UPDATE: These photos have been removed. Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
After enlisting a cast of frequent collaborators – not to mention a surprise or two – production is officially underway on Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan’s ambitious World War II epic that is currently eyeing a release in July of 2017.
Shooting on location in northern France – with Holland, Los Angeles playing host to Nolan’s latest over the coming months – the first wave of set photos have now surfaced online, along with the movie’s synopsis and final cast list.
First up, the series of images included in the gallery above spotlight a regiment of Allied troops donning period garb while battling off the cool sea breeze, whereas the remaining snaps draw attention to the Warner Bros. crew and two real naval battleships of the era.
That’ll all culminate in Nolan’s rendition of Operation Dynamo, military speak for a massive rescue mission staged by the Allied forces during the throes of World War II. It was considered one of the most influential turning points of the war, and the movie’s synopsis reads as so: “Dunkirk opens as hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops are surrounded by enemy forces. Trapped on the beach with their backs to the sea they face an impossible situation as the enemy closes in.”
Battening down the hatches as Nolan’s squad of soldiers are Tom Hardy – reuniting with the filmmaker after Inception and The Dark Knight Rises, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, newcomer Fionn Whitehead, Aneurin Barnard, James D’Arcy, Jack Lowden, Barry Keoghan, Tom Glynn-Carney and, surprisingly, One Direction member Harry Styles.
Dunkirk is primed to storm theatres on July 21, 2017.