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‘Tenet,’ Explained: 11 Things You Need to Know About Christopher Nolan’s Action Epic

John David Washington and Robert Pattinson star in Nolan's 2020 tentpole.

When it comes to original Hollywood filmmaking, it doesn’t get much bigger in the present day than Christopher Nolan. After mastering the comic book film with his “Dark Knight” trilogy and delivering some of the most inventive original blockbusters of the decade (here’s looking at you, “Inception”), Nolan finally landed his first Best Director Oscar nomination with his WWII survival thriller “Dunkirk.” So what does a director like Nolan do next? The answer is “Tenet,” an action epic opening in summer 2020 that remains shrouded in mystery.

“Tenet” is reportedly one of Nolan’s most expensive undertakings to date, which is saying something considering his hugely ambitious Batman movies and his 2014 space drama “Interstellar” weren’t exactly cheap. It’s a testament to Nolan’s critical and commercial pull that he’s one of the only filmmakers in Hollywood that a major studio like Warner Bros. is willing to give a giant budget to direct an original film.

Below are all of the most important details we know about “Tenet” so far. IndieWire will continue to update the list as new information becomes available.

The Mysterious Story

Like all Christopher Nolan movies, “Tenet” is filming with its storyline under lock and key. Warner Bros. has yet to reveal any specifics about Nolan’s script, which has led to endless fan speculation about what the writer-director has in store for his new movie. The project surfaced with a rumor calling it a “massive, innovative, action blockbuster which will again be shown in Imax,” hardly a shocking revelation considering those details apply to all of Nolan’s recent releases. When Warner Bros. announced the official title of the movie in May, it confirmed “Tenet” is “set in the world of international espionage.” Many Nolan fans have since been referring to the film as Nolan’s Bond movie. The filmmaker has long been an outspoken champion of the Bond franchise and has expressed interest in directing a 007 film.

Nothing else about “Tenet” has been revealed. One rumor suggests the plot has to do with time traveling spies, although that detail is unconfirmed. Whatever “Tenet” is about, it’s going to be huge in scope and remind moviegoers of the power of theatrical presentation. Nolan suggested as much while speaking at a U.K. Cinema Association conference in March.

“We will certainly be asking [exhibitors] to really help us, and asking you to be our partners in terms of putting on a show for the audience and giving them a reason to come out for the evening, and engage with the world of cinema which we all love so much,” Nolan said. “What we never want to forget is the idea of showmanship…whatever the economic realities are, whatever costs need to be cut or corners need to be cut.”

The Excellent Cast

Nolan doesn’t have a problem pulling in star power (see Leonardo DiCaprio in “Inception” or Matthew McConaughey in “Interstellar”), but he’s made the exciting decision of having a rising star lead his new tentpole. “Tenet” features John David Washington in the lead role. Washington broke through as the star of Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” which earned him Best Actor nominations at the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Washington also has a starring role opposite Dwayne Johnson on the HBO series “Ballers,” heading into its fifth season starting August 25.

Joining Washington in lead roles are Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki. Pattinson is rumored to be playing a villain type, although that is unconfirmed at this time. “Tenet” marks a rare excursion to Hollywood blockbusters for Pattinson, who will continue the trend with Warner Bros.’ “The Batman.” Debicki, meanwhile, is coming off the best reviews of her career for Steve McQueen’s “Widows.”

The “Tenet” supporting cast includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kenneth Branagh, Clémence Poésy, Dimple Kapadia, and Michael Caine. Branagh previously starred in Nolan’s “Dunkirk.” Caine has been a frequent collaborator of Nolan’s as a co-star in “Inception,” “The Prestige,” and “The Dark Knight” trilogy. “Tenet” will be a reunion between Nolan and Caine after the actor sat out appearing in “Dunkirk” (although his voice appeared in the film).

Pattinson Says the Script Is ‘Unreal’

Christopher Nolan is so adament about “Tenet” spoilers not getting released to the public that none of the actors are able to keep the script in their possession. Pattinson said he got locked in a room to read the script and then had to leave it behind. The actor couldn’t reveal anything about what the script entails, but he did tease that Nolan has something truly epic planned for moviegoers.

