@dormouse7 said:

Note the use of the term "boot camp". There was no boot camp on a ship w/ no electricity or hot water etc. as rumored during pre-production, but Fionn did have 2 weeks of physical training before filming, and at least some of that was with Aneurin and Harry.

Well in that article, it says "a boot camp of sorts". So what exactly do you mean by a ship with no electricity?

Oh, and welcome to the site!!

There was a rumor reported in a UK paper, early in pre-production, that prior to filming all of the actors would have to spend a week or two of "boot camp" on a vintage ship with no hot water or electricity so they would appreciate the conditions the soldiers in Dunkirk faced in 1940. That ended up not being true. However, the grain of truth we see in this article is they DID have a 2-week "boot camp" of sorts in Dunkerque where Fionn, Aneurin and Harry had to work out, work in the water in full gear, learn to use the rifles, etc. I actually don't think Harry was there for all of that since he had to go back to London to attend the funeral of a friend and seen going to a gym there. But during pre-production they did take Harry out in Dunkerque to work out in the water - it was reported by a restaurant near the water.

The actors stayed in a not-fancy hotel in Dunkerque, where there was hot water and electricity, though Harry was moved to private apartments or rooms elsewhere (repeatedly) because of annoying fans who stalked him outside the hotel, and then wherever they found him. I'm an adult fan and was annoyed by the stalking. I felt bad for Harry that he couldn't stay where the other actors were.

And thanks - I am happy to be here.

There was recently some kind of special showing of the IMAX prologue to some press. Fionn may have been interviewed (for that first article above) at the same event. I have only seen a few other articles from that:

We saw five random minutes from Christopher Nolan's 'Dunkirk' http://www.metro.us/entertainment/we-saw-five-random-minutes-from-christopher-nolan-s-dunkirk/zsJqbo---zfpHuaRrbEvwc/

Nolan's Dunkirk IMAX Prologue Is More Intense Than Dark Knight Opening Heist http://comicbook.com/2017/02/15/dunkirk-movie-imax-preview-reviews-nolan/

We Got To See The 5-7 Minute IMAX Sneak Peek From Christopher Nolan’s DUNKIRK http://splashreport.com/dunkirk-sneak-peek/

@dormouse7 said:

There was a rumor reported in a UK paper, early in pre-production, that prior to filming all of the actors would have to spend a week or two of "boot camp" on a vintage ship with no hot water or electricity so they would appreciate the conditions the soldiers in Dunkirk faced in 1940. That ended up not being true. However, the grain of truth we see in this article is they DID have a 2-week "boot camp" of sorts in Dunkerque where Fionn, Aneurin and Harry had to work out, work in the water in full gear, learn to use the rifles, etc. I actually don't think Harry was there for all of that since he had to go back to London to attend the funeral of a friend and seen going to a gym there. But during pre-production they did take Harry out in Dunkerque to work out in the water - it was reported by a restaurant near the water.

The actors stayed in a not-fancy hotel in Dunkerque, where there was hot water and electricity, though Harry was moved to private apartments or rooms elsewhere (repeatedly) because of annoying fans who stalked him outside the hotel, and then wherever they found him. I'm an adult fan and was annoyed by the stalking. I felt bad for Harry that he couldn't stay where the other actors were.

And thanks - I am happy to be here.

Yeah, I think "boot camps" are very common with actors starting into an action movie. Like for The Matrix they all had to take several months of intense martial arts training by a master trainer. IIRC the guy didn't even speak english and they had to have a translator.

Yeah, that stalking thing seems to be very much a part of UK culture. I don't think that happens here nearly as much, even in Hollywood. Probably esp in Hollywood, becuase there are so many famous people in one place that it's like no big deal lol.

I see how they treat Harry and his girlfriend, I don't know how he does it. I would be punching camera lenses left an right, lol.

Some interesting recent quotes from Nolan and Hardy about Dunkirk:

Nolan:

"Filmmakers always look for gaps in cinema", Nolan tells Empire. "And Dunkirk is one of the greatest stories in human history, untold in modern cinema. " Joe Wright's Atonement tackled the epic evacuation of 330,000 Allied soldiers between 26 May and 4 June 1940 after the Battle of France was lost, but no movie has made Operation Dynamo its focus since Leslie Norman's Dunkirk in 1958.

