The Power of the Dog director Jane Campion says she banned phones from set: ‘You’re paid to be working’

‘They’re just so incredibly distracting. Energy drains’

Jane Campion has revealed that she banned phones from the set of her Oscar-nominated The Power of the Dog.

The acclaimed filmmaker’s latest effort, which has emerged as a frontrunner at this year’s Academy Awards, is set in the Old West and stars Benedict Cumberbatch.

Campion has now revealed that she enforced a “no phones” rule on set, having previously allowed them during her last project, the TV series Top of the Lake.

“[There were] no phones on set,” she told The Guardian. “They’re just so incredibly distracting. Energy drains. When we were doing Top of the Lake we didn’t have a rule like that and you’d look around and everybody was slouched on couches just absorbed in their world and their phones.

According to Campion, crew members were allowed to check their phones if they moved “out of the way of the sightline of everybody who’s working hard that moment”, or went to their cars.

“But you’re paid to be working,” she added.

Campion is not the only filmmaker known to have enforced such a rule.

Jane Campion and Benedict Cumberbatch behind the scenes of ‘The Power of the Dog' (KIRSTY GRIFFIN/NETFLIX)

Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino have also spoken publicly about refusing to allow access to mobile phones on their film sets.

“It’s an unprofessional lack of concentration,” said Nolan, “so our rule is very simple: If you need to make a phone call or use your phone to text, you go off set.”