Christopher Nolan, known best for his high-concept mind-benders is switching gears—swapping out space and dreams for history and war. Variety has reported that Nolan’s next film Dunkirk will be about famed World War II rescue mission Operation Dynamo, when allied forces daringly evacuated troops surrounded by German soldiers in the French city of Dunkirk.
The project was initially kept under wraps with little hints here and there; frequent Nolan collaborator Michael Caine stated that the director was at work on a “secret” screenplay and French newspaper La Voix Du Nord (via SreenCrush) reported that Nolan had been covertly visiting Dunkirk, France with his brother/frequent collaborator Jonathan Nolan.
Now that the project has been confirmed, news has emerged regarding the cast as well. Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, and Mary Rylance (Wolf Hall) are in talks to join a cast that will mostly be made up of unknowns. Nolan and crew recently began screen-testing teenagers in London for the lead roles while the aforementioned heavyweights will actually only fill supporting roles. The Wrap has speculated they’ll be playing high-ranking officers, unsurprisingly.
Nolan will also continue his trend with film and shoot Dunkirk on a combination of IMAX 65mm and 65mm large format film, no doubt elevating the movie’s immersive-ness and scope. With Quentin Tarantino’s recent effort in retrofitting theaters with film projectors for The Hateful Eight, it’ll be awesome if Nolan takes advantage of those projectors by screening Dunkirk in its original format as well. This could be wishful thinking, but maybe he’ll continue that film initiative by having even more theaters retrofitted.
Nolan penned the script himself and will be producing alongside longtime partner and wife, Emma Thomas. Warner Bros. is aiming for a July 21st, 2017 release date and shooting will start in May on location. So far it hasn’t been confirmed whether the movie will be a grand depiction of Operation Dynamo or a more focused story set against the backdrop of the mission. Either way, this is Christopher Nolan. It’s safe to say there will be some large, sweeping, scale and that’s what we probably want to see when it comes to a war drama.
What we don’t want to see are those same pesky issues that crop up in many of Nolan’s previous movies. Let’s face it: his ambition can be a gift and a curse. His stories, while awesome, are bloated when they’re chock full of big ideas, exposition, and story threads. Like…Interstellar-sized-bloated. While these issues have never been derailing, they’ve certainly made things wonky before.
Since Dunkirk is based on historical events though, he may follow a more linear and grounded narrative which would help stave off that risky ambition and keep things nice and tight. Regardless, this subject matter is a huge departure from what we typically see from Nolan and that’s exciting. His knack for story-telling and awe-inspiring scope will (hopefully) serve this project and the war genre very well.
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