Christopher Nolan has been more engaged with early promotion for The Odyssey, which comes out on July 17. He’s already given a major interview to Time Magazine, and he recently spoke to 60 Minutes as well. In his 60 Minutes interview, Nolan confirmed something we’ve heard before, which is that he does not email and he does not own a smartphone. Whenever he talks about this sh-t, it’s a perfect encapsulation of the invisible labor of women. A man gets to be heralded as a genius and everyone finds it so charming that he doesn’t email or have a smartphone! Meanwhile, his wife Emma Thomas – who produces all of her husband’s films – is absolutely the one printing out emails for Nolan to read and she’s probably the one everyone calls to speak to Chris. Would Nolan be “allowed” to be so offbeat and low-tech if his wife wasn’t around to do all of that labor?

Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan has confirmed that he’s never owned a smartphone, or even sent an email. Nolan made the confession during a recent appearance on CBS’ 60 Minutes, detailing why he has opted out of the modern way of life and is living life like it’s still the 1990s.

“I do not, I never have. I have no interest,” Nolan said in response to a question about whether he does email. Explaining his resistance to email, Nolan shared, “I get a lot of printed emails, when people say you’ve got to take a look at this, but no, I’ve never been particularly interested in that as a form of communication.”

Nolan was then asked about smartphones, another technological advance that he has shunned, admitting, “No, I’ve never had a smartphone; it’s getting harder and harder.”

It’s not WhatsApp, Uber or Deliveroo that’s making life harder for Nolan without a smartphone, with the filmmaker adding, “The return of the QR code has been quite tricky. The QR code had sort of gone away, then Covid brought it back, and now it’s everywhere. If you don’t have a smartphone, you can’t do much with a QR code.”

The Odyssey director did, however, reveal, “I carry a fliphone when I travel.”

When asked why he chooses to live like this in 2026 and if it’s “to keep the world at an appropriate distance and not letting it cave in on you”, Nolan said, “I think it’s more a thing of that I haven’t let the rest of the world cave in on me, I’m just living the same way that we all used to. To me, it’s just life as normal.”

He added of his stance, “I feel very fortunate to not be wearing the digital shackles, but such is life.”

[From Far Out Magazine]

“…Living life like it’s still the 1990s…” We had email in the ‘90s!! We had cell phones too, just not smartphones. Like… I understand the smartphone thing, especially if he uses a flip phone. That’s fine – people can still get in touch with him. But the no-email thing is frying me, and I’m sorry, but I find that incredibly unprofessional! You shouldn’t have to CALL him if you’re just trying to check in or give him a non-urgent update or you need to tell him some smaller thing which isn’t time-sensitive. That’s what email is for, that’s what texting is for. “I get a lot of printed emails” – his poor wife and his poor assistants. Imagine having to print out everything he gets because he thinks emails are beneath him.

Christopher Nolan admits he’s never used email or owned a smartphone. pic.twitter.com/wHC3AZKTGT

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 20, 2026

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.