all, you know, he doesn’t dictate anything.”
When the host pointed out that he was not ‘excited’ about the actors’ outfit choices, the actress revealed:
“He has such an issue with UGG boots. It’s a serious problem, and I walked in wearing them one day, and it was like ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ I mean, he literally, like… Just stared at them. I was like, ‘Chris, come on.’ He goes, ‘Take those off.’ He hates them, so I gifted him some.”
The Director’s Explanation Of His Hate
Nolan himself admitted to his hate for UGG boots in a 2023 interview with The View. The 53-year-old director understood the comfort the item gave during filming but also shared how they irked him on set. He said:
“For people who have been on a set, people know how it works — we’re there, losing the light, ‘Okay, we need the actors to come in,’ and sometimes they’ll come straight from wardrobe, and they’ll have these big coats on them, and they’ll be wearing these big UGG boots, because the shoes of the character aren’t comfortable. You know, 1940s shoes.”
About seeing Blunt wearing the boots, he recalled:
“I’d immediately say to her, ‘Can you please just get rid of the boots, put the shoes on, and get ready to go.’ And she got so sick of me saying that time after time. Well, she gave me a pair of Uggs boots — Ugg slippers, actually — as a wrap gift.”
His Other Quirks On Set
UGG boots are not the only thing Christopher Nolan takes an issue with while working. Having worked with him in the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy and ‘Inception,’ Murphy mentioned last year that the director was quite strict about toilet breaks during shooting.
Anne Hathaway, who worked with Nolan in ‘Interstellar,’ noted in 2020 that he preferred not to have chairs on set, believing they might cause people to work less.
