While he had previously worked with Nolan on the war epicDunkirk,Jackson admits he had to read the script forTenet four times before he understood it. On set,there were often huddles of crew members debating what should be happening.

“I’ve heard someone say that watching it was a little like trying to explain who your second cousin once removed is,” Jackson says. “You think you understand it until you need to explain it to someone else.”

The 61-year-old admires Nolan’s commitment to cinema,which resulted inTenet being released last year while other blockbusters were delayed,and also his passion for creating visual effects “in camera” - filming as much as possible on set rather than leaving everything to post-production.

“That’s the thing that makes this film stand out,” he says. “There are massive effects in there which we actually did film.”

So for a scene that had a plane ramming into an airport terminal,the production bought a decommissioned jet,tidied it up (“we got rid of the pigeon shit”),reinstalled the brakes and towed it through a set they had built.

“All the explosions,the plane itself and the impact with the building are all ‘in camera’,” Jackson says. “Then in post-production,the visual effects department added trees that get sucked into the engines and get blown out by the jet blast and got rid of the tow rope.”

For a spectacular freeway chase that had cars going both forwards and backwards while items were passed between them,the team first mapped it with 3D software.

“We see the whole scene twice - once forwards then the second time backwards - and all the same events have to interact with each other and make logical sense in both directions,” Jackson says. “We built cars that drove really fast backwards and,in some cases,had the drivers facing backwards with extra steering wheels in the boot.”

And for what was called a “temporal pincer movement” in the movie’s climactic battle,the stunt crew learnt to act backwards.

“We had this approach where whatever was the most difficult thing to do backwards,we’d let that be the forwards action,” Jackson says. “The action that was easiest to do in reverse,we’d film it backwards.”

So what does Jackson think of his chances?

“You don’t want to jinx it,do you?” he says. “Obviously I think we’ve got a reasonable chance but you never know. I thought we had a really good chance withMad Max and we didn’t win that.”

The Academy Awards are on the Seven Network on Monday from 10am.

WHAT TO EXPECT

The continuing impact of the pandemic in the United States makes this a very different Academy Awards.

The organisers still plan to use the traditional Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. But nominees will be sitting on socially-distanced tables at the city’s main railway station,with satellite venues around the world including Sydney.

Union Station,which has featured inBlade Runner andThe Dark Knight Rises,will have what one organiser has called “a teeny tiny red carpet”.

It will be Sunday night in Los Angeles - so quieter than rush hour - but trains will continue to run as Oscars are handed out.

With the postponement of major movies while cinemas were closed,the nominees for the major awards have been barely watched on the big screen. Some have only been released on streaming services.

One of the Oscars producers,filmmaker Steven Soderbergh,has promised a COVID-safe show that will be enjoyable for a global audience,without a single host for the third year in a row.

After history was made last year when Korea’sParasite became the first best picture winner in a foreign-language,there are expected to be more ‘firsts’ this year.

The poetic road movieNomadland,directed by China’s Chloe Zhao,is widely expected to win best picture after dominating a disrupted awards season.

It is up against Citizen Kane screenwriter biopicMank,blackly comic revenge thrillerPromising Young Woman, gentle immigrant taleMinari,1960s activist courtroom drama The Trial of the Chicago 7,boldly-told dementia dramaThe Father,rock-drummer-goes-deaf dramaSound of Metaland FBI-infiltrates-the-Black-Panthers dramaJudas and the Black Messiah.

Zhao is also favourite to win best director,which would make her the first woman from Asia to win ... and just the second woman in 93 years,following Kathryn Bigelow forThe Hurt Locker.

She is up against Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman),David Fincher (Mank),Lee Isaac Chung (Minari) and Thomas Vinterberg (Danish comic dramaAnother Round).

As well as best director,Zhao has a chance to win three other Oscars,as producer,writer and editor ofNomadland.

Six years after an all-white list of acting nominees sparked the first move to expand and diversify the Oscars voting membership,black and Asian actors are expected to dominate,with a chance of sweeping all four categories.

While best actress is the hardest to pick of any award this year,the favourite is Viola Davis for playing a legendary blues singer in the 1920s music industry dramaMa Rainey’s Black Bottom.

She is up against Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday),Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman),Frances McDormand (Nomadland) and Carey Mulligan (Promising Young Woman).

Best actor is likely to go to the late Chadwick Boseman,theBlack Panther star who played an ambitious trumpeter inMa Rainey’s Black Bottom,ahead of Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal),Anthony Hopkins (The Father),Gary Oldman (Mank) and Steven Yeun (Minari).

Favourite to win best supporting actress is South Korea’s Yuh-Jung Youn,who played a feisty grandmother in the immigrant dramaMinari,though there has to be support for Bulgaria’s gutsy Maria Bakalova,who broke through as Borat’s daughter in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

They are up against Glenn Close (Hillbilly Elegy),Olivia Colman (The Father)and Amanda Seyfried(Mank).

Britain’s Daniel Kaluuya,who played a Black Panther leader in the ’60s dramaJudas and the Black Messiah,is likely to win best supporting actor ahead of castmate LaKeith Stanfield,Sacha Baron Cohen (The Trial of the Chicago 7),Leslie Odom Jr (One Night in Miami)and Paul Raci (Sound of Metal).

These Oscars are expected to chalk up an unwelcome record - an all-time low American television audience.

WhenTitanic won in 1998,57 million viewers were watching. Last year the broadcast hit a record low 23.6 million and,with smaller movies watched by fewer people,it is likely to be below 12 million this year.

The Academy Award Nominees ...

Best Picture
The Father,Judas and the Black Messiah,Mank,Minari,Nomadland,Promising Young Woman,Sound of Metal,The Trial of the Chicago 7

Best Director
Thomas Vinterburg,Another Round;Emerald Fennell,Promising Young Woman;David Fincher,Mank;Lee Isaac Chung,Minari;Chloé Zhao,Nomadland

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Viola Davis,Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom;Andra Day,The United States vs. Billie Holiday;Vanessa Kirby,Pieces of a Woman;Frances McDormand,Nomadland;Carey Mulligan,Promising Young Woman

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Riz Ahmed,Sound of Metal;Chadwick Boseman,Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom;Anthony Hopkins,The Father;Gary Oldman,Mank;Steven Yeun,Minari

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Maria Bakalova,Borat Subsequent Moviefilm;Glenn Close,Hillbilly Elegy;Olivia Colman,The Father;Amanda Seyfried,Mank;Yuh-Jung Youn,Minari

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Sacha Baron Cohen,The Trial of the Chicago 7;Daniel Kaluuya,Judas and the Black Messiah;Leslie Odom Jr.,One Night in Miami;Paul Raci,Sound of Metal;LaKeith Stanfield,Judas and the Black Messiah

Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (Peter Baynham,Sacha Baron Cohen,Jena Friedman,Anthony Hines,Lee Kern,Dan Mazer,Erica Rivinoja&Dan Swimer);The Father (Christopher Hampton&Florian Zeller);Nomadland (Chloé Zhao);One Night in Miami (Kemp Powers);The White Tiger (Ramin Bahrani)

Best Original Screenplay
Judas and the Black Messiah (Will Berson,Shaka King,Keith Lucas&Kenny Lucas);Minari (Lee Isaac Chung);Promising Young Woman (Emerald Fennell);Sound of Metal (Derek Cianfrance,Abraham Marder&Darius Marder);The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Aaron Sorkin)

Best Visual Effects

Love and Monsters,Mulan,Tenet,The Midnight Sky,The One And Only Ivan.