Fionn Whitehead Gets His Closeup In Latest Image From Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk

For Christopher Nolan’s next film, the director will be turning towards a setting that not many people ever expected him to venture into: WWII. He’s currently putting the finishing touches on Dunkirk, which will be with us in July and is a film that will no doubt have everyone talking.

Now, following hot on the heels of the explosive first trailer, we’ve got a new photo from Nolan’s latest to share with you. Set to tell the tale of the titular battle, the director has assembled a truly remarkable cast here, with Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Kenneth Branagh and Mark Rylance leading the charge.

However, it’s actually young Fionn Whitehead who gets the spotlight in today’s new image. Playing a young soldier caught up in the battle, the relative newcomer has a tough task ahead of him if he’s to keep up with some of the industry vets we mentioned before and also carry the film as one of the leads, but according to Nolan, it was important for him to find a “very new” actor for the part:

One of the key things you came across reading firsthand accounts of Dunkirk was how young and inexperienced these soldiers were. It felt very important to me, especially for Fionn’s part, to find somebody very new.

It wasn’t an easy role to play, either. Whitehead tells EW that he went through rigorous training to get in shape and experience what it was like to be a soldier in WWII:

I did a lot of swimming in a water-sodden wool uniform, hobnail boots, and with guns. It was hard work, but I really enjoyed it.

Often cited as one of the most historic events of WWII, we can’t imagine any other filmmaker better suited to tackling the story of Dunkirk than Christopher Nolan. From Inception to The Prestige to The Dark Knight Trilogy, the director continues to display an astute eye for filmmaking on a grand scale, and his latest creative endeavour looks to come packing a brutal physicality befitting of a WWII epic. This, coupled with the promise of extensive IMAX sequences, cements Dunkirk‘s status as one of the big summer blockbusters going into 2017.

It was the event that shaped our world and come next year, Christopher Nolan will introduce the death-defying tale of Dunkirk to the moviegoing masses. July 21 is the date for your diaries.