--- title: Christopher Nolan May Have Banned Chairs from Dunkirk Set description: The director reportedly banned chairs and water bottles from the Dunkirk set canonical: https://time.com/4878373/christopher-nolan-process-dunkirk/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-28T18:43:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:45:59.288Z og:title: Actor Says Christopher Nolan Banned Chairs from Dunkirk Set og:description: Actor says director also has a thing about water bottles og:url: https://time.com/4878373/christopher-nolan-process-dunkirk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50ed335e5584ac6e/6988d62c0a4a2230879cf16f/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: dunkirk-christopher-nolan-1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Actor Says Christopher Nolan Banned Chairs from Dunkirk Set twitter:description: Actor says director also has a thing about water bottles twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50ed335e5584ac6e/6988d62c0a4a2230879cf16f/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Dunkirk_ Actor Says Christopher Nolan Banned Chairs and Water Bottles from Set > Sponsored content. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 28, 2017 6:43 PM UTC  Photographed during the filming of "Dunkirk" directed by Christopher Nolan. Photographed during the filming of "Dunkirk" directed by Christopher Nolan. Sarah Alcalay—SIPA/AP by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 28, 2017 6:43 PM UTC British newspaper _The Independent_ asked [_Dunkirk_ ](http://time.com/4860620/dunkirk-spirit-phrase-history-world-war-2/?iid=sr-link1)star Mark Rylance whether director Christopher Nolan had any idiosyncrasies and it turns out that Nolan kind of hates both chairs and water bottles. “He does things like he doesn’t like having chairs on set for actors or bottles of water, he’s very particular,” [Rylance told the paper](http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/christopher-nolan-dunkirk-mark-rylance-no-chairs-water-bottles-on-set-director-behind-the-scenes-on-a7864466.html). The director of the masterpiece reportedly banned the seemingly essential items from his set in order to keep his actors focused on the task of bringing the [World War II drama](http://time.com/4869347/dunkirk-aftermath-history/?iid=sr-link2) to life, according to [_Dunkirk_](http://time.com/4864051/dunkirk-review/?iid=sr-link6) _c_o-star Barry Keoghan. He explained Nolan’s thinking: “They’re distractions —the noise of \[the bottles\], they’re like toys almost, playing around with toys. \[The lack of chairs, meanwhile\] keeps you on your toes, literally.” The actors didn’t seem to mind [Nolan’s](http://time.com/4857383/prince-harry-harry-styles-dunkirk/?iid=sr-link5) chair-banning ways, though. Rylance seemed to shrugging it off as just part of the glamour of acting and the cost of working with a very driven director: “He’s definitely into the craft of it, and serious,” said Rylance. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4878373/christopher-nolan-process-dunkirk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4878373/christopher-nolan-process-dunkirk/"},"headline":"Dunkirk Actor Says Christopher Nolan Banned Chairs and Water Bottles from Set","datePublished":"2017-07-28T18:43:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:45:59.288Z","description":"Quiet on the set!","url":"https://time.com/4878373/christopher-nolan-process-dunkirk/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Christopher Nolan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50ed335e5584ac6e/6988d62c0a4a2230879cf16f/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50ed335e5584ac6e/6988d62c0a4a2230879cf16f/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"dunkirk-christopher-nolan-1","caption":"dunkirk-christopher-nolan-1","creditText":"Sarah Alcalay—SIPA/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4878373/christopher-nolan-process-dunkirk/","name":"Dunkirk Actor Says Christopher Nolan Banned Chairs and Water Bottles from Set"}}]}] ```