Tenet script was difficult to figure out according to Kenneth Branagh

Tenet’s world premiere remains on schedule for mid-July and Christopher Nolan's fans are prepping for the mind-blowing adventure that the filmmaker's films tend to become. The only problem - not even actors themselves seem to be sure what is happening, which doesn’t exude much hope for us mortals. In his interview with Total Film (via Collider) actor and director Kenneth Branagh has compared reading the script to solving the famously difficult The New York Times puzzle.

 “I kid you not, I read this screenplay more times than I have ever read any other thing I have ever worked on,” Branagh said. “It was like doing the Times crossword puzzle every day, I would imagine. Except the film and the screenplay didn’t expect you, or need you, to be an expert.”

Here is what we know about the plot. The protagonist - starring John David Washington from BlacKkKlansman – becomes involved in the world of international espionage to prevent World War III, as he goes against his adversary, played by Branagh. In the process, something described as "inversion of time" plays a great part, allowing the characters to communicate with the future. Nevertheless, this does not involve the kind of time travel we imagine from films such as Back to the Future. 

“Given the nature of it, as Chris to some extent sort of reinvents the wheel here, a lot of people start engaging with John David Washington’s character in both expected ways … so you might expect me to be an antagonist … but then [the story] doesn’t quite follow what you might expect as the story plays out.” 

Branagh, who has some experience in playing villains - in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit he played Viktor Cherevin, also a Russian national - is not sure if this is how he would classify his role in the Tenet, despite what the trailer would suggest: 

“In the playing of it, and in the scenes, he keeps up turning, or playing forward and backward, our expectations of what the character should be,” Branagh elaborates. “So my conversations with [Nolan] about my character were constant because the character’s evolution was not set. It was a series of constant surprises.”

Branagh and Nolan first collaborated on the 2017 epic drama Dunkirk. The actor, who has been nominated for five Oscars, starred as Commander Bolton in the take on the WWII saving operation which marks the first Oscar nomination for Best Director for Nolan. And while the question of opening US cinemas and to what capacity hangs in the air, Tenet is on track to be the first tentpole film to premiere In the new cinematic environment and the industry’s eyes are upon it. On the other hand, Branagh’s latest directorial project, “Artemis Fowl”, is being released June 12 on Disney+, after it was first set for theatrical release, but the same got cancelled amid COVID-19 closures.