Read the rest in this newspaper image. Includes more quotes from Nolan about the film and his use of large format.

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/empire-uk/20161229/282617442408655

Nolan:

'DUNKIRK' (July 21)

Writer/director Christopher Nolan grew up in England well aware of the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation, though he knows the World War II survival story is unfamiliar for a lot of Americans. He considers his movie — which focuses on British, French and other Allied soldiers being trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk, France, and driven to the sea with Nazis closing in — “the ultimate race against time.” While his cast includes Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance and even One Direction’s Harry Styles, the film is led by 19-year-old British newcomer Fionn Whitehead as an English private named Tommy. “He’s just a kid, really, and that’s sort of the point. You see events very much through his eyes,” Nolan says. “We want to put the audience on that beach, put them on a boat heading over to Dunkirk, put them in the cockpit of a Spitfire. That’s the ambition and I’m bringing all my experience in filmmaking to bear trying to achieve it.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2017/01/08/2017-must-see-movie-preview-star-wars-beauty-and-the-beast/95949150/

Hardy:

What can you tell us about “Dunkirk”?

It’s a very profound story. What’s lovely about it is that it’s a classic film, it’s so epic in the storytelling, and Chris [Nolan] has gone back to an old school film from the 1940s, 1950s and retold it. Just being there, you can see the effort in this huge orchestration. I was just in my own play – I had limited exposure to cast and crew. And there was also a lot of pressure, in the same way. I grew up in the generation of their granddads talking about the war. Everyone was colored by that experience — Dunkirk was a big turning point in the war.

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/the-wrap/article/Tom-Hardy-Talks-Taboo-One-of-the-Most-10848998.php

Hardy:

Still, Hardy can probably work with any director he wants. He’s set for a third reunion with Christopher Nolan this summer when W.W. II drama Dunkirk hits theaters. That is one director he prefers not to fight with. “He’s too important to argue with a peon like me,” Hardy says with a laugh. “He wouldn’t stoop so low as to have an argument with a bag snatcher like myself. He’s a kingpin.”

Dunkirk, which stars Hardy as a spitfire pilot, also stars young One Direction singer Harry Styles in his first film role. Unfortunately, the pair didn’t really work together on the set. “I met him once, really briefly. It was lovely, big hug,” Hardy says. “He’s very polite and just a sweet guy.”

Nolan, however, was “very effusive” about Styles, Hardy continues. “And that’s not easy, to come in from a very specific department in the industry, and cross over. So poor guy is gonna be judged. I wouldn’t want to be in those shoes, but from what I hear is that, actually, it’s gonna be a very comfortable transition for him, because he’s done such great work—which is really a testament, not only to his skill as an artist, [but] also Christopher’s part in that as well. . . . One Direction aside, do you know what I mean? Which I can’t say I know an awful lot about.”

After working with Nolan on three films now, Hardy is an expert at handling secretive sets and rumors—like one whisper campaign claiming he’s set to appear in the next Star Wars film as a stormtrooper. “That’s like Nolan territory. I can’t tell you anything. And it’d be good to know myself,” he says with a laugh, denying the gossip.

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/01/tom-hardy-taboo

Mention of Dunkirk in a Cannes article:

Dunkirk – Christopher Nolan

With its U.S. release not due until July 21, Warners may want to keep its powder dry for Nolan’s hotly anticipated all-star retelling of the famed 1940 WWII evacuation. But if it does come to the Croisette, expect absolute carnage. Two words: Harry Styles.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-2017-surveying-film-selections-977664

A French magazine called Première has been teasing an upcoming special article about Dunkirk.

