Following his time exploring one of World War II’s earliest conflicts in Dunkirk, director Christopher Nolan is returning with another sci-fi flick in the form of Tenet. With just months to go until its planned release, there’s still a lot we don’t know about Tenet’s story, although judging by the trailer released back in December, the manipulation of time plays a key role in its protagonists attempting to prevent World War III.
However, don’t go so far as to think that Tenet will be a time travel movie. Robert Pattinson, one of the movie’s main actors, recently set the record straight by saying the following about his character:
He’s not a time traveler. There’s actually no time traveling. That’s, like, the one thing I’m approved to say.
While Robert Pattinson struggled with ways to describe Tenet during his interview with GQ, he was willing to clarify that the movie does not feature time travel. So while there are moments in the Tenet trailer like a car crash being reversed, and Pattinson and John David Washington’s characters coming across a window that was riddled with bullets right before said bullets were actually shot, don’t count on any of the movie’s players straight up jumping into the past or future.
Beyond that, Robert Pattinson called Tenet “so insane,” noted there were 500 crew members involved in the production and talked about how they shot a bunch of “enormous” set-pieces in different countries. However, he also claimed that he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to describe the movie’s plot even if he wanted to, going so far as to say he’d asked his assistant for help.
When the GQ interviewer called up Christopher Nolan to verify if Robert Pattinson was indeed in the dark about Tenet’s plot, the filmmaker said that while the actor was slightly “fucking” around and he actually has a good grasp on the script, this is also an instance where one understands the need for the movie to “live on in the audience’s mind, and suggest possibilities in the audience’s mind.” When framed like that, Tenet seems even more like a spiritual successor to Inception, which Nolan delivered to the masses 10 years ago.
Tenet came at a good time for Robert Pattinson, as he was literally jobless before he landed both that movie and The Batman. Oh, and speaking of DC Comics’ Caped Crusader, working on Tenet also allowed Pattinson to pick Christopher Nolan’s brain on the superhero, as the director previously helmed the Dark Knight trilogy.
Along with Robert Pattinson and John David Washington, Tenet’s cast includes Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh, Dimple Kapadia, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Martin Donovan. Pattinson revealed last year that he was only allowed to read the Tenet script in a locked room.
Tenet is still planning on opening in theaters on July 17, but if the movie ends up being delayed, we here at CinemaBlend will let you know. For now, keep track of what other movies are expected to come out later this year with our 2020 release schedule.