“I got locked in a room to read the script – I don’t have it myself,” Pattinson told USA Today. “I’ve been a little wary of doing big movies for years and years, but there’s just something about Chris Nolan’s stuff. He seems like the only director now who can do what is essentially a very personal, independent movie that has huge scale. I read the script and it’s unreal.”

A Break From Hans Zimmer

Christopher Nolan and Hans Zimmer have become one of the most beloved director-composer duos in Hollywood. Zimmer has composed the original score to every Nolan movie since 2005’s “Batman Begins,” earning three Oscar nominations for Best Original Score with his work on “Inception,” “Interstellar,” and “Dunkirk.” Despite their strong history, Zimmer is sitting “Tenet” out and Nolan has hired Ludwig Göransson to compose the score.

Swedish composer Göransson has become a rising superstar after a banner 2019 awards season that included the Best Original Score Oscar for his work on Marvel’s “Black Panther” and Grammy Award wins for his work on Childish Gambino’s record “This Is America.” In addition to Childish Gambino, Göransson has produced music for major artists such as Chance The Rapper and Haim. The composer’s film work also includes “Fruitvale Station,” “Creed,” “Slice,” and “Venom.” Göransson is next working on the music for the “Star Wars” television series “The Mandalorian.”

While Göransson is a welcome addition to Nolan’s filmography, many Nolan fans are reasonably upset Zimmer is taking a break for “Tenet.” There’s no need to worry, as Zimmer passed on “Tenet” only because he could not pass up work scoring Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” and couldn’t work on both at the same time.

“‘Dune’ is one of my favorite books from my teenage years,” Zimmer told The Playlist in June. “I love Denis, obviously…I have to do [“Dune”]. Chris [Nolan] understands I have to do it. He’s going to be just fine. Ludwig and I are friends. Forget the friend part, he’s really good.”

Welcome Back, Hoyte

Zimmer may be sitting “Tenet” out, but cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema is returning after working with Nolan on “Interstellar” and “Dunkirk.” The latter earned Hoytema an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography. Hoytema has become Nolan’s go-to director of photography over the last several years, replacing Wally Pfister after he shaped the visual style of Nolan’s early work and “The Dark Knight” Trilogy. Prior to working with Nolan, Hoytema became a breakout star by working on “Let the Right One In,” “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” and “Her.”

“Making films with him is real filmmaking to me,” Hoytema previously told Deadline about working with Nolan. “It’s very hands-on and it’s a lot of engineering, always. It’s really switching your mind on to a very classic, visceral way of filmmaking. Nobody makes film like him. I think it’s healthy for me as a cinematographer to try to sometimes do some different things in between projects, as well, so I don’t expect people to be like him. Our relationship is unique, but there’s a lot of opportunity, you know?”

The Crafts Team

In addition to Hoytema and Göransson, Nolan has rounded out the “Tenet” production team with a stellar group of artists. One of the most notable crew members is Jennifer Lame, who’s become an indie favorite thanks to her collaborations with Ari Aster on “Hereditary” and “Midsommar.” Lame also edited acclaimed titles such as “Frances Ha” and “Manchester by the Sea.” Lame’s hiring means Nolan is also taking a break from working with Lee Smith, his longtime editor who has worked on every Nolan feature since 2005’s “Batman Begins.”

Heading up the look of the sets is production designer Nathan Crowley, a five-time Oscar nominee who has worked with Nolan since his “Insomnia” days. Four of Crowley’s Academy Award nominations are from Nolan movies, including “The Prestige,” “The Dark Knight,” “Interstellar,” and “Dunkirk.” Other frequent Nolan collaborators working on “Tenet” include costume designer Jeffrey Kurland (“Inception,” “Dunkirk”) and visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson, whose first Nolan movie was “Dunkirk.” Nolan fans should be even more excited about Jackson’s involvement considering he was the leading VFX director on “Mad Max: Fury Road,” for which he was Oscar nominated.

Where It’s Filming

Warner Bros. has confirmed Nolan is filming “Tenet” in seven countries. Production started in July with weeks of filming in Estonia. Estonian Public Broadcasting reported that $18.5 million was being spent on the Estonia-set portions of the movie. The production shut down the country’s Pärnu Highway to film an action scene. Other countries where “Tenet” is being filmed include the United Kingdom, Italy, and India. The India-set portions of the movie are being planned to shoot in September.

