TIME TO SPY
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.
‘TO HAVE A 747 AT YOUR DISPOSAL IS EVERY KID’S DREAM’
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN
Nolan, wearing a regulation hi-vis vest over his trademark blazer, surveys the scene, checking in with department heads. He’s remarkably relaxed, given the circumstances (did we mention the full-size plane on the set?). Despite the enormity of the undertaking, the first shot is set up remarkably quickly, reflecting the precision and decisiveness Nolan is so famous for. No long waits like on many other film sets; we’re off with a literal bang.
With a shout of “here we go!” the first take gets underway… Flames ignite along the plane’s right wing, and one of the left-side jet engines roars to life, whirring and sparking and almost rocking itself free until it explodes into flames and black smoke. The faux emergency services screech in, hosing at the wreckage, before cut is called. Nolan checks playback on a small monitor worn around his neck (no traditional ‘video village’ here), as the scene is reset for a couple more takes. On a set-up of this magnitude, it’s impossible not to think of the Orson Welles quote about the backlot being “the biggest train set a boy ever had!”
“Oh, very much,” agrees Nolan when we catch up later, in April 2020, during the final stages of post-production. He’s talking via phone from the office at his LA home. “To be able to have a 747 at your disposal, and
