Christopher Nolan blew up real 747 jet in 'Tenet' instead of opting for CGI, calls it 'impulse-buying'

Speaking to Total Film, the director said that he hadn't originally planned to blow up the airplane for the sake of shooting a big scene in his movie. “I planned to do it using miniatures and set-piece builds and a combination of visual effects and all the rest,” Nolan said. He changed his mind after his team came across a massive array of old planes while scouting for locations in Victorville, California. "We started to run the numbers... 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," he added. 

This bizarre bit of information about the major stunt in the movie involving the destruction of a 747 in an airport hanger could become a top-selling point as it will be risky timing the release of the film when he is, as there are multiple states still observing a partial to complete lockdown due. Nolan said that although it was a spur-of-the-moment purchase, he did not regret it. “It’s a strange thing to talk about – a kind of impulse buying, I suppose," he said. "But we kind of did, and it worked very well, with Scott Fisher, our special-effects supervisor, and Nathan Crowley, the production designer, figuring out how to pull off this big sequence in camera. It was a very exciting thing to be a part of.”

Nolan has famously been known to reject CGI as far as possible in the past. He was known to painstakingly construct a rotating hallway in order to shoot a fight scene for 'Inception,' despite the fact that he had the option of going for special effects and wires. 

Robert Pattinson, who co-stars in 'Tenet' told Total Film that he was also stunned to learn about practical effects instead of a special effect that was going to be used for the movie. “You wouldn’t have thought there was any reality where you would be doing a scene where they just have an actual 747 to blow up! It’s so bold to the point of ridiculousness... I remember, as we were shooting it, I was thinking, ‘How many more times is this even going to be happening in a film at all?'" he said.