Directed by Christopher Nolan Music by Hans Zimmer Edited by Lee Smith | Written by Christopher Nolan Cinematography Hoyte van Hoytema | |
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Produced by Christopher Nolan
Emma Thomas | ||
Dunkirk is an upcoming English-language epic war thriller written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan. Set in the Second World War, it concerns the Dunkirk evacuation. The film is a co-production between the United Kingdom, France, and the United States.
Contents
Filming began on 23 May 2016 in Dunkirk, France, and was shot on IMAX 65 mm and 65 mm large format film stock by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema.
Dunkirk is scheduled to be released on 21 July 2017 in IMAX.
Premise
Allied soldiers from Britain, Belgium, Canada, and France are surrounded by the German Army on the beaches on Dunkirk and evacuated in Operation Dynamo between 26 May and 4 June 1940, during the early stages of the Second World War.
Cast
Development
Director Christopher Nolan wrote the screenplay. He decided to make the film as a triptych, told from three perspectives; the air (planes), the land (on the beach) and the sea (the evacuation by the navy). Hoyte van Hoytema was chosen as cinematographer; Hoytema previously collaborated with Nolan on his 2014 film Interstellar. Nolan made a deal with Warner Bros. whereby he would receive a $20 million salary plus 20% of the box office gross, the most lucrative deal since Peter Jackson received the same amount for King Kong.
Casting
Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance were in talks to join the ensemble as supporting characters in late 2015. Fionn Whitehead was cast as one of the leads in March 2016, and Jack Lowden, Aneurin Barnard and Harry Styles were added to the list shortly after. Cillian Murphy joined the following month. James D'Arcy, Barry Keoghan and Tom Glynn-Carney were included in the line-up later that May. In the film, Hardy plays a pilot. He spent a bulk of his shooting schedule inside a cockpit and had limited exposure to the rest of the cast and crew. After first-hand accounts of the Dunkirk evacuation revealed to Nolan how young and inexperienced the soldiers were, he desired to cast a young actor in the lead role.
Filming
Principal photography commenced on 23 May 2016 in Dunkirk, France; in the months following, production proceeded in Urk, Netherlands, Swanage and Weymouth in Dorset, United Kingdom and at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center and Lighthouse in Rancho Palos Verdes, United States. Filming in Dunkirk took place in the same location as the real historical evacuation. Around 6,000 extras were used during the shoot. Nolan investigated silent films to influence crowd scenes with suspense using details only, because of the minuscule presence of dialogue in the film.
The film was shot on a combination of IMAX 65 mm and 65 mm large format film stock. Nolan reconditioned actual warships for the shoot, including the French Navy destroyer Maillé-Brézé, and reportedly spent US$5 million of the budget on a vintage aircraft so as to attach it with IMAX cameras before crashing it on-screen. Two Supermarine Spitfire Mk.IAs, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VB, and a Hispano Buchon, masquerading as a Messerschmitt Bf 109E, were used to film the aerial combat scenes. Avoiding the use of computer-generated imagery, cardboard cut-out props of soldiers and military vehicles were employed to create the illusion of a large army.
Music
By January 2016, composer Hans Zimmer had already begun working on the score.
Marketing
The announcement teaser debuted in cinemas ahead of the comic book film Suicide Squad and was released online on 4 August 2016. According to data analytics firm ListenFirst Media, it generated the most Twitter engagement of all the trailers that were released that week. The first full-length trailer was released on 14 December 2016, alongside a seven-minute cinema-exclusive prologue displayed prior to select IMAX showings of Rogue One. Dunkirk was the most discussed film that week according to media measurement firm comScore.
Release
In September 2015, Warner Bros. announced Dunkirk and set the film for a 21 July 2017 theatrical release, after which it will be projected on IMAX, 70 mm and 35 mm film. Theatres equipped with celluloid projectors reserve the right to show the film early, on 19 July 2017.