FILM · 2020 · UK
Tenet
- Directed by
- Christopher Nolan
- Runtime
- 150 min
- Studio
- Warner Bros. Pictures, Syncopy
116 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
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.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (116)
- #001
Contains a major spoiler — show
Throughout the film, red is used to indicate time moving forward and blue to indicate time running in reverse. This is a nod to the Doppler effect, in which light masses moving away from Earth appear red as their light waves are stretched out (redshift), while light masses moving toward Earth appear blue as their light waves are compressed together (blueshift).
- #002
The production team bought a real 747 aircraft and then crashed it into a hangar. The entire sequence consisted of practical effects and contained no visual effects or CGI. Director Sir Christopher Nolan initially planned to use miniatures and fixed-part structures, but while scouting locations in Victorville, California, the team discovered numerous old aircraft, and it turned out to be more efficient to buy a real full-size plane and stage the sequence for real in front of the camera.
- #003
Contains a major spoiler — show
The word 'Tenet' likely derives from the Sator Square, a word square containing a five-word Latin palindrome that extends back to the ruins of Pompeii. The puzzle is a five-by-five square made up of five five-letter words written in five rows: SATOR, AREPO, TENET, OPERA and ROTAS. Whichever way the square is rotated, these five words appear both horizontally and vertically, a fitting feature for the film's time-reversal element. Notably, all five words appear in the film: Sir Kenneth Branagh's character, the forger responsible for the tablet, is named Andrei SATOR; Kat's (Elizabeth Debicki) former lover is named Tomas AREPO; TENET is the name of the organization that recruits the Protagonist; OPERA refers to the location of the opening scene; and ROTAS is the name of the security company.
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
Filming of the car chase scene took three weeks and required the crew to close eight kilometers (nearly five miles) of a six-lane highway in central Tallinn. They then shot cars moving both forward and backward.
- #005
The main cast learned to speak their roles in reverse as well as to perform stunts backwards. Sir Kenneth Branagh not only learned to speak in reverse but also had to do so in his character's Russian accent.
- #006
There was a great deal of secrecy surrounding the project before its release. Actor Robert Pattinson said he was only allowed to read the script in a locked office at Warner Bros. Studios. His co-star Sir Michael Caine was not even allowed to read the entire script; his scenes were given to him to read only before shooting. Before the film's release, Caine told the press that even though director Sir Christopher Nolan was a very close friend and frequent collaborator, he had no idea what the film was about.
- #007
Contains a major spoiler — show
To shoot the elaborate forward-and-reverse car chase with little or no visual effects, a team of twenty of California's best drivers was assembled, later joined by experienced stunt drivers from Estonia, Prague and the United Kingdom. The group included the famous Jim Wilkey, who had flipped the Joker's truck in The Dark Knight (2008) about twelve years earlier.
- #008
When the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States in the spring of 2020, roughly eighty percent of the film's score was complete. The only thing it truly affected was an orchestral session planned for April. As a result, individual recordings made by musicians in their homes were assembled to complete part of the soundtrack.
- #009
Contains a major spoiler — show
Apart from a few of the film's leads, the entire stunt team and hundreds of extras took part in the final battle scene. Given the demands of the action and the very high temperatures, there was a precondition for the background performers: they all had to be former soldiers. This was imposed because the stunt team knew the extras would be in full military gear with weapons and equipment for more than ten hours a day in the desert heat. On top of that, they would be running over rugged terrain filled with rocks and concrete, with carefully placed explosions around them.
- #010
Actor Sir Kenneth Branagh stated that he read the film's script more than any other he had ever worked on. He compared navigating the script to solving the 'Times' crossword every day.
- #011
Robert Pattinson said he drew inspiration for his character's accent, intonation and mannerisms from the British-American author and journalist Christopher Hitchens. Pattinson never uses a real London accent when playing English characters, saying: "For whatever reason, using my own accent for a role feels fake to me; if I'm just playing myself on screen, I feel like a fraud."
- #012
Contains a major spoiler — show
During the final temporal pincer battle scene, the image of the building simultaneously exploding and imploding was almost entirely captured in camera. The production team built large-scale miniatures consisting of two 1/3-scale buildings, then blew up the top of one and the bottom of the other. They matched the camera angles and then combined the shots in post-production. Visual effects were used only to correct the excessive amount of dust caused by one of the explosions.
