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Tenet: Christopher Nolan crashed real plane into a building for explosion scene

Getty Images / Warner Bros Pictures
Getty Images / Warner Bros Pictures

Christopher Nolan crashed a real plane into a building for one of Tenet’s explosive scenes.

The crash appears at the end of the latest trailer for the espionage drama about “time inversion” which is set for release this summer.

John David Washington, who plays Tenet’s unnamed lead, told CinemaBlend that the whole crew was excited when Nolan captured the crash on film.

“That was a real plane, and that was a real building that they crashed that plane into,” he said. “And we, cast and crew, all witnessed it. It was epic! It was incredible, we all cheered and hurrayed and hurrahed when they yelled cut after Chris felt like he got it.

“What you saw is really what happened – at least the night I was there.”

A synopsis of Tenet reads: “John David Washington is the new Protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s original sci-fi action spectacle Tenet. 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. Not time travel. Inversion.”

Quite what that means is unknown, although fans are hoping they will be more clued up should the film proceed with its release on 17 July despite the fact strict lockdown guidelines may still be in place.

Where most films use CGI to fill in backdrops, for his 2017 Second World War epic Dunkirk, Nolan used real fighter plans and warships.

Neil Andrea, a marine coordinator working on Dunkirk, told The Independent: “We had Messerschmitts flying overhead, thousands of extras on the beach, minesweepers in the background, a 350ft destroyer and torpedo boats all in the same shot.”

“On certain days, there were up to 60 ships in the water,” Andrea added.

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