UPDATE: These photos have been removed. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
Ever the evangelist of practical effects over digital, director Christopher Nolan rallies a small army of troops in the latest set photos for World War II epic Dunkirk, with the pictures above showcasing thousands of extras decked out in infantry garb with massive artillery props to boot.
Shooting on location in northern France – on the very same beach where Allied forces staged the rescue mission known as Operation Dynamo, no less – it’s understood that Dunkirk will also set up shop in Holland and Los Angeles in the coming months, as Warner Bros. aligns Nolan’s feature for a primetime release in July of next year.
Featuring IMAX sequences and a star-studded ensemble, there’s already a palpable buzz surrounding the filmmaker’s latest creative venture, and it’s little wonder why. As we learned only a few days ago, Nolan has enlisted a cast that includes Tom Hardy – reuniting with the director after Inception and The Dark Knight Rises, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, newcomer Fionn Whitehead, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy, Jack Lowden, Barry Keoghan, Tom Glynn-Carney and, surprisingly, One Direction member Harry Styles.
Cornered by the incoming Axis forces, Dunkirk “opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in.” Outside of the famous five-minute tracking shot glimpsed in Joe Wright’s Atonement, it’s a rescue mission that hasn’t been fully realized on the big screen, and there is perhaps no better director to do so than Christopher Nolan.
Look for Dunkirk to storm theatres on July 21, 2017.
