Since the release of Memento, Christopher Nolan has been well known for making movies that confuse almost as much as they entertain. While confounding audiences is one thing, baffling your actors while filming is something else entirely. And this very thing happened to Robert Pattinson while filming Tenet when he realized he had the wrong idea about his character.
Robert Pattinson admitted Christopher Nolan’s movies are complicated and that while acting in Tenet, he didn’t know what was actually going on. It turns out he even had an interpretation of the character that was different from what others were thinking. He found this out when talking with co-star John David Washington. Here’s what Pattinson said:
It’s an incredibly complicated movie, like all of Chris’s movies. I mean, you have to watch them when they’re completely finished and edited three or four times to understand what the true meaning is. When you’re doing them, I mean, there were months at a time where I’m like, ‘Am I?.?.?.?I actually, honestly, have no idea if I’m even vaguely understanding what’s happening.’ And yeah, I would definitely say that to John David. On the last day, I asked him a question about what was happening in a scene, and it was just so profoundly the wrong take on the character. And it was like, ‘Have you been thinking this the entire time?’?.?.?. There’s definitely a bond in the end in kind of hiding the fact that maybe neither one of us knew exactly what was going on. But then I thought, Ah, but John David actually did know. He had to know what was going on.
Robert Pattinson may have confirmed to Esquire that he was confused about his role in Tenet, but his castmate also needed some clarification from time to time. John David Washington spoke a bit about the confusing nature of Christopher Nolan’s movies after the latest trailer release. He also admitted to being confused by the story while working on set and would ask Christopher Nolan daily questions about it, which the director was more than happy to answer.
Robert Pattinson and John David Washington weren’t the only actors to be confused while working on a Christopher Nolan movie, either. Earlier this year, Leonardo DiCaprio revealed that the ending of Inception confused him as much as everyone else, though he believes that when you’re working on set, you’re just focused on your character.
From the looks of the Tenet trailer, we’re all likely to be just as confused by Christopher Nolan’s latest as the actors. We already have questions about certain things like the reason for the word “tenet” being so important. And even though the movie hasn’t come out yet, we’re already trying to answer those questions and breakdown how time inversion might work.
Of course, perhaps the most concerning and puzzling thing about Tenet isn’t the movie itself but the release date. The trailer explicitly said “coming to theaters,” but it didn’t provide a date. The movie was originally set to be released on July 17 but, due to current events, there’s been speculation that it could be pushed back. As always, we’ll keep you updated on the latest Tenet news.
