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Robert Pattinson teases 'enormous set-pieces' in Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet'

Robert Pattinson and John David Washington in a still from Tenet. (©2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Robert Pattinson and John David Washington in a still from Tenet. (©2020 Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Christopher Nolan is no stranger to IMAX-sized action sequences and it sounds like his next film Tenet is no different.

“This thing [Tenet], it’s so insane,” actor Robert Pattinson tells GQ in a new profile.

“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.”

The Batman star adds that the production crew on Tenet were so in awe of the visual effects and stunt work on the film, they would come to set on their days off just to watch the action unfold.

When pushed on the film’s plot, beyond conceding that the film isn’t about time-travelling, the actor feigns ignorance but a follow up with Nolan suggests Pattinson is being deliberately obtuse.

Read more: Tenet gets a huge budget

“Rob’s read on the script was extremely acute,” Nolan tells GQ. “But he also understood the ambiguities of the film and the possibilities that spin off in the mind around the story.”

“He’s f***ing 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.”

Scheduled for release on 17 July, just in time for cinemas to gradually start reopening, Tenet stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, and Kenneth Branagh and is about a secret agent tasked with preventing World War III through time manipulation.

Filming wrapped up way before lockdown kicked in, with the production shooting in Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States.

Inception director Nolan has been working hard on completing the film in time for its release, and it remains one of the few 2020 summer blockbusters to not delay its release due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The US poster for Tenet (Warner Bros.)
The US poster for Tenet (Warner Bros.)

“Chris really would like to be coming out with the film that opens theaters,” IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond said on a recent earnings call (via Variety).

“I don’t know anyone in America who is pushing harder to get the theatres re-opened and to get his movie released than Chris Nolan.”

Cinemas are included among those businesses which the UK government hopes will be in step three of its road-map to lift COVID-19 restrictions and take the UK economy out of lockdown.

A Vue spokesperson told Yahoo Finance UK that the cinema chain has been “liaising closely with authorities across Europe to design operating procedures that can provide the degree of social distancing required and allow an experience for our customers and staff that is as safe as possible.”

Tenet is coming to cinemas on 17 July. Hopefully.