Known for his densely plotted features — from his break-out film Memento through his Dark Knight trilogy and even his sci-fi spectacles — perhaps Christopher Nolan is paring things down a bit on the page for World War II drama Dunkirk, which is currently in production. In a new interview from star Mark Rylance, he discusses the film’s “simple” and “pure” approach, as well as teasing the opening.
“Chris is the most serious and interesting filmmaker. Every great filmmaker at some moment makes a war film. But Chris’ script-writing is so brilliant that I think he has the potential to make a very, very powerful and simple, pure war film about a miraculous loss. I think it has the potential to be just a marvelous film,” Rylance tells Empire. “With some of those old war films you used to get a lot of build-up, you play the guessing game: who’s going to die and who’s going to live. This one has none of that. It’s just BANG! Straight into the middle of a desperate situation.”
The actor also showered praise on co-star Harry Styles, telling the Standard, “He seems remarkable … one of those people [who has] — Sean Penn has it too — a kind of panache. I look at them and think, ‘How did you get that? How do you get so that life is easy?’ But he has got a lovely, lovely character. It’s a gift.”
While it sounds as intense as Nolan’s previous films, we’ve been eager to see him how he takes on a more grounded story, and it looks like our opportunity will arrive in almost exactly a year. As we await the first trailer (rumored to debut at Comic-Con this weekend), check out Nolan’s early short Doodlebug (via Indiewire) to see where he got his start.
Starring Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Fionn Whitehead, Aneurin Barnard, Harry Styles, James D’Arcy, Jack Lowden, Barry Keoghan, and Tom Glynn-Carney, Dunkirk arrives on July 21, 2017.