John David Washington can't explain Tenet, rediscovery of self

 John David Washington can't explain Tenet, rediscovery of self.

If you haven't been able to get to a movie theater to see Tenet, you've still probably heard a few things about Christopher Nolan's much-anticipated eleventh movie. You may have heard, for instance, that the suits are sharp, the effects are dazzling, and the script is incredibly complicated. The movie is packed with complex scientific ideas and non-linear plotting that challenges viewers to keep up, and that was just as true for its cast.

"I was unafraid of asking any stupid questions," John David Washington told me this week, reflecting on how he got to grips with the movie's heady concepts. "I thought there was no such thing, and Chris made me feel that way. I asked him questions constantly so that I could have the emotion catch up to the logic." But in other moments, the emotion and the logic were perfectly matched. Because it's possible for time to move both backwards and forwards in Tenet, it's possible for characters to also move in reverse through time.

This idea builds towards a breathtaking sequence in which The Protagonist is very literally confronted with himself–a moment that seamlessly blends action with emotion. What is Tenet about? For Washington, it's self-discovery.

"There are moments when you can't explain exactly what it is, but it's a feeling that [The Protagonist] is just becoming aware of himself," he reflected. "I think that’s what this character is dealing with, is the rediscovery of self. You see it in different moments of the movie, as he continues to evolve and discover things about himself and his capabilities."

Washington's role presented an unusual challenge, in that he is a cipher by design–it's no coincidence that his name is simply The Protagonist. We find out almost nothing about his history, his motivations or his personality, and Washington seized on this blank canvas as an opportunity.