Dunkirk

Dunkirk (2017)

Timing: 1:47 (107 min)

7.45/10
17415

7.275/10
206152

7.8/10
803000

All about film

Video 33

Photo 157

Actors and characters

Release date

2017-07-19

Country

France, Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States

Production

Syncopy, Warner Bros. Pictures, RatPac Entertainment, StudioCanal, Canal+, Ciné+, Dombey Street Productions, Kaap Holland Film

Genre

War, Action, Drama

Budget

$100 000 000

Revenue

$549 084 745

Website

http://www.dunkirkmovie.com/

Director

Christopher Nolan

Actors

Fionn Whitehead, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan, Harry Styles, Aneurin Barnard, Damien Bonnard, Lee Armstrong
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Christopher Nolan

Producer

Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Jake Myers, Greg Silverman

Operator

Hoyte van Hoytema

Composer

Hans Zimmer

Artist

Jenne Lee

Audition

John Papsidera, Toby Whale

Editing

Lee Smith, Daniel-Konrad Cooper, Page Rosenberg-Marvin
All team (215)

• This is Christopher Nolan's first film based on historical events. Until now, he had only filmed original screenplays, remakes, and adaptations of novels and comics.
• Following Paul Thomas Anderson's drama “The Master” (2012) and Quentin Tarantino's Western “The Hateful Eight” (2015), “Dunkirk” is the third major cinematic project of the decade shot primarily on 70mm film and shown in the same format.
• While filming took place on the artificial freshwater lake of IJsselmeer in the central Netherlands, the actors and film crew stayed in Urk, a village and municipality in the province of Flevoland.
• Christopher Nolan's third film for which he wrote the screenplay himself, following "Following" (1999) and "Inception" (2010).
• To avoid using computer graphics, the props department prepared cardboard cutouts of soldiers and vehicles, which were placed as far from the camera as possible but effectively enhanced the impression of the vast size of the Allied troops trapped.
• Christopher Nolan received $20 million plus 20% of the box office for his work on the film. This is the largest sum ever paid to a director. Peter Jackson was the first to receive such a sum, for "King Kong" (2005).
• The cinematic debut of Harry Styles from the boy band One Direction.
• The film was shot in France under the title «Bodega Bay» (Bodega is a Pacific bay on the coast of California, USA, on whose shore the town of Bodega Bay is located).
• A bodyguard was constantly on set to protect Harry Styles from fans if necessary.
• Hans Zimmer (composer), Hoyte van Hoytema (cinematographer), Nathan Crowley (production designer), John Papsidera (casting director), and actors Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy once again worked with Christopher Nolan on «Dunkirk». Many members of the film crew had been continuously working with Nolan since the «Dark Knight» trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012), and Hoytema since the film «Interstellar» (2014).
• The dialogue in the film is reduced to a minimum. In preparation for filming, Christopher Nolan rewatched a large number of silent films to understand how the classics of cinema depicted mass scenes – specifically, Erich von Stroheim's «Greed» (1924), D.W. Griffith's «Intolerance» (1916), and F.W. Murnau's «Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans» (1927).
• Striving for maximum authenticity, Christopher Nolan installed cameras in the cockpits and on the wings of fighter planes and sent operators into the water with the actors.
• Nearly 6,000 extras participated in the filming.
• A Soviet two-seat Yak-52 sports and training aircraft was used as a stand-in for the Spitfire fighter. It was modified so that the actor and pilot could switch places depending on the scene being filmed.
• Radio-controlled models were used instead of real Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers and Heinkel He 111 bombers, as was done for other aircraft in scenes depicting their fall/ditching.
• Christopher Nolan's first blockbuster filmed for under $100 million. According to producer Emma Thomas, they deliberately limited the budget, understanding the experimental nature of the film's script, which consisted almost entirely of one action sequence and featured very little dialogue for the characters.
• Christopher Nolan decided to use real destroyers in the naval battle scene rather than resorting to computer graphics.
• During the evacuation episode, 333,000 soldiers from the Allied armies were depicted using 1,500 extras, a crane, and a flamethrower.
• In some scenes of the film, two fishing trawlers preserved from that time – UK12 and UK114 – are visible in the background. In this case, the letters do not signify Great Britain, as one might assume. It is a Dutch letter code denoting Urk, a village near which the filming took place.
• The prototype for the character of Mark Rylance (the yacht captain) was likely Charles Lightoller (1874-1952), best known as the second officer of the Titanic. During Operation Dynamo, Lightoller, along with his son and a young sailor, went to Dunkirk on his yacht and evacuated 130 people. One of Lightoller’s five children was also a pilot, who died on the first day of the war; the elder son of Rylance's character has a similar fate.
• To film the aerial combat scenes, an IMAX camera was installed in the cockpit of one of the three Spitfire aircraft used in the film, which was not easy considering its weight and size.
• Following Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” (2012) and Quentin Tarantino’s western “The Hateful Eight” (2015), “Dunkirk” is the third major cinematic project of the decade shot primarily on 70mm film and shown in the same format.
• This is Christopher Nolan’s third film for which he wrote the screenplay himself, following “Following” (1999) and “Inception” (2010).
• Christopher Nolan received $20 million plus 20% of the box office receipts for his work on the film. This is the largest sum ever paid to a director. Peter Jackson was the first to receive such an amount for “King Kong” (2005).
• The film was shot in France under the working title “Bodega Bay” (Bodega is a Pacific bay on the coast of California, USA, where the town of Bodega Bay is located).
• Hans Zimmer (composer), Hoyte van Hoytema (cinematographer), Nathan Crowley (production designer), John Papsidera (casting director), and actors Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy all worked with Christopher Nolan again on “Dunkirk.” Many members of the film crew had been continuously working with Nolan since the “Dark Knight” trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012), and Hoytema since “Interstellar” (2014).
• The dialogue in the film is minimized. While preparing for filming, Christopher Nolan rewatched a large number of silent films to understand how the classics of cinema depicted mass scenes—specifically, Erich von Stroheim’s "Greed" (1924), D.W. Griffith’s "Intolerance" (1916), and F.W. Murnau’s "Sunrise" (1927).
• A Soviet two-seat sports and training aircraft, the Yak-52, was used as the Spitfire fighter. It was modified so that the actor and pilot could switch places depending on the scene being filmed.
• The prototype for Mark Rylance’s character (the yacht captain) was likely Charles Lightoller (1874-1952), best known as the second officer of the Titanic. During Operation Dynamo, Lightoller, along with his son and a cabin boy, went to Dunkirk on his yacht and evacuated 130 people. One of Lightoller’s five children was also a pilot, and he died on the first day of the war; the elder son of Rylance’s character has a similar fate.