First they teased this photo, which is assumed to be Fionn due to the coat (he is the one main character that often wore a long coat):
https://twitter.com/PremiereFR/status/834360509516374017
Un petit aperçu de la couverture du nouveau numéro de Première. On vous a concocté une exclu mondiale qui devrait vous exciter
A preview of the cover of the new issue of Première. You have concocted a world excluded that should excite you

Now they have teased what appears to be Tom Hardy:
Un nouvel indice sur le prochain numéro de Première 👀 On vous dévoilera la couverture cet après-midi
A new clue on the upcoming issue of Première 👀 You will be unveiling the cover this afternoon
https://twitter.com/PremiereFR/status/834701592909721600

Hardy seems to be on the left with Fionn probably center. Some think Rylance may appear on the right. Air-Ground-Sea

EDIT: The full cover image is here. It's Cillian on the other side.
https://twitter.com/PremiereFR/status/834794458893910017

More info

Here is a still picture of the cover image:
https://abload.de/img/vobtlym9xhsmsjmzklrpb.jpg

"Discover our exclusive interview with Christopher Nolan, and previously unseen set photos from Dunkirk, march 1st on newsstands."

"Here you can find a 10-page document about the film, with unpublished photos of the shooting."

I love forward to seeing the article and someone's translation of it.

Another photo from Première magazine's 10-page Dunkirk article released - Harry, Aneurin and Fionn:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5c1tI7XQAA-0CO.jpg

Den of Geek
The Top Must See Movies of 2017
We glance to the future with the most anticipated movies of 2017, including Star Wars, Blade Runner, and Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk!
http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/2017-movies/260264/the-top-must-see-movies-of-2017/page/0/3

Dunkirk – July 21

Really, all we should have to say about why this is already at the very top of your must see list is that it’s written and directed by Christopher Nolan. But if you simply need us to go on, please know that Dunkirk is a 70mm World War II epic that recreates the terrible tension and suspense of one of the largest evacuations in world history (and in a context most Americans sadly are oblivious to).

Little is currently revealed about the plot, but anyone with a passing knowledge of WWII can already ascertain this will be set during the infamous evacuation of the Northern port city in France where the British moved 338,226 Allied soldiers, by any seaworthy vessel available, out of the reach of the Nazis’ grasp within eight days following the Fall of France to Axis Powers.

The film also seems to be taking a page out of the visceral cinematic epics of yesteryear that most inspired Nolan by casting a sea of familiar faces in its ranks, including Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, and James D’Arcy. Also, as the young men whose journey will be tracked during the crisis, Nolan has cast Fionn Whitehead and Harry Styles… yes, that Harry Styles.

Of special note as well is the fact that while the film will include a mixture of IMAX and non-IMAX photography (like Interstellar and the last two Dark Knight pictures), Dunkirk will also be shot in traditional 65mm for the non-IMAX scenes. Quite clearly, Nolan intends this to be his most visually immersive and grandiose epic to date.[/quote]

And a slashfilm.com article about 'Their Finest' is titled:
‘Their Finest’ Trailer: This Is Not the Movie About Dunkirk You’re Waiting For
http://www.slashfilm.com/their-finest-trailer-2/

Video: BBC Radio 5 interviewed the special effects supervisor of Dunkirk, Paul Corbould.

One interviewer is thinking Dunkirk will be a La La Land of the 2018 Oscars and even muses about Harry Styles getting a Best Supporting Actor nomination (unlikely since it's a big ensemble cast, no matter how good Styles is). Corbould says "Harry was amazing in it, Harry Styles".

https://twitter.com/bbc5live/status/835957831022981120

The actual Première magazine cover:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5re-RQXMAEeQyP.jpg

And here is the Première magazine article, and a Google translation thanks to willaartwillem:

http://www.premiere.fr/Cinema/News-Cinema/EXCLU-Christopher-Nolan-et-ses-collaborateurs-revelent-7-infos-sur-Dunkerque

It's little to say that we are waiting for the new film by Christopher Nolan. First of all because, with Dunkerque, Nolan seems to leave his playground (the SF to twist) to flirt with the great classical cinema that inspires him (David Lean especially). Then because all his films are jewels of entertainment onmanufactured, which speak volumes about our era and the state of contemporary cinema. Finally, because, as usual, the filmmaker knew how to coat his Dunkirk with an aura of thrilling mystery. In world exclusivity, he unveils this project in the new issue of Première. Through 8 pages of interviews he returns to his cinema, this film and his ambition. Passages and extracts unpublished that will allow to wait ...

