TIME TO SPY

Christopher Nolan puts his own unique spin on the spy genre in Tenet, the most anticipated – and secretive – blockbuster of the year. Total Film witnesses explosive on set action as the writer /director continues his preoccupation with the concept of time on his most ambitious production yet. Prepare for an ‘incredible ride’...

- MATT MAYTUM

The sun is setting, but the day has just begun. It’s September 2019, and Total Film is at an anonymous logistics airport in Victorville, California. We’re here to watch nighttime filming on ‘Merry Go Round’, the shooting codename for Tenet – the latest big-budget blockbuster original from master filmmaker Christopher Nolan. All we know is that it’s an action epic, evolving from the world of international espionage. And that’s pretty much all we’ll know… for now.

As the orange sunset fades to black, Emma Thomas (Nolan’s wife and longtime producing partner) acts as our guide to the set, while preparations are made for a practical set-piece on an all-too-rare scale. Tonight, Victorville is doubling for Oslo. Blue lights strobe from ‘politi’ cars and an ‘ambulanse’, as a truck sprays the ground with water, replicating the rainy Norwegian capital.

Oh, and there’s the small matter of the 747 jet that’s been crashed into the side of a hangar. Not a partial fibreglass replica of a jet. Not CGI. This is a real aeroplane, bought by the production. It bears a (fictional) Norskfreight logo. Debris is scattered underneath, the top draped with shreds of hangar roof. The left wing, in particular, looks worse for wear. The scale is jaw-dropping.