- #013
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the climactic battle scene, the army is divided into two teams: the red team moving forward in time and the blue team inverted and moving backward. When the focus is on the blue (inverted) team, the score changes to include a short motif that is also played backwards. This recalls the score of Inception (2010), whose main motif was based on a heavily slowed-down version of the French song "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" to represent the apparent slowing of time while dreaming.
- #014
The scene set in the opera house in Kiev was actually filmed in Tallinn, Estonia, at the Linnahall, which was built for the 1980 Moscow Olympics when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union. The building had not been maintained for at least ten years, so production designer Nathan Crowley and his team had a great deal of work to do before filming began. They rebuilt the set, polished the concrete and also rebuilt part of the exterior walls. They also had to repair the doors, replace a large amount of glass and deal with the audience seating and carpets.
- #015
After being offered the lead role in the film, John David Washington read the script in director Sir Christopher Nolan's locked office at Warner Bros. Studios. It took him about five hours to finish reading because he kept going back and forth "in pure amazement."
- #016
With a production budget of 205 million dollars, this film became director Sir Christopher Nolan's most expensive original film and one of the most expensive original films at the time of its release. The film was not based on any pre-existing material. It is Nolan's second most expensive film overall, after The Dark Knight Rises (2012), which cost 250 million dollars.
- #017
Robert Pattinson stated that he performed most of the stunt driving in the film himself, including a particular scene shot in Estonia in which he and John David Washington were in a BMW with an IMAX camera mounted on its hood. This meant he could barely see anything through the windshield, and a slight turn could have resulted in the equipment hitting the road.
- #018
Although John David Washington (the Protagonist) is more athletic than the average actor (he once held his university's single-season record and even had a shot in the NFL), the shoot was so grueling that he could not run for more than a month after filming some of the action scenes. He said: "There were some times I couldn't get up out of bed."
- #019
It contains only 280 visual effects shots, fewer than most modern romantic comedies. This is also a low figure for director Sir Christopher Nolan. The Dark Knight (2008) contained 650 VFX shots, The Dark Knight Rises (2012) 450, Inception (2010) about 500, and Dunkirk (2017) only 429 visual effects shots.
- #020
Director Sir Christopher Nolan is a big fan of James Bond films, and his love of the spy genre is visible in this film as well. While working on Tenet, however, Nolan did everything he could to avoid watching films that might influence him too heavily; it was the longest period of the director's life without watching a Bond film. He wanted to work from a memory and a feeling belonging to the genre rather than recreate it. He was not trying to make his own version of a James Bond film; instead, he was trying to create the excitement many people felt as children watching Bond films.
- #021
Although the film is not scientifically accurate, it is roughly based on real physics. Before shooting began, director Sir Christopher Nolan asked physicist Kip Thorne, with whom he had previously worked on Interstellar (2014), to read the script and help with certain concepts.
- #022
For both safety and control reasons, the jet used in the plane crash was not allowed to taxi under its own power. Stuntman Jim Wilkey had to take lessons to earn a special license, after which he managed to drive the tow vehicle that pulled the plane down the runway before it changed direction; after that, a cable system was brought in to guide the actual impact. It took several weeks to work out this system and get the timing right before the actors arrived.
- #023
No green screen was used, only practical set effects. This includes the inversion sequences, which director Sir Christopher Nolan chose to shoot twice for each scene: once with the actors moving forward and once with everything done in reverse.
- #024
As part of the score used around Sir Kenneth Branagh's villain, composer Ludwig Göransson incorporated director Sir Christopher Nolan's breathing. The sound was achieved by Nolan breathing heavily into a microphone and Göransson turning it into disturbing and unsettling sounds.
- #025
The dizzying terrace above a cliff where the Protagonist (John David Washington) meets Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) is real, not green screen. It is the Terrace of Infinity at Villa Cimbrone in Ravello on Italy's Amalfi Coast.
- #026
Although director Sir Christopher Nolan offered Elizabeth Debicki the role without an audition, she insisted on auditioning for it. It was important to her to know she could do what he was looking for, and according to the director, she came in and amazed everyone.
- #027
John David Washington improvised the line "I ordered my hot sauce an hour ago."
- #028
Contains a major spoiler — show
Near the end of the film, Kat makes a spectacular dive to escape Sator's yacht. The 55-meter jump raised a number of potential safety issues, so stunt coordinator George Cottle decided it would be wrong to train Elizabeth Debicki (Kat) to complete the jump herself. Cottle contacted the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series organization and was put in touch with female diver Jessica Macaulay, who agreed to do the dive.
