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It’s a Bond-like spy thriller with a global threat
It’s long been known that Christopher Nolan has been inspired by the James Bond films, but Tenet is the first of his films that actually is a proper spy film. And, in true Bond style, it’s a movie that takes its characters to numerous places across the world.
The international nature of Tenet – which involves countries like Ukraine, Mumbai, and Norway – isn’t just there as homage to 007; it actually informs the underlying threat of the narrative. “What we’re exploring in Tenet is a threat to the entire world,” says Nolan. “And I think by showing more of the world and the people of the world, you are constantly reminded of the scale of the threat. It’s not localised, it’s something that threatens all of us around the world.”
That’s not to say there isn’t a lighthearted side to exploring beautiful locations that may be foreign to many in the audience. The international playground element of espionage cinema is something that has enthralled Nolan since he saw The Spy Who Loved Me at the age of seven.
“What I remember and what I try to retain from that experience is the feeling of possibility,” he says. “That you could jump through the screen and go anywhere in the world and see amazing things. I’ve spent a lot of my career trying to get back to that feeling and try to give that feeling to audiences.”
The time-inverted sequences were inspired by a graphic artist
Tenet’s inverted approach to time is influenced by an unlikely source. Rather than a philosopher or scientist, Nolan was actually inspired by the works of dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher.
“I actually take a lot of visual inspirations from M.C. Escher,” says Nolan. “I tend to think in diagrammatic terms when I’m writing, and try and lay out directions of time and how they might fold in on each other. I cite Escher as a main inspiration on the script, actually.”
Escher is famous for his mathematical lithographs, and is arguably most well known for his endless staircase; an idea that is directly featured in Inception as a component used in dream architecture.
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The main characters are driven by faith and chaos
Tenet’s two leads, John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, may work together in the film, but they bring two very different energies to the mission.
“I led with faith, and the belief in humankind and the ability for human beings to evolve,” says John David Washington of his process in bringing The Protagonist to life. “He was willing to die for that belief, that central tenet. I imagine him being recruited at an early age because he had that drive and love for people then. He uses his vulnerability as a strength and as a weapon.”
Washington began with combat in order to craft his interpretation of the character. The start of “Nolan University” began with intense fight training, rather than any dialogue-based rehearsal. “I’d never worked that way before,” he says, “letting the physicality of the man dictate how I would approach it.”
In opposition to Washington’s faith-led Protagonist is Robert Pattinson’s Neil, who could perhaps be described as ‘chaotic good’ in his approach.
“Once I sort of realised that you can play Neil as someone who enjoys the chaotic situation he’s in, that seemed to be a touchstone for the rest of the character,” says Pattinson. “Neil is just one of those people who’s like ‘I love this, I love living in a nightmare’.”
He’s also much more aware of his own situation than The Protagonist. “There are so many layers to the characters, and you have to make it a part of the character’s consciousness,” says Pattinson. “He’s strangely aware of the layers of his own character.”
The villain has “struck a devil’s bargain”
Keneth Branagh plays the film’s antagonist, Andrei Sator; a Russian oligarch who Branagh describes as having struck “a devil’s bargain.” He likens Sator’s arc to that of the legend of Faust, the German character who leads a highly successful but unsatisfying life, and so trades his soul with the devil in exchange for knowledge and pleasure.
“It grants him this terrifying power, but it also curses him with this terrifying loneliness,” he explains.
Quite if that loneliness makes Sator a sympathetic character remains to be seen, especially considering how Branagh describes the eventual outcome of his master plan: “He’s a man who plays fast and loose with his own soul, and the consequences for humanity are absolutely appalling.”
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Christopher Nolan’s breathing is part of the soundtrack
Inception has its brahms. Dunkirk has the ticking clock. And Tenet has… erm… Christopher Nolan breathing. Yes, as part of creating Tenet’s soundscape for its original score, composer Ludwig Göransson made use of the director’s own breath.
“We use some human sounds from someone breathing into a microphone very heavily,” he says. “Part of [the sounds used for the antagonist] is actually Chris’s breath that I took and manipulated, turned it around, and made it into this really uncomfortable, raspy sound.”
A real plane was crashed at a real airport
You may be aware that Syncopy, Christopher Nolan’s production company, purchased a real Boeing 747 for an explosive action sequence in Tenet. What you may not be aware of is that, as if that wasn’t audacious enough, the scene itself was filmed not in an empty field or studio lot… but an actual airport.
“That sequence in particular took an awful long time to prep just from a logistical standpoint,” recalls producer Emma Thomas.
“We were doing something at an airport, which is a working airport, and that’s not traditionally what they do at that airport,” she laughs.
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For more on Christopher Nolan’s latest, check out our Tenet review and round up of the critics’ thoughts, as well as the new poster and Nolan’s discussion on how few visual effects shots there are in the film.
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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.