1 / It is a film about the battle of Dunkerque

That's an excluded person. But Dunkerque is a funny episode of World War II, both victory (evacuation) and symbol of the defeat (of the phoney war). Dunkerque (the film) takes place during the evacuation which took place from 26 May to 4 June 40. After being defeated by the Germans, the British expeditionary force and the French troops were surrounded by the Wermacht. Nearly 400,000 troops on the coast are waiting to be repatriated across the Channel. Impossible mission that will become a turning point of the war.

Christopher Nolan: "This is an essential moment in the history of the Second World War. If this evacuation had not been a success, Great Britain would have been obliged to capitulate. And the whole world would have been lost, or would have known a different fate: the Germans would undoubtedly have conquered Europe, the US would not have returned to war ... It is a true point of rupture in war and in history of the world. A decisive moment. And the success of the evacuation allowed Churchill to impose the idea of ​​a moral victory, which allowed him to galvanize his troops like civilians and to impose a spirit of resistance while the logic of this Sequence should have been that of surrender. Militarily it is a defeat; On the human plane it is a colossal victory. "

2 / It is not the first time that we see these events in the cinema

"The miracle of Dunkirk" has been staged several times, but ...

Emma Thomas (producer): "Never in a modern way, except the incredible shot of Reviens-moi (by Joe Wright). Chris thought this story had to be told in a modern way. "

Christopher Nolan: "I did not see the 1958 film (Dunkirk of Leslie Norman with Richard Attenborough and John Mills). I did not even know his existence before starting the production of my film. But one of the reasons I wanted to tell this story is that I thought we had to tell this story for today's audience. I grew up watching movies from British wars, classics like Damn Busters, but that's different. "

3 / It is not the war movie you expect

With Dunkerque, Nolan abandons the SF, the high-concept films and the mental labyrinths ... for what by the fact? A real warrior blockbuster? A Soldier Ryan on the Opal Coast? Not really, no.

Emma Thomas: "Dunkirk is a film about the survival, hope and experience of war. " Christopher Nolan: "It's less a war movie than a survival driven by suspense. I wanted to be in the present moment, to find the immediate intensity to share the experience of these soldiers. The film recounts a series of paradoxical situations. The most obvious: the army is stuck on this beach and must cross the Channel to return to England. But from there, there are others: will a soldier succeed in reaching the mole? Will the pilot be able to carry out his mission? And the film focuses on suspense sequences that are reduced to a human dimension. "

4 / There is little dialogue

"You are in a dream" in Inception. "Some men just want to watch the world burn" Dark Knight ... From Memento to Inception or Interstellar, at Nolan the big scenes and situations often go through dialogue or voice-over. We talk to Christopher Nolan. A lot. But not in Dunkirk ...

Lee Smith: "The editing was more complicated because there is little dialogue" Christopher Nolan: "The empathy for the characters has nothing to do with their story. I did not want to go through the dialogue, tell the story of my characters. The problem is not who they are, who they claim to be or where they come from. The only question I was interested in was: Will they get out of it? Will they be killed by the next bomb while trying to join the mole? Or will they be crushed by a boat crossing? "

5 / Everything started with an image

Sometimes everything starts from a script (the first part of the script written by Jonathan Nolan for Spielberg - Interstellar) or an idea of ​​staging (backtracking - Memento). But the desire to make Dunkirk comes from elsewhere.

Christopher Nolan: "Emma (Thomas) made me read a book on the evacuation of Dunkerque, but the idea of ​​the film is part of an image: the mole. The vision of soldiers massed on this pier, one kilometer long and 2.5 meters wide, struck me. She spoke to me like an elemental image. A primal image, something I had not seen before. An image that has a very strong allegorical force. It haunted me. I had never heard of this pier. "

6 / It is an immersive film

Nolan is a demiurge filmmaker. He invented worlds of dreams in which he plunged his spectators as dropped as his characters; He reduced the universe to a library where we were stuck with Matthew McConaughey ... all his artistic approach is to embark us in his delusions. There, it is the warrior experience, but the goal is the same:

Christopher Nolan: "I wanted to see the surprise, the frustration of the forces stuck in Dunkerque. Someone who arrived on the beach in May 40 had no idea of ​​the number, the facts, any historical perspective and that, it must have been terrifying. It was a Kafka situation. Huge tails that lie down and no one to tell you what to do, how, to whom to address ... Feeling we are in the wrong place. And we're probably going to die ... just because we're here. That's what I wanted the viewer to go through. "

