Stories from the set

A bodyguard for Harry Styles was constantly on duty on the set so that, if necessary, he could shield him from fans.

Christopher Nolan's first film based on historical events. Until then, he had worked exclusively from original screenplays, made remakes, and adapted novels and comic books.

After Paul Thomas Anderson's drama «The Master» (2012) and Quentin Tarantino's western «The Hateful Eight» (2015), «Dunkirk» is the third major cinematic project of the decade shot mainly on 70 mm film and shown in the same format.

While filming took place on the artificial freshwater lake IJsselmeer in the central part of the Netherlands, the cast and crew stayed in Urk, a village and municipality in the province of Flevoland.

The third film by Christopher Nolan for which he wrote the screenplay himself, after the films «Following» (1999) and «Inception» (2010).

In order to avoid the use of computer graphics, the props department prepared cardboard outlines of soldiers and vehicles, which were placed as far from the camera as possible but greatly enhanced the impression of the enormous size of the trapped Allied troops.

For his work on the film, Christopher Nolan received $20 million plus 20% of the box office. This is the largest sum ever paid to a director. The first to receive such a sum was Peter Jackson for the film «King Kong» (2005).

The cinematic debut of Harry Styles from the boy band One Direction.

The film was shot in France under the title «Bodega Bay» (Bodega is a Pacific bay off the coast of California, USA, on whose shore the village of Bodega Bay is located).

In the film «Dunkirk», Christopher Nolan worked again with Hans Zimmer (composer), Hoyte van Hoytema (cinematographer), Nathan Crowley (production designer), John Papsidera (casting associate), as well as actors Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy. Many members of the crew had continuously worked with Nolan since the «Dark Knight» trilogy (2005, 2008, 2012), and Hoytema since the film «Interstellar» (2014).