Christopher Nolan Wants You To Silence Your Phones

The mastermind behind INCEPTION and this summer’s DUNKIRK reveals his secrets to concentration and CULTIVATING CREATIVITY.

- Adam Grant

When I made a list of my favorite movies, there were more made by Christopher Nolan than everyone else combined. Memento. Batman Begins. The Prestige. He’s a trailblazing director, screenwriter, and producer—one of the rare auteurs of our time. His latest, Dunkirk, is his first film based on a historical event—a dramatic World War II rescue that’s told from three perspectives: land, sea, and air.

As an organizational psychologist who studies creativity, a longtime comic-book fan, and a former magician, I was jazzed to dive into the mind behind so many mind-bending films.

Adam Grant: Rumor has it that you don’t allow phones on set. Ever. Is it true?

Christopher Nolan: Yes. There’s a mass belief that if you’re texting, you’re somehow not interrupting the conversation—you’re not being rude. It’s an illusion of multitasking. I started filmmaking when people didn’t expect to have a phone on set, when it would’ve been seen as unprofessional to pull out a phone. Phones have become a huge distraction, and people work much better without them. At first it causes difficulty, but it really allows them to concentrate on what they’re doing. Everybody understands. I’ve had a lot of crews thank me. With a set, we’re trying to create a bubble of alternate reality.

AG: My Wharton colleague Nancy Rothbard calls those “task bubbles”—when people are so absorbed in a conversation that they don’t even notice what’s going on around them. Creativity flourishes in those bubbles, but they’re fragile: Other people can burst them.