Christopher Nolan isn't ready to go back to Peloton after an instructor criticised his film 'Tenet' while he was in her class.
The Hollywood director was left offended after cycling instructor Jenn Sherman gave her thoughts on his sci-fi film without realising the moviemaker was among the riders in her session - and she issued an apology after realising she had upset Nolan.
Nolan has now admitted he still loves Peloton, but he doesn't feel ready to get back on his bike. Speaking at the Golden Globe awards on Sunday night (07.01.23), he told Deadline.com: "Nothing but love for the Peloton, but I did not climb on it today, this is true ... I might just skip it for a little while, but thank you for your concern."
The moviemaker opened up about his experience in class while accepting the award for Best Director from the New York Film Critics Circle last week, admitting the criticism stung.
During his acceptance speech, he told the audience: "I was on my Peloton doing a high-interval workout. I’m dying. 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'.
"When [film critic] Rex Reed [criticises] 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 democratised, but I for one think the critical appreciation of films shouldn’t be an instinct but it should be a profession."
Sherman later apologised in a video posted on Instagram, saying: "Huge day for me when I come to find out that the one and only Christopher Nolan, one of the leading filmmakers of the 21st century, knows who the hell I am. I was excited … and then I read the article ...
"I’m up 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. What do you think the odds are that the director of said movie would take that ride some four years later? Yeah, that would only happen to me."
She went on to invite Nolan to critique her class to balance things out, adding: "I may not have understood a minute of what the hell was going on in 'Tenet'. That ... went right over my head. But I have seen 'Oppenheimer' twice. And that’s six hours of my life that I don’t ever want to give back.
"So, Mr. Nolan, I’m inviting you to come take a ride with me in the Peloton Studio. You can critique my class. We’ll have a great time, you’ll sit in the front row and I promise you, it’ll be insult free."