The upcoming thriller Tenet marks a unique film for writer/director Christopher Nolan in a few ways, one being that he broke a longstanding tradition of his while making the movie. On most of his prior efforts, Nolan would sit his cast and crew down before production began to screen for them a series of films that served as inspiration for their latest effort. For The Dark Knight they watched Michael Mann’s Heat; for Interstellar he screened The Right Stuff; and for Dunkirk he screened All Quiet on the Western Front and The Battle of Algiers. But for Tenet, Nolan screened nothing.

In speaking with Total Film (via Indiewire) about his secretive new effort, he explained why he chose to break with tradition on this particular film:

“Interestingly, this is one of the first films I’ve ever made where we didn’t do any screenings. And the reason was, I think we all have the spy genre so in our bones and in our fingertips. I actually wanted to work from a memory and a feeling of that genre, rather than the specifics.”

It’s no secret that Nolan is a massive James Bond fan, and he’s even said he’s very open to the idea of directing a Bond film—albeit under the condition he can reboot it with a new actor and make it his own. But it sounds like Tenet might be Nolan’s own version of a Bond movie, scratching that itch himself instead of waiting for the franchise to need him:

“It’s totally in my bones,” Nolan continued about the spy genre. “I don’t need to reference the movies and look at them again. It’s about trying to re-engage with your childhood connection with those movies, with the feeling of what it’s like to go someplace new, someplace fresh. It actually has to take them somewhere they haven’t been before, and that’s why no one’s ever been able, really, to do their own version of James Bond or something. It doesn’t work. And that’s not at all what this is. This is much more my attempt to create the sort of excitement in grand-scale entertainment I felt from those movies as a kid, in my own way.”

That’s a curious notion, and could hint towards a more joyful film than Nolan’s recent efforts like Dunkirk and Interstellar, which were more somber. There’s certainly a joyful quality to Inception, and I’m incredibly curious to see what Nolan’s version of a Bond-esque, globe-trotting spy thriller looks like.

Tenet is currently still scheduled to open in theaters on July 17th as the first new release following the COVID-19 shutdown, but that date feels flexible as it was left of of Warner Bros.’ most recent trailer for the film. Whatever the case, expect Tenet to absolutely first debut in theaters when the time comes.

For everything we know about Tenet so far, click here.