- #029
The first meeting between director Sir Christopher Nolan and Robert Pattinson lasted three hours. At the end of the meeting, Pattinson explained that his blood sugar had dropped very low because they had talked so much and he had been concentrating hard. He asked Nolan for the chocolate on the table in front of them, after which the director ended the meeting immediately. Pattinson thought he had ruined his chance of getting a role in the film.
- #030
One of writer-director Sir Christopher Nolan's filmmaking traditions is to bring the cast and crew together before production begins and show them the films that inspired the project they are working on. For this film, however, Nolan deliberately broke his long-standing tradition and did not host any screenings. He wanted the cast and crew to work from the feeling and memory of the spy genre rather than try to recreate it. This included James Bond films.
- #031
Special equipment and lenses were made for the film to allow more intensive use of IMAX cameras. For example, a special camera head was built that would fit in a car and allow the IMAX camera to rotate 360 degrees. Lenses were also designed to allow the filmmakers to shoot in low-light conditions, which had traditionally been limited when shooting with IMAX cameras. Several heads were also equipped to fire backwards.
- #032
After the script was completed, the first call director Sir Christopher Nolan and producer Dame Emma Thomas made was to casting director John Papsidera, with whom they had worked since Nolan's second feature, Memento (2000). They met and began exchanging ideas, building a long list of potential candidates. Specifically, they started "playing with leading men, and using them in different ways." The aim was to place major actors in smaller roles around the Protagonist, casting actors who would normally be expected to play the lead.
- #033
The opening scene, set in an opera house in Kiev, recalls the 2002 Moscow Dubrovka theater hostage siege, in which a group of armed intruders seized the venue and the entire audience was gassed into sleep/unconsciousness by a "powerful opiate" pumped into the auditorium, just as in the film. In real life there, "firefighters and police officers carried the slumped bodies of theatergoers in evening dress. Many of [these] hostages [had already] suffocated [and/or] swallowed their tongues." [As reported in 'From Russia with Blood'; Heidi Blake; 2019].
- #034
It is the eighth and final film directed by Sir Christopher Nolan and starring Sir Michael Caine, including Caine's voice role in Dunkirk (2017). Caine was absent from Oppenheimer (2023) because he was busy with The Great Escaper and retired after the release of that second film.
- #035
Part of the character Kat was redesigned specifically for Elizabeth Debicki. The role was originally written as older, but producer Dame Emma Thomas had seen Debicki in Widows (2018) and was so impressed by her performance that she asked her husband, the film's director Sir Christopher Nolan, to consider the role specifically for her. Kat was then rewritten with Debicki in mind.
- #036
About 3,500 extras appeared in the opening opera scene.
- #037
The title was originally stylized with its last two letters reversed to match the film's central concept. Although director Sir Christopher Nolan had designed the logo himself six years before the film's release, the title was later changed because it resembled the logo of a bicycle manufacturer. After Warner Bros. showed it to him, Nolan wrote a letter to the company's owner stating that he would stop using the logo if the owner deemed it necessary.
- #038
The film's working title was "Merry Go Round."
- #039
Although many film productions were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, Sir Christopher Nolan managed to finish post-production more or less as usual. The film's rough cut was completed before lockdown began in the United States, and further editing was done in the editing room at Nolan's home in Los Angeles, where he has worked on his films since The Dark Knight (2008). It also helped that Nolan, despite being in California, had used the Double Negative visual effects house in the United Kingdom for years and was therefore used to corresponding remotely.
- #040
Director Sir Christopher Nolan offered John David Washington the lead role of the Protagonist after seeing him in the HBO comedy-drama series Ballers (2015) and attending the world premiere of BlacKkKlansman (2018) at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
- #041
Because of the extremely intense, dark nature of many scenes they shared, Sir Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki lightened the mood between takes by playing a game in which they took turns singing famous songs whose lyrics they did not fully know and tried to fill in the missing words. The pair said that while filming the car chase scene, Branagh sang a song from the musical Les Misérables and improvised his own lyrics to it. This made Debicki laugh so hard that she tore the hem of her skirt.