7 / There are three stories

Far from his narrative volutes or his dives inside the mass consciousness, did Nolan finally realize a simple film? The trailer, the incredible prologue and (incidentally) the first cover of Première suggest that the architecture of the film could be complex. There will be three points of view. The soldiers on the beach (with Harry Styles); That of the navy (with Cillian Murphy and Mark Rylance, symbol of the involvement of civilians in the rescue) and finally that of the aviation (the incredible scene of the air combat with Tom Hardy snipe the messerschmidt could be the climax of the film ). Confirmation:

Christopher Nolan: "The film is told from three points of view. The air (planes), the land (on the beach) and the sea (the evacuation by the navy). For the soldiers embarked in the conflict, the events took place on different temporalities. On land, some stayed one week stuck on the beach. On the water, the events lasted a maximum day; And if you were flying to Dunkirk, the British spitfires would carry an hour of fuel. To mingle these different versions of history, one had to mix the temporal strata. Hence the complicated structure; Even if the story, once again, is very simple. "

8 / Nolan was inspired by silent films and Bresson

Christopher Nolan showed several films to his team to explain what he was trying to do. It's from the Wage of Fear to Saving Private Ryan. But he also reviewed a few silent classics.

Christopher Nolan: "I spent a lot of time reviewing the silent films. For crowd scenes. The way extras move, evolve, how the space is staged and how the cameras capture it, the views used. Revisiting Intolerance, L'Aurore or Les Preies was an essential and very nourishing exercise. ".

Human translation of the start of the Première magazine Christopher Nolan article, thanks to YFR3:

The pop demiurge, inventor of crazy concepts, who reigns on global entertainment for ten years, is back. But this time, Nolan is naked : without his magic tricks or his theoretical scrolls. Farewell the world of dreams of Inception, the upside down editing of Memento or the black holes of Interstellar. Dunkirk tells the story of a handful of routed soldiers (Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Harry Styles ...) stuck on a beach, between the Channel's gray and angry sea and the Germans who fire. A real, brutal, anxiety-provoking and authentic war film. Really ?

Naturally, as always with him, it's a little more complicated than that ... "I guarantee you there's no SF," he laughs, welcoming us into the editing room. For its hardcore fans who rewatch frame by frame the two available trailers, to see when the film can twist. No: "Dunkerque will be faithful to events, the reality of history and the reality of places. "

Perhaps this is where the most "Nolanian" aspect of the project nests. Some people still wonder if, at the end of the dream of Inception, the spinning top continues or not to turn. The same is true for the Operation Dynamo (code name of the evacuation of May 1940). For some people, Dunkirk's rescue was a victory (340,000 soldiers saved while Churchill was expected ten times less); For others, it was a terrible humiliation ("War is not won with evacuations," declared the same Churchill). This is this weird episode of the phoney war that Nolan chose to tell through the fate of aviators, sailors, soldiers and civilians. A story full of ambiguity, ideal to play with the genre. There's always been in this man a desire desire to refuse the constraints of narrative logic, to explode into a thousand pieces the linearity of storytelling. Whatever the genre he confronts, his cinema is based on an art of rhythm and editing that allows him to deploy his incredible immersive mechanics. And that's what we witness when we get into the editing room at Warner Studios. We see Nolan at work. We see it deconstruct a plan, subtly modify a sound to boost an image and make it indelible (his sense of frame is intact), all with a virtuosity of a killer who knows as well mix formats (prologue mixing 70 mm and IMAX is a visual madness) that learn his job to the most experienced sound engineer. It is this moment that he chose to welcome us and lift the veil (In Premier exclusivity ...) on Dunkirk.

(interview in next post)

Human translation of the Nolan interview in Première magazine, thanks to YFR3:

PREMIERE : I was very surprised to see how accurate you were in sound mixing. Can you explain what you were doing?

NOLAN: It's pretty simple in reality. In the room, the editor on the left is dealing with the music of the film. The other on the right the sound effects. And at this stage, we ensure the balance, the mix between these two flows. It’s a very subtle process, but when we add these two elements (music and effects), working on hundreds of sound details, we finally define the tone and cohesion of the film.

