Angry Peloton instructor who slammed Christopher Nolan unearthed by fans

‘Oppenheimer’ director expressed his appreciation for professional film criticism over casual moviegoers’ opinions

Fans have tracked down the moment a Peleton instructor launched a tirade against Christopher Nolan’s 2020 film Tenet.

The British-American director, 53, shared the anecdote on Wednesday (3 January) during his acceptance speech for Best Director at the New York Film Critics Circle award ceremony.

“I was on my Peloton. I’m dying. And the instructor started talking about one of my films and said, ‘Did anyone see this? That’s a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back again!’” Nolan told the audience, according to Variety.

“When [film critic] Rex Reed takes a s*** on your film, he doesn’t ask you to work out!” the British-American filmmaker continued, refraining from disclosing which film had drawn the instructor’s ire.

“Directors have a complex emotional relationship with critics and criticism,” he said. “A question we’re always asked is: Do we read reviews? Let’s start with the fact that I’m British. A typical family gathering will involve relatives saying to me, ‘You know, Christopher. You probably shouldn’t open The Guardian today.’

“Obviously, writing about cinema objectively is a paradox, but the aspirations of objectivity is what makes criticism vital and timeless and useful to filmmakers and the filmmaking community,” he added.

Addressing the audience as “a group of professionals who attempt objectivity”, Nolan expressed his appreciation for film critics.

“In today’s world, where opinions are everywhere, there is a sort of idea that film criticism is being democratised,” he acknowledged, “but I for one think the critical appreciation of films shouldn’t be an instinct but it should be a profession.”

On Thursday (4 January) a Peleton user uploaded a clip of the moment to the fitness brand’s official Facebook page.

According to journalist Samantha Cole, instructor Jenn Sherman aired her criticism during a 30-minute “intervals and arms” virtual class on 28 December 2020.

In the clip, Sherman rants: “This song is from a soundtrack of a movie called Tenet.” The song is “The Plan” by Travis Scott. “Anybody see this s***? Did anybody see this besides me? Because I need a manual. Someone’s got to explain this. Yeah I’m not kidding, what the f*** was going on in that movie? Do you understand? Seriously you need to be a neuroscientist to understand. And that’s two and a half hours of my life I want back. I want it back.”

Nolan won the New York Film Critic Circle’s directing award for his latest film, the three-hour war drama Oppenheimer, which stars Cillian Murphy as the “father of the atomic bomb” J Robert Oppenheimer.

The movie, which was released in July of last year, went on to earn a whopping $952.6m at the global box office, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 2023. It’s expected to earn the Dunkirk director several Oscar nominations this year, including Best Picture and Best Director. It did not, however, make it on the Visual Effects category shortlist.

Meanwhile, Oppenheimer follows Greta Gerwig’s Barbie with eight nominations at the 2024 Golden Globes, which will broadcast live on Sunday (14 January), beginning at 8pm PT/5pm ET. Find the full list of nominations here.