Where to watch Dunkirk (2017)

Trivia & production notes

• Christopher Nolan conceived the idea for Dunkirk in the mid-1990s while sailing across the English Channel with his future wife Emma Thomas, retracing the route of small boats used in the World War II evacuation.
• Nolan wrote a 76-page screenplay for Dunkirk, which was half the length of his usual scripts and his shortest to date.
• The film's narrative spans three different timescales—one week on land, one day at sea, and one hour in the air—structured to match each location's perspective.
• Nolan deliberately avoided showing German soldiers on screen to convey how soldiers on the beach experienced extremely limited contact with the enemy, with the few Germans who appear being out of focus.
• Nolan screened eleven inspirational films for his crew, including only two war films and titles ranging from silent movies like Sunrise and Greed to contemporary action films like Speed.
• The uniforms were constructed from scratch using fabric not produced since 1940, tailored for the main cast and over a thousand extras, then aged for three weeks at a studio facility.
• Nolan insisted that all cast members be British and deliberately chose young, unknown actors for the beach scenes after learning how young and inexperienced the actual soldiers had been.
• Harry Styles was cast for his old-fashioned appearance, winning the role after auditioning against hundreds of candidates, with Nolan unaware of his fame as a singer.
• Mark Rylance prepared for his role by piloting his character's boat daily and listening to audio recordings at the Imperial War Museum.
• Michael Caine provided a voice-only cameo as Fortis Leader, referencing his appearance in the 1969 film Battle of Britain.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Dunkirk (2017 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.