- #042
The catamarans owned by Andrei Sator (Sir Kenneth Branagh) are F50 foiling catamarans used in the SailGP racing series. They are the fastest racing class in history, capable of reaching speeds above 50 knots (60 mph).
- #043
Contains a major spoiler — show
Strictly speaking, the film is not about time travel in the usual sense: that concept implies that a person can return to any random point in the past with the same effort, whether it be ten minutes or ten years. This film uses the concept of reversing the flow of time, meaning that for the characters to go back ten days to a particular event, they must spend ten days moving in reverse time to get there. Contrary to what is believed, this is not the first film to use this idea; the concept was also used in Primer (2004).
- #044
The film contains images and ideas that director Sir Christopher Nolan had been thinking about for at least 20 years before making it. He worked on the film's details and screenplay for about six years.
- #045
The luxury superyacht seen in the film as Andrei Sator's (Sir Kenneth Branagh) home is known in real life as the Ninth Planet. Just over 240 feet long, the vessel has six decks and its own helipad.
- #046
The exterior shots of the final battle scene were filmed in the ghost desert town of Eagle Mountain in California. The location had a core group of existing structures that could be converted into the old apartment buildings needed for the sequence, and the production team then also built a number of full-scale buildings. In addition, the team created large-scale models and used forced perspective to make the already enormous set appear even larger.
- #047
The three main male characters wear suits for most of the film, so to distinguish them from one another and give them very different looks, costume designer Jeffrey Kurland used a different tailor for each, knowing that each would cut the suits in unique ways.
- #048
Although a very important scene set on Sator's (Sir Kenneth Branagh) yacht takes place in waters off Vietnam, the producers knew that sailing the expensive superyacht to Southeast Asia would be extremely impractical. Instead, the Amalfi Coast in southern Italy doubled for the country.
- #049
To achieve certain in-camera effects, IMAX worked with the filmmakers to rebuild the mechanical and electronic components of its cameras so they could shoot both forward and backward. The production also used the newest generation of sound-reducing housings, called "blimps," for the cameras, whose noise levels are quite high; this allowed more scenes to be shot using the format.
- #050
The film was initially scheduled to be released on July 17, 2020, a lucky date for director Sir Christopher Nolan. However, the release was postponed several times because of the coronavirus pandemic. Warner Bros. ultimately decided to release the film internationally on August 26, followed by a United States release on September 3, although screenings in America began on August 30.
- #051
The scene on the white marble and granite floor in which the Protagonist (John David Washington) explains the scale of their mission to Neil (Robert Pattinson) was filmed on the roof of the Oslo Opera House in Norway. The roof is in fact accessible in real life; it slopes gently upward from ground level, creating a broad plaza where you can enjoy a panoramic view of the city.
- #052
This is the first Sir Christopher Nolan film since Batman Begins (2005) not to be edited by Lee Smith, who was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts with the British war film 1917 (2019). Jennifer Lame was hired in his place. Lame is known for her work on smaller independent films such as Manchester by the Sea (2016) and Hereditary (2018).
- #053
Contains a major spoiler — show
The British theatrical version was shortened by nine seconds to secure the desired "12A" rating. This included footage of Sator kicking his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki).
- #054
This is the third Sir Christopher Nolan film shot by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, after Interstellar (2014) and Dunkirk (2017).
- #055
The Kumu Art Museum in Tallinn, Estonia, doubled as the fictional "Oslo Freeport."
- #056
This is the first large-scale film shot in Tallinn, Estonia, since Stalker (1979).
- #057
Director Sir Christopher Nolan cited To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) as an inspiration for the detailed car chase scene, mainly for how the camera sits with the characters and puts the viewer inside the chase.
- #058
Principal photography took place in seven countries: Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Filming began in the United States in May 2019 and lasted nearly six months, finishing in mid-November.
- #059
Sir Christopher Nolan admitted that the scene in which the terrorist smashes the cello was included to fulfill a personal desire of his, reflecting his frustration at learning to play the cello.
- #060
This was the last film director Sir Christopher Nolan would produce and distribute with Warner Bros. In September 2021, after nineteen years at the studio, it was confirmed that he was leaving, with the announcement that his next film would be made at Universal. This followed a dispute with Warner Bros., which was releasing its films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max without consulting the filmmakers on each film.
- #061
Four "turnstiles" were built for the film, each with its own unique design, able to move and articulate; some were even large enough to fit cars. One of them was built in a warehouse in Estonia; two (including the largest) were made in a closed shopping mall in Hawthorne, California; and the fourth was built on Stage 23 at Warner Bros.
