10 Facts About Tenet, the Only New & Popular Movie Coming to The Cinema

In many ways, director Christopher Nolan exemplifies the modern cinematic industry.

Powerful.

Visionary.

An all-around record-breaker.

Truly, he’s the movie director we so desperately need, but don’t deserve.

Now, I’ve been following his line of movies since Batman Begins, and I gotta say;

I have yet to be disappointed.

The Batman trilogy. Inception. Interstellar. All masterpieces. All classics of utmost re-watch value. Even Dunkirk, a war epic film that got all the critics on their knees, managed to convince me even though I wasn’t exactly sappy for dragged-out picturesque films of men getting slaughtered here and there.

And so, you can probably understand why I’m more than just hyped up for Christopher Nolan’s upcoming action epic film Tenet. 

He has proven on multiple counts that he knows how to do a ‘mind-blowing’ film right.

And Tenet looks set to be the next one to sweep all of our minds. With gusto, I might add.

10 Facts About Tenet, the Only New & Popular Movie Coming to Cinema

1. Synopsis

As per customary 10 Fact movie articles, I feel it prudent to start off with arguably one of the most important aspects of a movie preview:

The synopsis.

According to Warner Bros. Pictures, the word trailer reads as follows:

“Armed with only one word–Tenet–and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time. Not time travel. Inversion.”

‘Espionage’, ‘beyond real time’ and ‘inversion’ in the same storyline?

You got me hooked.

2. Trailer

Trailers for the upcoming movies have also been released.

And as far as audiences go, they’re absolutely stoked.

3. Cast

It seems that Robert Pattinson is everywhere now. Apart from taking on the coveted role of Batman, he is also assuming a vital role in Tenet.

Former NFL player John David Washington of Ballers and Blackkklansman fame will be taking on the lead mantle in the action-packed film.

Kenneth Branagh will be the main villain in the film.

Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia and Michael Caine will also star in the film.

You can read the full cast and crew here.

4. Less CGI than most Rom-Coms

Considering how Tenet’s packaged to be, one would be forgiven for assuming it to be chocked full of CGI.

However, it seems that the aforementioned notion is far from the case.

According to Yahoo News, most of the action scenes that Nolan has created for Tenet were done practically, and without visual effects. As Nolan himself puts it:

“The visual side of the film is huge in scale. But our VFX shot count is probably lower than most romantic comedies.”

And considering how romantic comedies hardly have to rely on visual effects for lovey-dovey scenes, I think it’s safe to say that Tenet will be a visual fest…

In a realistic kind of sense.

Indeed, it’s believed that Tenet has less than 300 visual effects shot in the movie.

A green screen was also not used. Not even once.

In comparison, Avengers: Endgame had over 2,000 visual effects shots. And if you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes clips…

Loads of green screens.

5. How Did They Achieve That Feat?

For a movie that bills itself as an international espionage film which goes beyond real time, it’s hard to believe that visual effects could be utilised so sparingly in the picture. Which surely begets the question;

How, then, did they achieve the mind-bending effects seen in the trailers?

Well apparently, Nolan filmed certain scenes twice: once forwards and once in reverse motion to get the intended “time-inversion” effect.

One fight scene involving John David Washington’s character of The Protagonist, in particular, was coined using the aforementioned technique.

Even stuntmen have expressed their surprise at how things are done with the movie, with some saying that they’ve never done anything like it before.

6. A Plot That Took Decades To Make

According to Wikipedia, Nolan took more than five years to create the screenplay, after playing around with the movie’s central ideas for more than a decade.

He’s believed to have conceived the ideas behind the movie more than twenty years ago.

Nolan has also cited the James Bond film franchise being the main influence for him of creating the movie.

7. Production

Casting commenced in March 2019, and principal photography occurred in Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The movie was shot on 70 mm and IMAX.

Tenet is a co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States.

It is also Nolan’s most expensive original project to date, with a production budget of somewhere between $200-225 million.

8. Some Familiar Faces Will Be Missed

Though by that, I am not referring to the likes of Christian Bale or Leonardo DiCaprio, both of whom were leading actors in Nolan’s previous films. Rather, I am talking about others of equal, if not more, importance:

Musical composer Hans Zimmer and Nolan’s long-time editor Lee Smith.

Yes, folks, Zimmer and Smith did not work on Tenet, which definitely comes off as a waste considering how they’ve contributed to the success of Nolan’s earlier films in their respective fields.

According to sources, Zimmer had committed himself to the 2020 film Dune, and as such was unable to work on Tenet. As for Smith, she had been occupied with 2019’s 1917.

Instead, Ludwig Göransson and Jennifer Lame will be taking over their mantles.

9. Release

Tenet was originally scheduled for a 17 July 2020 release but was delayed to 31 July because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When things did not let up, it was pushed back to 31 July, and subsequently 12 August.

After being held indefinitely, the film was arranged to be released internationally on 26 August in several countries, including Singapore, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United Kingdom.

It will be released in the United States on 3 September, and China on 4 September.

10. Speculation

Prior to the premiere, speculation arose that Tenet was a sequel to Nolan’s Inception (2010).

Which would have been absolutely dope, by the way.

Washington himself jokingly commented on the theory: “I’d say [Tenet] is an in-law to Inception … They’re related by marriage”.

And though that would surely come off as a hard rejection to all the Inception lovers out there, it still shows signs of utmost promise.

If Tenet is anything like Inception…

It’s bound to be good, at the very least.

And with that said, I can only wait with bated breath as the film releases in two weeks’ time.

I have yet to be disappointed with any of Nolan’s films, and something tells me that I won’t be this time around too.