Last week, Christopher Nolan made some minor headlines when he spoke about an unnamed Peloton instructor who dissed one of his films during his acceptance speech for Best Director at the New York Critics Circle Awards. Social media detectives quickly figured out that the instructor was Jenn Sherman and the film was 2020’s Tenent. A clip circulated of Sherman’s comments from December 2020 and they were kinda harsh, but also (IMO) not untrue. She spoke with the freedom of someone who did not ever think her words would get back to the person they were about.
Well, in this case, they did, and Sherman understandably felt like she needed to do some damage control and make amends. I mean, with millions of users, what are the odds that the famous director of the movie you’re talking about how much you hated is ever going to actually hear it and then talk about it during an awards acceptance speech? So, Sherman owned up to it in an Instagram post and invited Nolan to come take one of her classes in person, promising that it would be “insult-free.”
Peloton instructor Jenn Sherman is trying to make amends for dissing Christopher Nolan’s film, Tenet, in a workout video that he was attending. Sherman is now inviting Nolan to take one of her classes “insult-free.” The cyclist posted a video on Instagram in response to finding out that Nolan took her class from December 2020 and heard her comments.
“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,” she began.
Sherman apologized for saying Tenet was “two and a half hours of my life that I want back.”
“Listen, it was 2020. It was a dark time. 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,” Sherman explained. “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.”
“So here’s what I want to say. I may not have understood a minute of what the hell was going on in Tenet, that s— 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,” she said. “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. Let me know. Take me up on it.”
I like that Sherman stood her ground and didn’t take back what she said about Tenent. Mr. Rosie swears I watched Tenent with him at home, but I have no memory of it, which must speak to how much I liked or paid attention to it, ha. Nolan’s films are hit or miss for me. I love The Dark Knight and enjoyed Memento and The Prestige, but after Interstellar, I tapped out for a bit. I saw Oppenheimer in theaters at 9:00 a.m., the first of our Barbenheimer double-feature. I went in skeptical, but really liked it. That scene where the test bomb goes off and it’s completely at first to signify light traveling faster than sound was powerful. I went home and read all about Kitty Oppenheimer, too, because I thought Emily Blunt ate those later scenes.
Nolan was asked about Sherman’s apology while doing press backstage at the Golden Globes. He responded with a good-natured yet bemused, “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.” I’ve watched both clips and couldn’t suss out a timeline for when Nolan took the Peloton class, but I think it’s probably safe to say that he’s not quitting the workout for good. I think he should totally take Jenn up on the offer, though. It would be very funny and probably endear him to a lot of people who write him off as pretentious and too serious. I generally only seek out Cody’s classes, but I would 100% take that class, if only to see Chris Nolan holding little weights to do an arm workout while lightly peddling.
They found the Peloton instructor and she’s brutal pic.twitter.com/i79Css1NLG https://t.co/dRcYUakC3C
— Jacob Oller (@JacobOller) January 4, 2024
Capitalizing, trying to get her 15 minutes of fame?
Is everything done for attention now?
She didn’t out herself. The internet did. She’s not looking for attention, she’s doing damage control so this negative story doesn’t cost her her job.
Am I the only one who didn’t think CN was bitter about it? I saw the video in which he tells this story and he seems almost amused, and everyone in the audience is laughing. I did like the instructor’s answer.
Yeah this whole exchange, both directions, is pretty light-hearted and jokey. I like it!
The Peloton PR team have been working overtime for the last few years to try and put fires out. Starting with Mr. Big keeling over during a Peloton class. And yeah, I don’t Christopher is going to do a free ad for Peloton and do a class with her they will market the hell out of.
She gave an excellent response to everyone’s attempt to tar and feather a woman sharing an opinion (clutches pearls!) about a famous director’s WORK, not him as a person – note the difference. If Nolan was willing to listen to good PR advice, he should pull the stick out of his ass and take her up on it. He chose to whine about it, not her so the ball is in his court. Team Sherman 100% (and I quite liked Tenet, for the record)
Me too! Just did a ride with Jenn this morning (love her cover to cover rides).
I mean, she’s not wrong. Denzel Washington’s son acts like a literal wooden board and the whole plot is confusing. Inception remains one of my favorites…Tenet I could do without.
John David is his name. Didnt see Tenent but hes really good in BlacKkKlansman IMO
I thought Jenn handled this very well. It would be great if he took her up on it. I do her warm up and cool down rides often, but would love to participate in a longer ride with both of them. She is a great trainer. And who knows, the Peloton may be the new stop on the way to the Oscars. I agree though that Nolan didn’t seem angry or bitter, just observing everyone has a platform and everyone is a critic these days. An aside, my fave trainers are Allie Love, Jess King, Matt Whilpers, Denise Morton, Sam Yo, Robin and Tunde. I also have a bunch of yoga and strength faves.
His emotional demeanor may have seemed mild, but to me “everyone is a critic” is British for “everyone is a critic, even lowly people like fitness instructors, especially women fitness instructors. They can express an opinion now I guess, but it hurts my feels, which is why I, Christopher Nolan, famous and powerful director who is likely going to bag an Oscar for Oppenheimer felt the need to bang on about it in public and single out this woman.”
Tenet is a very sore subject for Nolan that is the reason he left Warner. They screwed him, Tenet and in my opinion mostly johnDavid Washington by streaming the movie. Tenet is on par with Inception. They are great movies that hurt your brain and should be watched more than once. I bet if Dicaprio or Robert Downey was the lead Warner would not have done that. But They can do that with Washington. Nolan is notably upset. I for one agree with him because Warner stole Washington limelight. He is a good actor.
Tenet is a very sore subject for Nolan that is the reason he left Warner. They screwed him, Tenet and in my opinion mostly johnDavid Washington by streaming the movie. Tenet is on par with Inception. They are great movies that hurt your brain and should be watched more than once. I bet if Dicaprio or Robert Downey was the lead Warner would not have done that. But They can do that with Washington. Nolan is notably upset. I for one agree with him because Warner stole Washington limelight. He is a good actor.