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transcript

This is Christopher Nolan. Im the director and writer of Tenet. Early in the film, the protagonist played by John David Washington and Neil played by Robert Pattinson, they travel to Mumbai. And theyre tasked with breaking into something thats fairly unique to Mumbai, these high rise houses. So its like a mansion that rather than being wide on the ground, its vertical in the air. These aerials are some of the first aerials that any film company has been allowed to shoot in Mumbai ever. And it was a lot of coordination with the government to allow that to happen. But its a spectacular city and it was something I was very keen to get into the texture of the film. The hardware used to do this stunt obviously stuff weve made up these winches and so forth. Its an arborist catapult putting the line over the rail there. And we spent a lot of time talking to the stunt guys about how they could do this, and they came up with the way of having John David and Rob as you see here actually launch into the air. Theres a cut there very invisible by Jen Lame my great editor to the stunt guys who then were launched the entire way up the building for real. No CG. And here we see John David Washington showing his physical prowess as the protagonist, and Rob with the slightly more loose character of Neil. A little less disciplined but similarly skilled. Were getting our first glimpse there of Dimple Kapadia a great Bollywood actress who has lent her talents to the film. Denzil Smith is a co-star there, hes also well known in India. We shot in a real house. The family who allowed us to shoot there were incredibly welcoming. A lot of this stuff would normally be done you do the interiors in a set, so forth. We tried to do it all right there overlooking the ocean in Mumbai. This is the setup really for the character. We want to show his ruthless side, we want to show his skill. But what John David is able to bring to this is a sort of generosity of spirit, its a very warm presence. So not just pure sort of cynicism. My friend, guns are never conducive to a productive negotiation. Im not the man they send to negotiate or the man they send to make deals. But I am the man people talk to. It was such fun to come and be a part of the Mumbai film industry for a few days. I mean we were able to work with the most amazing local crew there. To say anything about a client would violate the tenet he lives by. And at the end here, we have the reveal of Dimple Kapadia who plays Priya. It was a delight working with her, and getting to work in Mumbai on this film. Sanjay, make a drink for our guest, please.

Recent episodes in Anatomy of a Scene

Film directors walk viewers through one scene of their movies, showing the magic, motives and the mistakes from behind the camera.

Film directors walk viewers through one scene of their movies, showing the magic, motives and the mistakes from behind the camera.

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'Tenet' | Anatomy of a Scene - The New York Times