Nolan has never filmed one project in seven countries before, which gives some weight to the original rumor that “Tenet” is a massive blockbuster. An ambitious scope is always expected from a new Christopher Nolan movie, but filming in seven countries suggests the narrative is the biggest thing Nolan has written to date. The sprawling locations at least means “Tenet” will be more expansive setting-wise than “Dunkirk,” which was one of Nolan’s most contained films.

Shooting on Film, Of Course

No surprise here: If it’s a Nolan movie, it’s obviously being shot on film. Warner Bros.’ press announcement for the movie reads: “Nolan is directing from his own original screenplay, utilizing a mixture of IMAX and 70mm film to bring the story to the screen.” Nolan and Hoytema shot “Dunkirk” using both IMAX film cameras and 65mm large format film stock in Panavision System 65. One of the big questions moving forward is just how much of the movie Nolan is planning to film with IMAX cameras.

The director has long championed the IMAX presentation format. Nolan shot four sequences of “The Dark Knight” using IMAX cameras, making it the first narrative feature to film portions specifically for IMAX. Nearly 75% of “Dunkirk” was filmed with IMAX film cameras, but one reason Nolan was able to achieve that was because his “Dunkirk” script had minimal dialogue. IMAX cameras are notoriously loud, which is why it’s hard to use them to film conversation scenes. For this reason, the amount of dialogue in “Tenet” will most likely determine just how much Nolan uses IMAX cameras.

A Whopping Reported Budget

News broke in June that the estimated budget for “Tenet” was in the $225 million ballpark, a massive number that stands as one of the biggest price points of Nolan’s career so far. Warner Bros. has yet to confirm the production budget, but any sum above the $200 million mark would be huge even by Nolan’s standards. Only “The Dark Knight Rises” exceeded the $200 million production budget mark, with Nolan’s other projects like “The Dark Knight,” “Inception,” and “Interstellar” falling in the $150-$180 million range. “Dunkirk” was made in the mid-to-low $100 million range. Most studios would be hesitant to give such a huge budget to an original title, but Nolan has rightfully earned the goodwill of Warner Bros. over the last decade by making one critical and commercial hit after the next.

The Teaser Trailer

Warner Bros. surprised audiences by debuting the “Tenet” teaser trailer in front of select screenings of “Hobbs & Shaw” this month. The nearly one-minute clip shows John David Washington’s character inspecting two identical bullet holes on a shattered glass window. Text appears on screen saying, “Time has come for a new protagonist. Time has come for a new kind of mission.” The teaser ends with a brief shot of a police force running through the streets and then a longer still of Washington’s character wearing an oxygen mask. The title of the film then appears on screen as “TENƎꓕ.”

In typical Nolan fashion, the “Tenet” teaser amped up fan speculation over the film’s plot. Many fans have expected “Tenet” to play with time given Nolan’s love of time-bending narratives and the film’s title is a palindrome, but the way the title is stylized in the trailer confirms Nolan has something trippy up his sleeve. Both text blocks that appear in the teaser stress the notion of “time” as well. Some fans have interpreted the “Tenet” teaser as the film being a sequel to “Inception,” but again nothing is confirmed by Nolan’s team or Warner Bros.

Release Strategy

Warner Bros. will release “Tenet” in theaters nationwide July 17, 2020. The rollout will include screenings presented in 70mm, 35mm, and IMAX film. The mid-July summer release has became a staple for Nolan and Warner Bros. “The Dark Knight,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “Dunkirk” were all released on the same July weekend to massive box office hauls. Warner Bros. mixed things up with “Interstellar,” which opened at the start of November, but the fall box office is often overcrowded and the movie was not as big of a domestic performer as the studio had hoped (although $188 million in the U.S. is no small feat).

All of Nolan’s July releases have dominated the box office and earned enough critical praise to hold on well into the fall awards season. “Dunkirk” made $526 million worldwide in summer 2017 and went on to land eight Academy Award nominations the following year, including Best Picture and Nolan’s first bid for Best Director.

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