Anticipation and excitement for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet only grows by the day. Nolan’s films are known for their visionary and futuristic storylines. But he helps bring them to life through use of some heavy CGI. Tenet is no exception, especially with its “time-inversion” concept. But when the second trailer dropped, it ended with a scene of a whole airplane crashing into a hangar. While everyone assumed it was CGI, Nolan revealed that that scene is 100% real and that he crashed an actual plane for the scene.

In an interview with Total Film, Nolan explained why he used a real plane. “I planned to do it using miniatures and set-piece builds and a combination of visual effects and all the rest,” Nolan said. “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.”

“It’s a strange thing to talk about – a kind of impulse buying, I suppose. But we kind of did, and it worked very well…It was a very exciting thing to be a part of,” he added.

One of the film’s lead actors, Robert Pattinson, also recounted his experience while working on the scene. “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?’”

Watch the trailer below: