Bradley Cooper's caught some flak for revealing that he doesn't allow chairs on his movie sets -- but as it turns out, he ain't alone ... whether it's rules for sitting or other bans.

You might've heard about this ... BC did a one-on-one interview with the great Spike Lee for Variety's "Directors on Directors" series -- and right out the gate, Brad said he's not a big chair guy when he's shooting a film. It also sounds like he doesn't allow others to be either.

As he says himself, he hates chairs on set ... and feels like they suck the energy out of an actor and out of the room in general. So, he kicks 'em to the curb -- and presumably makes just about everyone stand for the most part ... that, or they're relegated to apple boxes.

He also said he doesn't believe in the video village model -- where a director is watching the action from monitors at a distance -- and apparently likes to watch performances up close.

Spike seemed a little taken aback by his approach -- as was the rest of X/Twitter -- but come to find out, he's far from the only filmmaker who enforces stringent guidelines on set ... and even for the chair issue, he's in good company with Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder.

Anne Hathaway and RDJ have claimed Chris doesn't do chairs, and Snyder himself says there are no chairs allowed on his sets. So, it's not as crazy as it sounds ... just a choice.

Quentin Tarantino, meanwhile, is notorious for ixnaying cell phones while cameras are rolling -- and Martin Scorsese is said not to allow wristwatches as a way to "heighten immersion."

The point here is ... a lot of directors have weird little quirks and must-haves (or have-nots). In Brad's case, it sounds like he's just following the footsteps of greats before him when it comes to popping a squat.