Why Quentin Tarantino and More Directors Are Banning Cellphones on Set

Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig also choose to keep their sets free of mobile devices: "If you're an actor and you're baring your soul, I don't want you to have to look over and see a PA on a cellphone."

The sets for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Marriage Story and Little Women probably were all very different, but they had one thing in common: a ban on phones. According to producer David Heyman, who worked with both Quentin Tarantino and Noah Baumbach, neither director allows for cellphones on set (Tarantino has a booth that the crew must use to check in their phones). "It's a fantastic thing," Heyman tells THR. "It's a very quiet and intimate space, and the actors are really pushing to very emotional places."

As for Greta Gerwig, she was inspired to impose a ban on Little Women by her partner, Baumbach, who has had the rule in place for years. "I like everyone feeling like they're there all together at once in this special bubble," she says. "If you're an actor and you're baring your soul, I don't want you to have to look over and see a PA on a cellphone."

This story first appeared in a January stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.