PREMIERE : I saw you asking for the sound of a bomb to begin a quarter of a second before, or to play a little up the clacking of the boots or the rustle of the uniforms of the soldiers on the beach ...

NOLAN : It totally changes the spirit and the energy of a scene. And thus your emotions, what you feel when you’re watching the movie. The aim with Dunkirk is to try to recreate the primitive feeling of terror that struck the soldiers stuck on the beach. And sound is an essential element that make people feel the perceptions of those who were trapped when the bombs fell from the sky.

PREMIERE : When I discovered the prologue and the few minutes you worked on, I was struck by the very concrete and factual aspect of the film. The characters are defined by their gestures, their costumes and their sounds. They are reduced to nothing or not much.

NOLAN : When I made my research on the period, I realized that the soldiers in Dunkirk were lost. When you read the war accounts, they always tell the horror of a situation. But the accounts of the battle of Dunkirk insist on something else : what prevails, it is not horror, it is impossibility, paradox, misunderstanding. In May 1940, the situation on this beach was Kafkaesque. I compare this to the ultimate bureaucratic nightmare. There are huge queues that stretch out and no one to tell you what to do, where to go, to whom to address ... Nothing to do with the horror of the landing. The feeling that dominated was frustration.

PREMIERE : Frustration ?

NOLAN : Yes, because it was a very simple situation : the beach where the soldiers were stuck, the sea and the house ("home") just opposite. And the Germans were bombing. The most frightening thing for the people on the mole was to remain on this dam for embark on a ship. Days and days to wait, not knowing if there would be a boat at the end. And once they were on that structure and the bombs fell, no more way to escape. The (East) mole is what immediately fascinated me in this story. I had never heard of this pier. A kilometer long that advances into the sea. 2.5 meters wide. And the boats came along this pontoon. The men tried to put ladders but the tide was so strong that it was very complicated. The story of the people who stayed on the beach is scary.

PREMIERE : How to transcribe this into a movie ?

NOLAN : This is the question that I immediately asked to myself: "How to make it feel ? The graphic description was not very interesting. I preferred to make a sensory, almost experimental movie. Without dialogue. The soldiers have no history - at least I don’t tell it. It’s a movie that aims to experience the experience of these characters from the inside. Their fear, their anxiety, their anguish.

PREMIERE : When I left the screening of the prologue, two people who accompanied me mentioned Saving Private Ryan.

NOLAN : Hmmm ... And?

PREMIERE : Well, I get the impression that the comparison is not necessarily so obvious. There was nothing visceral in what I saw ...

NOLAN : This is not what I was trying to do actually. Steven Spielberg's movie is a long nightmare, it conveys an anxiety that has nothing to do with frustration or failure logic. It's a biological fear. Ryan is a film about the body, blood, fear of being dismembered. Fear is physical. Steven was able to create a visceral intensity of the experience of war. Dunkirk doesn’t play in the same category. It’s linked to our sensibilities, but it’s also due to the reality that is told. Steven created the ultimate version of war chaos. I wasn’t on this register …

PREMIERE : How would you define your approach in this movie?

NOLAN : It’s a movie with suspense and a race against time. The fear on which I play is more ... intellectual.

PREMIERE : Dunkirk seems to accentuate a break in your filmography. It’s a vintage movie, free of any high concept, of your magician’s "tricks". It’s like you’re moving back to a classic and more linear cinema. Despite its SF pitch, Interstellar was already moving in that direction, but this time it seems even more radical.

NOLAN : Yes and no. The film is focused on the present, the immediacy of situations. Less on time. I play on different levels of temporality, but for different reasons. Interstellar sought to understand the effect of time on emotions and on human experience. Here, I try to transcribe the present time of the experience. Emotions are compressed. It looks simpler or more linear, but the structure of the movie remains complex.

PREMIERE : What do you mean ?

NOLAN : I wanted Dunkirk to be told from three points of view. The air, the land and the sea. For the people embarked in the evacuation of May 1940, the events took place on different temporalities. On land, some soldiers stayed for a week on the beach. On the boats, the evacuations lasted a maximum day and if you were flying to Dunkirk from the UK, the Spitfires (fighter planes used by RAF pilots during the war) carried one hour of fuel. To mix these different visions of history, one had to mix the temporal strata. Hence a complicated structure, even if the arc is very simple.