- #062
This was Indian actress Dimple Kapadia's first role in Hollywood.
- #063
A six-minute prologue was shown in select IMAX theaters before IMAX screenings of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019). It included a slightly shortened version of the film's opening sequence, followed by a grainy reel. Starting with The Dark Knight (2008), all of director Sir Christopher Nolan's films released an IMAX prologue or extended footage months before their theatrical openings. Except for Interstellar (2014), all of these prologues were shown in December ahead of studio tentpoles such as Star Wars.
- #064
Sir Kenneth Branagh revealed that doubters insisted director Sir Christopher Nolan would not be able to finish the film because of coronavirus lockdown. But the director pushed on with post-production, cutting the mixing room's technical crew from eleven to five, wearing a mask and observing social distancing.
- #065
The tailoring of Elizabeth Debicki's costumes deliberately evoked the late forties and early fifties, though modern elements were mixed in to keep the period. Her clothes were to be both conservative and elegant, reflecting both her character's vulnerability and, according to designer Jeffrey Kurland, the fact that she is "not opening up to anyone and is very closed, very within herself."
- #066
While casting the female lead, director Sir Christopher Nolan nearly overlooked actress Elizabeth Debicki because he thought she was American. He was looking for a fully British character and, after seeing her in Widows (2018), was convinced she was from America. So when his wife and producing partner Dame Emma Thomas suggested the actress, she had to inform him that Debicki was not American (she is Australian).
- #067
The club where the Protagonist (John David Washington) meets British intelligence agent Michael Crosby (Sir Michael Caine) is the Reform Club in London. It had previously appeared in two Bond films: as the 'Blades' club in Die Another Day (2002) and, a few years later, as a government office in Quantum of Solace (2008).
- #068
The thrilling battle scene was shot in three separate locations in California. The exteriors were filmed at a now-unused iron ore mine in Eagle Mountain, today a ghost desert town; the sequence's interiors were shot on Stage 16 at Warner Bros., as well as inside a closed shopping mall in the city of Hawthorne.
- #069
Contains a major spoiler — show
When the Protagonist first encounters the man in black tactical gear, the man racks/reverses the slide of his pistol. This is the first clear clue about the opponent's identity.
- #070
The song playing over the end title sequence is called "The Plan," written specifically for the film by Travis Scott, composer Ludwig Göransson and Wonda Gurl. It marks a first for both Scott and director Sir Christopher Nolan: Scott's first original solo song written for a motion picture, and the first time Nolan has used a rap or hip-hop song in one of his films. It is also the first time a song has been composed specifically for a Nolan film. As Nolan noted, the film was largely inspired by his love of James Bond, and every James Bond film features an original song written specifically for it (often including the film's title), making this a very fitting first for him.
- #071
Robert Pattinson admitted that during filming he did not understand the plot and had to rely on John David Washington to explain it to him.
- #072
Contains a major spoiler — show
Some of the ideas underlying the plot were taken from Nolan's previous film Memento (2000): namely, bullets returning into the gun; but more importantly, the alternation of scenes moving forward and backward throughout the film and a "meeting" at a certain point.
- #073
To achieve proficiency in handling firearms, John David Washington and Robert Pattinson attended the Taran Tactical shooting range in Simi Valley.
- #074
This is director Sir Christopher Nolan's eleventh feature film and his fifth (after The Dark Knight (2008), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Interstellar (2014) and Dunkirk (2017)) to be shot partly and released in the 70mm IMAX format.
- #075
Costume designer Jeffrey Kurland read the film's script six times before sitting down with Sir Christopher Nolan to discuss the characters and how he wanted to present them physically on screen.
- #076
While Sir Christopher Nolan was receiving the New York Film Critics Circle's Best Director award for Oppenheimer (2023), a Peloton instructor said during a workout that he had mocked Tenet without knowing Nolan was among those taking the virtual class. The instructor said of the film: "I need a guide! Someone needs to explain this! Yes, I'm not joking, what was going on in that movie? Do you understand? Seriously, you need to be a neuroscientist to understand it, and I want back two and a half hours of my life. I want it back." After the story went viral, the instructor said, "I may not have understood a single minute of Tenet… it went completely over my head. But I saw Oppenheimer. Twice. That's 6 hours of my life I never want back… Mr. Nolan, I invite you to ride with me in the Peloton studio. You can critique my class… And I promise you, it will be free of insults."
