It’s the next big film on the release schedule on July 17th, but Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” remains a movie utterly clouded in secrets.
Aside from an early ‘in production’ teaser last year, there’s really only been one decidedly vague trailer for the film. We know the cast, we know it was shot across a bunch of countries, and the only official synopsis has been that it’s an “action epic evolving from the world of international espionage”. That’s it.
Stills are few and far between and are unrevealing and there’s been no further trailers or TV spots as yet, only comments from those involved saying this is by far Nolan’s biggest and most ambitious film to date. An official tie-in book this week has been the most revealing thing, calling it a “Nolan’s Quantum Cold War movie” and dubbing it “a mind-blowing espionage thriller so unique that audiences will puzzle over its intricacies for years to come”.
There has long been speculation though that time travel or time manipulation plays a big part in the action, but one of the film’s key stars Robert Pattinson has shot down that speculation in a new interview with GQ (via Indiewire. Pattinson can’t say much but was allowed to say:
“He’s not a time traveler. There’s actually no time traveling. That’s, like, the one thing I’m approved to say. [Also] this thing, it’s so insane. And in each country there’s, like, an enormous set-piece scene, which is like the climax of a normal movie. In every single country.”
He adds that the film had a crew of around 500 people and “250 of them would all fly together, just hopping planes to different countries.”
Pattinson also talked a bit about his performance and how he was inspired by writer/orator Christopher Hitchens:
“I forgot a lot of things at the beginning of the movie. I was so obsessed with watching Christopher Hitchens debates. You know Christopher Hitchens? A lot of my character stuff, I was trying to do a Chris Hitchens impersonation, and I completely forgot that I was doing that until I saw my notes. I’m so curious. I mean, I literally haven’t seen a frame of this movie.”
GQ then went to Nolan himself to ask them about his comments and Nolan says the actor has a full grasp of the script, but in doing so he’s likely gotten lost in the ambiguities it proposes:
“The interesting thing with Rob is, he’s slightly f–king with you. But he’s also being disarmingly honest. It’s sort of both things at once. When you see the film, you’ll understand. Rob’s read on the script was extremely acute. But he also understood the ambiguities of the film and the possibilities that spin off in the mind around the story. And so both things are true. Yes, he’s f–king with you, because he had a complete grasp of the script. But a complete grasp of the script, in the case of ‘Tenet’’ is one that understands and acknowledges the need for this film to live on in the audience’s mind, and suggest possibilities in the audience’s mind. And he was very much a partner in crime with that.”
Warner Bros. Pictures still has “Tenet” on target to open in cinemas on July 17th.