PREMIERE : You are telling me that Dunkirk is Inception in May 1940?

NOLAN : (Laughter.) No, because there, I wanted the viewer to live this experience not to rebuild it. It's no longer a puzzle.

PREMIERE : Unlike Interstellar or Inception, here we know the end of the story ...

NOLAN : Dunkirk tells a series of paradoxical situations. The most obvious, the one that organizes the movie is actually known, but not necessarily by everyone. The army is stuck on this beach and must cross the Channel to go home. Within this global structure, there are others : will a soldier succeed in joining the mole? Will the pilot be able to carry out his mission? And progressively, the movie focuses on suspense sequences that are reduced to a very human dimension. It ‘s a film where the empathy for the characters has nothing to do with their destinies or their stories. My different heroes have no backstories ... The problem is not who they are, or who they claim to be. The only question that counts is : will they get by? Will they be killed by the next bomb while trying to join the mole? Will they manage to avoid being crushed by a boat while crossing ?

PREMIERE : Very Hitchcockian as an idea.

NOLAN : Totally. Hitchcock managed to make you tremble for a character ,no matter what moral judgment you might have. We are interested in the success or failure of an action at the moment it occurs. Nothing else. Watch « Psycho » : Anthony Perkins puts the body in the trunk and leaves with the car. It rolls and then starts to worry. Will he be caught? And this anguish, we feel it with him! At that moment, you almost forgot that it's the bastard of the story, that he just killed a woman ... It is the strength of Hitchcock’s cinema : to live the intensity of the present moment , Without having to explain what happened before. It is the principle of Dunkirk, to find the immediate intensity. I did not make a war movie, but a survival, whose energy is controlled by suspense.

PREMIERE : What is the impulse that makes you want to make a movie? Is it an image ? A sound ? A story ? For Dunkirk, how did this happen ?

NOLAN : Emma (Thomas, his wife and producer) advised me to read a book on the evacuation of May 1940 telling me that there was perhaps a subject for me. I found it very interesting, but it was not immediate. Gradually, a vision began to pursue me. That of the mole of which I spoke. These soldiers massed on the jetty. I saw in it an elemental image. That's why we put it in the first trailer. It’s an image that I had never seen before and which possesses a metaphorical force, allegorical if you will, that resonates immediately into the unconscious. It has become like a nightmare - you know, these dreams where you imagine running to flee a danger but you can’t move, you can’t run away. This is what I found in all the reports I read about Dunkirk. It's like ... when you're in an airport, you stand in line and the flight is suddenly canceled. As trivial as the comparison may seem, when one experiences this kind of experience, it is extraordinarily frustrating. I was telling you about Kafka : it was from there he should have drawn the source of his novels and especially « The Trial ». The paradox of bureaucracy, the reality that escapes. The mole is that. Knowing the end of the episode of Dunkirk (the success of the evacuation), when I felt the nightmare that these soldiers could have lived, the idea of linking this frustration and the outcome of the operation, All this created a symbolic power that could make a movie.

PREMIERE : It always starts with an image?

NOLAN : No. For « Interstellar », it was the script. The story imagined by my brother Jonathan. Less the script actually than an idea that was germ in the first part : the relationship between father and child and the idea of studying this relationship on a cosmic scale. For « Memento », it was the concept of staging ... It depends.

PREMIERE : You were quoting Hitchcock. I wondered to what extent Dunkirk interacts with classical cinema and especially the great British war movies?

NOLAN : I rewatched some war movies of the 40s and 50s because of the subject, but from a production point of view, I spent a lot of time seeing silent films. For crowd scenes. The way the extras move, evolve, the way the space is staged, the points of view used. For the storytelling of « Dunkirk » rewatching « Intolerance », « Sunrise » or even « Greed » was a very stimulating exercise. I was looking for works on immense scales. What fascinates me about silent films is the way they use geography, the space to tell the story.

PREMIERE : In the prologue, there is this very impressive shot where we see the port from very high. Almost God’s point of view of God. Somewhat like giving the plan of the labyrinth and the rules of the game. "That's where everything is going to play ...". In your movies places often refer to the psychology of a character.