- #077
Contains a major spoiler — show
Tenet shares similar themes with director Sir Christopher Nolan's previous film Interstellar (2014). In both, people can communicate across time and try to find an alternative future for a doomed planet. However, while in Interstellar the heroes are helped from the future, in this film the people of the future communicate with Sator (Sir Kenneth Branagh) to destroy the past and save the future.
- #078
Tenet was the first major studio film to be released during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- #079
A surprise 40-second teaser trailer for Tenet was shown before IMAX screenings of Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) in select United States theaters beginning on August 1, 2019. Filming had begun in May 2019 and would not be completed until November.
- #080
The Protagonist (John David Washington) first meets Neil (Robert Pattinson) at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, a private club on the famous Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Marg near India Gate. Opened in 1881, the site remains open only to members to this day.
- #081
More than a hundred watercraft were hired, including catamarans, mega yachts, icebreakers, speedboats, fishing boats and a cargo tanker. The wind farm vessel Iceni Revenge stayed on the production through roughly three months of shooting in Estonia, Italy and Norway.
- #082
The colors blue and red represent inverted time and normal time, respectively. The armored truck carrying the algorithm piece is blue. The fire truck stolen to prevent its use is red.
- #083
The airplane crash scene was shot at the airport in Victorville, California, at the southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert.
- #084
Sir Kenneth Branagh (Sator) directed John David Washington's father, Denzel Washington, in Much Ado About Nothing (1993). He also directed leading actor Sir Michael Caine in Sleuth (2007).
- #085
With an estimated production budget of 205 million US dollars, Tenet is the most expensive film ever made to star a non-white lead.
- #086
Robert Pattinson received the news that he had been cast as Bruce Wayne in The Batman (2022) on his first day on set while filming Tenet. This is an interesting coincidence given that director Sir Christopher Nolan had previously made three Batman films: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
- #087
Tenet is the eighth and final collaboration between Michael Caine and Christopher Nolan before Caine's retirement in 2023. Caine had appeared in every Nolan film from Batman Begins to Tenet, including a voice performance in Dunkirk that was not credited in the titles.
- #088
A terminal at Los Angeles International Airport stood in for the Oslo Airport terminal.
- #089
After his wife and producing partner Dame Emma Thomas suggested Elizabeth Debicki for the female lead, director Sir Christopher Nolan went back and rewatched her work in The Great Gatsby (2013), The Night Manager (2016) and Widows (2018).
- #090
The film's title is a palindrome: a word that reads the same forward and backward.
- #091
The mysterious spy Crosby, played by Sir Michael Caine, who was actually 87 during filming, would have been far too old to serve in Britain's Secret Services, where the mandatory retirement age is 65, though in reality senior personnel are often kept on longer because of their experience.
- #092
Contains a major spoiler — show
There are similarities between Elizabeth Debicki's role as Kat in this film and her role as Jed in The Night Manager (2016). In both productions her character is in a relationship with a wealthy arms dealer whom she does not love but must stay with for fear of losing her son. As in the miniseries, in this film the protagonist uses her character to obtain information about her husband or lover. The connection goes further: Kenneth Branagh, who plays her husband in this film, and Hugh Laurie, who played her husband in The Night Manager (2016), played old university friends in Peter's Friends (1992).
- #093
Contains a major spoiler — show
The scene in which the Protagonist (John David Washington) is tortured in the middle of a cargo rail yard was shot at Telliskivi Creative City in Tallinn, Estonia, on the border between Tallinn's Old Town and the Kalamaja district.
- #094
The scene set at Shipley's Auction House was actually shot at the National Liberal Club in London. It had previously appeared in productions including The Elephant Man (1980), Highlander (1986), Brazil (1985) and Trance (2013). It also provided the exterior of the London entrance to the 'Sanctum Sanctorum' in Doctor Strange (2016).
- #095
The city skyline seen on the poster for Tenet belongs to Guangzhou, China. However, no part of Tenet was shot in China.
- #096
The Cannon Hall School, where the Protagonist (John David Washington) first scrutinizes Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) as she meets his son Max, was not actually filmed at a school; it was shot at a mansion in Hampstead known as Cannon Hall. The building was once the home of actor-manager Gerald du Maurier. It had previously appeared on screen as Keir Dullea's house in Otto Preminger's black comedy Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965).
