#One Tenet Star Almost Lost Her Job for Being Too Good an Actor

In the film industry, actors dream of landing a role that allows them to showcase their acting talent to its fullest extent. For actress Elizabeth Debicki, her role in Widows, where she plays the part of an American, almost cost her the chance to audition for a role in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film Tenet, as the filmmaker revealed to Variety.

“I was looking for a very, very British characterization, an English Rose kind of character.”

It was the suggestion of Nolan’s wife Emma Thomas to consider Elizabeth Debicki, which Nolan initially dismissed because He was convinced she was actually an American on the strength of her performance in Widows. Upon finding out she was actually from Australia, the filmmaker was impressed enough to rewatch her work in Widows and The Great Gatsby along with The Night Manager and was struck by her range.

“Elizabeth’s one of these great actors who, when they’re brought to your attention, you realize you’ve seen them in a lot of things but not realized it’s the same person. For somebody as striking and interesting to look at as she is, the idea she has a chameleon-like ability speaks volumes to her skills as an actor.”

Once he was convinced of her talent, Christopher Nolan wasted no time in offering Debicki the role in Tenet. This time the process was halted by the question of a test audition. Surprisingly, it was Debicki’s insistence that she give an audition rather than Nolan’s, as the filmmaker explained.

“I certainly wasn’t asking. There’s a certain level of actor who, as a director, you don’t necessarily want to ask them. But she wanted to. I think it was important to her to know that she could do what I was looking for. And she came in and just blew everybody away. In my mind, she was only confirming what I already knew. What she did with it is far beyond my hopes even.”

The whole affair ended in a happy manner when Debicki finally boarded Tenet in one of the lead roles, the details of which are still being kept strictly under wraps. The time-bending espionage thriller will see the actress playing a complex part, and Nolan is excited for audiences to see what she has done with her character.

“It’s a very difficult character because she has to be extremely vulnerable and put upon, and yet there has to be this strength, this depth, these reserves that come forward. I think that’s very difficult for an actor to pull off without resorting to the unrealistic or resting on the simplistic version of the character arc. She finds a way to play vulnerability and strength at the same time, which is very human and very real.”

The release date for Tenet is set for August 12, and Debicki is aware of and excited by the prospect of what the movie can do for the film industry and theaters after the months-long lockdown.

“Everybody’s taking their own steps back out into the world, and we have to be empathetic. But it’s a very heightened feeling to think the film I made last year may be one of the first things back in cinemas for months.”

This news comes from Variety.

Topics: Tenet