NOLAN : Geography is an essential aspect of storytelling, it's true. We tell so many things by anchoring a story in a place... It isn’t by accident that « Heart of Darkness » by Conrad is one of my favorite novels. It’s the purest form of geography and storytelling. Conrad never repeats himself, he sinks gradually into the depths of the human mind. Is it an inward journey or a trip out of oneself ? That's the real question Conrad is asking. And « 2001 » ! And Dante ! How to tell the trip ? This is the main question of cinema ; In any case the one that fascinates me the most. And when we care about place and geography in its relation to intrigue, then the analogy with the soul and the mind becomes obvious. « Dunkirk » speaks about a very special place that evokes the Bible squarely. In May 1940, the English were the Jews driven out of Egypt and driven back by the Red Sea. And in a Judeo-Christian civilization it adds a very strong level of mythology.

PREMIERE : Did you rewatch the 1958 movie directed by Leslie Norman?

NOLAN : No. I didn’t even know its existence before launching the production of « Dunkirk ». As soon as I began to find out seriously about the events, this movie quickly reappeared. But I didn’t want to rewatch it. One of the reasons why I wanted to tell this story is that I thought it had to be told in a modern way, for the today’s audience. I needed to think about movies that focus on specific situations. Hitchcock, Clouzot ...

PREMIERE : Clouzot ?

NOLAN : Yes. « The Wages of Fear ». Most of the crew didn’t understand why I was screening them this movie. But it was the one that made the most sense. Pure suspense. Which talks about mechanics, procedure and physical difficulties. Look at the scene where the truck has to go back on the platform and the wheels doesn’t respond anymore ... That's what I had to look for « Dunkirk » ! I wanted to show how you bring a truck on the jetty, what happens when the tires don’t pass, when the wheels no longer respond. Pure physics.

PREMIERE : Process is at the heart of most of your films. It's the fuel of « Memento », it's the mechanics of Batman (how a superhero is constructed in a very concrete way) and it's the very subject of the « Prestige ».

NOLAN : That’s right. The process fascinates me, the mechanical and human processes. It was one of my obsessions on « Dunkirk ». I rewatched « Pickpoket » and « Un condamné à mort s’est échappé », just for that. Bresson details everything, creates suspense with details. Everything is about process, movements. « Dunkirk » is getting closer to this : dissecting the process to create suspense. The process becomes entertainment itself.

PREMIERE : I have the impression that « Dunkirk » is a laboratory where you have sought a new form to create a show …

NOLAN : I looked at how to tell this story in a way ... let's say different. It was important for me in this movie to find a storytelling that avoids or erases all the conventions, all the cliché structures of the Hollywood movies. I love Hollywood movies. I have made it for years. But I wanted to try to work in a way that would not allow me to use those tools.

PREMIERE : You were "making Hollywood movies." I find this expression interesting ...

NOLAN : I’ve always tried to use Hollywood movies differently. But I like these tools. My favorite filmmakers worked in the Hollywood system. Even at the margin – « The Thin Red Line » is a Fox movie. Hitchcock, Spielberg, Wilder worked for the system. They showed that it was possible to make masterpieces within the studios. There's nothing better than an adventurous, daring Hollywood movie. It doesn’t happen often, but when I see it, I feel full. Excited. Challenged. More than when I discovered an awesome but more modest film. If a gigantic film provokes me, asks me, makes me feel more intelligent ... this is the best experience I can have in a theater.

PREMIERE : I feel that what you are describing is more rare today. That the studio system no longer offers the same freedom to create. Did you have some difficulty to produce « Dunkirk » ?

NOLAN : No. I don’t know. It's rare, but it has always been! Always try to think outside the box. To try new things.

PREMIERE : If you had to choose, you would say that « Dunkirk » will be experimental or very classical?

NOLAN : (Smile.) Do not repeat it to the studio: it will be my most experimental film. From far away. But I hope to be subtle in this

(THE END)

This article includes Youtube clips of many of the movies Nolan mentioned in the interview:

https://thefilmstage.com/news/christopher-nolan-inspired-by-robert-bresson-and-silent-films-for-dunkirk-which-has-little-dialogue/