When Christopher Nolan crashed a real plane into a building for ‘Tenet’

The crew cheered, said actor John David Washington

christopher_nolan_imdb Christopher Nolan | Imdb

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan is known for taking that extra step to bring the realistic feel into his movie scenes. He is back with his next action drama Tenet which will hopefully hit theatres post the global lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The official trailer of Tenet released earlier this week, and fans are eagerly waiting to watch another Nolan wonder on the big screen. Making a fascinating revelation about one of the scenes in Tenet, Nolan revealed that the crew actually blew up a real plane for one of the sequences in the film. Towards the end of the trailer, we see John David Washington and Robert Pattinson’s characters discussing a plane crash, soon after which a plane crashes into a building.

“I planned to do it using miniatures and set-piece builds and a combination of visual effects and all the rest…It became apparent that it would actually be more efficient to buy a real plane of the real size, and perform this sequence for real in camera, rather than build miniatures or go the CG route,” Nolan told Total Film.

Speaking to Cinemablend, Washington said: “That was a real plane, and that was a real building that they crashed that plane into. 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.”

Speaking about Tenet in December last year, Nolan called it the most ambitious movie he has ever made. The 49-year-old filmmaker said the project, which he also produces alongside his frequent collaborator Emma Thomas, has been mounted on a scale that is "certainly the biggest in terms of international reach".

"We shot in seven countries, all over the place, with a massive cast and huge set pieces. There's no question, it's the most ambitious film we've made," Nolan added.

Though the plot details have kept under wraps by the studio Warner Bros, Nolan said is an espionage thriller that spans several countries. "We're jumping off from the point of view of an espionage film, but we're going to a number of different places. We're crossing a few different genres in a hopefully exciting and fresh way," Nolan told Entertainment Weekly.

The film also features Elizabeth Debicki, Michael Caine, Dimple Kapadia and Kenneth Branagh among others.