- #097
Actor Jeremy Theobald appears briefly as a butler alongside Sir Michael Caine in the restaurant scene. He had previously starred in director Sir Christopher Nolan's Follow (1998) and also played a small role in Batman Begins (2005). He also appeared in Nolan's short films Larceny (1996) and Doodlebug (1997).
- #098
Clémence Poésy was heavily pregnant with her second child during filming. As a result, her character appears for only about 5 minutes, and most of her shots show only her upper half.
- #099
Contains a major spoiler — show
The film shares the same scene as the James Bond short story 'The Hildebrand Rarity', written by Ian Fleming and first published in 1960. In both the film and the story, a wealthy and cruel yacht owner tries to discipline his wife with a whip. In the story the husband uses a stingray's tail, while in the film he uses a belt with a cufflink fitted into one of its holes. Director Sir Christopher Nolan is a big James Bond fan.
- #100
Sir Kenneth Branagh works with Sir Christopher Nolan for the second time, after Dunkirk (2017).
- #101
Christopher Nolan said that while taking a Peloton cycling class at home, Peloton instructor Jenn Sherman remarked that she had watched this film and hated it, saying "That's two hours of my life I'll never get back!" Nolan said she did not realize he was in the class and apologized when she later found out.
- #102
It has been included in "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
- #103
Contains a major spoiler — show
Reaching the penthouse of arms dealer Priya (Dimple Kapadia), located at the top of the Neelam Shree Vardhan Tower on Bhulabhai Desai Road (formerly known as old Warden Road) in Oomer Park, required ingenuity. It is situated in an area called Breach Candy, a newly developed upscale residential and commercial district in South Mumbai.
- #104
This is the second time Robert Pattinson and Clémence Poésy have worked together. They had previously appeared opposite each other fifteen years earlier in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005). Interestingly, Sir Kenneth Branagh (Sator) also appeared in a Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).
- #105
Contains a major spoiler — show
In Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), actor Sir Kenneth Branagh plays a Russian who wants to destroy the world through the collapse of the global economy. In this film, Branagh plays a Russian who wants to destroy the world through a collapse of global time. In addition, in both films his character is revealed to have a terminal illness, which forms part of the motivation for his actions.
- #106
Marks's costume designer Jeffrey Kurland works on a Sir Christopher Nolan film for the third time, after Inception (2010) and Dunkirk (2017).
- #107
In the newspaper Priya shows the Protagonist, there is a smaller article about motorcycle helmets. Its visible content appears to have gone off track as follows: "Elementals were worshipped as well as the spirits of the elements and the sun, rivers and even early dawn were pitapatted as spiritual existences as well as material existences. Agni was the fire god who illuminated the universe and the… at home illuminated the world. Varuna… were the waters and the ruler… the seas". Perhaps, in relation to India, this is a subtle reference by the director to the Hindu / Sanatana Dharma concept of worshipping the elements.
- #108
Elizabeth Debicki (Kat), Martin Donovan (Fay) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Ives) have all appeared in Marvel films. Debicki appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), Donovan in Ant-Man (2015), and Taylor-Johnson played Pietro Maximoff in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). In addition, Sir Kenneth Branagh (Sator) directed another Marvel film, Thor (2011).
- #109
This is Martin Donovan's second collaboration with director Sir Christopher Nolan. They had previously worked together on Insomnia (2002).
- #110
This is Sir Christopher Nolan's fourth film not to appear in the IMDb Top 250, after Follow (1998), Insomnia (2002) and Dunkirk (2017).
- #111
Many scenes required the actors to rehearse their movements both forwards and backwards so that the inverted sequences would look physically convincing.
- #112
Clemence Poésy and Robert Pattinson had worked together 15 years earlier on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).
- #113
Sir Michael Caine and Clémence Poésy had previously worked together on Last Love (2013).
- #114
The score was composed by Ludwig Göransson, marking the first time a Christopher Nolan film has not featured music by Hans Zimmer since The Prestige.
- #115
Rather than creating the effect entirely with CGI, Christopher Nolan filmed many large-scale action scenes practically, including the crash of a real Boeing 747.
- #116
Kenneth Branagh's face is not shown until exactly the 53rd minute of the film, despite his character being mentioned several times beforehand.
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