Celebrated by critics and audiences, and pegged as an early Oscar contender, Christopher Nolan‘s “Dunkirk” sees the director streamline his filmmaking style. Gone are the exposition heavy scenes from his previous films, and the trim running time of the movie makes it Nolan’s shortest since his debut, “Following.” The WWII movie is largely a visual and visceral experience, with the dialogue kept to a bare minimum. In fact, early on, Nolan wanted to push that approach even further.
In recently published conversation that comes with the screenplay for “Dunkirk,” Christopher Nolan discusses his initial concept for the film with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and it was minimal to say the least.
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“I got to a point where I understood the scope and movement and the history of what I wanted the film to address, because it’s very simple geography,” Nolan explained. “I said, ‘I don’t want a script. Because I just want to show it,’ it’s almost like I want to just stage it. And film it.”
However, the director’s wife and producing partner Emma Thomas quickly squashed that notion. “Emma looked at me like I was a bit crazy and was like, okay, that’s not really gonna work,” Nolan said.
So, the director put together a script — that was quite slim at 76 pages, which is understandable giving the lack of dialogue — and away he went to make the film. The rest, as they say, is history.
“Dunkirk” is now playing. [THR]