Christopher Nolan is known to make films that tell larger-than-life stories and often transcend the realms of reality. His films are made for the perfect theatre experience that will have your heart beating through your chest. However, with his 2017 historical war thriller, Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan decided to take a more grounded route and retell the story of the Dunkirk evacuation of World War II with a little bit of dramatization.
Dunkirk is considered to be one of Hollywood’s best war films to date and was crafted to absolute perfection. However, there was a time when Christopher Nolan basically wanted to wing it all. Thanks to his extensive research and attention to detail, the filmmaker was convinced that he could make the film from start to finish without a script. Thankfully, his wife was right there to stop him.
Christopher Nolan Wanted to Make Dunkirk without a Script
It was in the mid-1990s that Christopher Nolan first had the idea to make Dunkirk. It came to him when he was sailing across the English Channel, a recreation of the actual Dunkirk evacuation role, with his then-future wife Emma Thomas.
Initially, Nolan was confident that he could make the film without coming up with a script. However, Thomas was able to talk him out of the idea.
In an interview with his brother, Jonathan Nolan, available in the official screenplay of Dunkirk which is available for purchase, the filmmaker said (via Syfy),
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. [Thomas] looked at me like I was a bit crazy and was like, ‘Okay, that’s not really gonna work.’ And I said: ‘Okay, fair enough.’ I did need a script.
Nolan decided to divide the film into three perspectives – land, sea, and air. He knew he wanted Dunkirk to be his most experimental film.
He stated (via All The Right Movies),
For the soldiers who embarked in the conflict, the events took place on different temporalities… Do not repeat it to the studio: it will be my most experimental film.
Eventually, Nolan’s experiment paid off. Dunkirk was heavily awarded at ceremonies and received 3 Academy Awards among many more. It also made $530 million at the box office.
Dunkirk’s Script Was Only 76 Pages Long
After Thomas, who he later married, talked him out of making the film without a script, it didn’t take Nolan long before he came up with it. However, there was a catch.
Since he wanted to make Dunkirk, which also features Cillian Murphy, from a geographical point of view, he knew exactly what he wanted his film to look like and he came up with just the right structure for it. After figuring the structure out, he sat down to write the script and was done with it much quicker than one would expect.
Why? Well, simply because the film was only 76 pages long, less than half of his usual scripts.
Talking to his brother, Nolan said,
I approached it from a geographical point of view. I knew all the events I wanted to show, and I came up with a structure that let me show that. And I detailed the structure very, very minutely. Figured all of that out before I wrote anything. And then, wrote the script very, very quickly. I mean, weirdly quickly. I just of found myself finishing it. It’s a very short script, as well — 76 pages.
Nolan wanted to do something much different from his popular films like Interstellar and Inception. He wanted to experiment.
I could say to the studio, I want to shoot a 76-page script. I want to experiment. The film is very experimental. I wanted to grab that opportunity with one of these great, simple stories. Try that. See what happened.
You can always count on Nolan to experiment with his projects and push the boundaries of traditional filmmaking.
You can rent/buy Dunkirk on Prime Video.
