5-perf 70mm. The reason for that is
the 5-perf cameras are blimped [en-cased in soundproofed housing] and
quiet cameras. The IMAX cameras
when they’re running are so loud
that you would have to re-record everybody’s performances, and nobody
wants to do that. Chris is a great lover of the original performance on the
day and so am I.”
Dunkirk is the shortest film
made by Nolan since his 1998 fea-
ture directorial debut Following.
“From the script to completion Chris
had a length in mind because it’s like
a tension ride,” explains Smith. “The
film couldn’t be longer than 100 min-
utes because you couldn’t maintain
that tension without fatiguing out.
In other films, there are always mo-
ments of relaxation or they’re sitting
in the map room having a chat, or
a love affair is going on somewhere.
None of that happens. It’s an intense
ride from frame one to frame end.
It’s Hitchcockian. It’s more about,
‘What is going to happen next?’ I
think that is what it would have been
like to have been there. They’re try-
ing to get home and that’s all they’re
doing.” Dialogue is minimal. “I used
to joke with Chris and ask, ‘What
happened? Did your pen break?’ It
gives the whole film a different dy-
namic.”
Intricate time-shifting narra-
tives, a Nolan signature, are main-
tained in Dunkirk. “It’s played from
three points of view,” reveals Lee
I
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.
Director Christopher Nolan discusses a scene with actor Kenneth Branagh
A soldier hears planes approaching
Mr. Dawson (Mark Rylance) surrounded by soldiers
