Continuing one of the great cinematic partnerships of our time, one which stretches all the way back to 2006’s The Prestige, award-winning composer Hans Zimmer has enlisted to score Christopher Nolan’s upcoming WWII epic, Dunkirk.
Despite only being made official late last month, Nolan’s 2017 release has hit the ground running, setting its sights on Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh in leading roles, though no parts have been officially checked off at the time of writing. Nevertheless, Zimmer’s early addition to pre-production is certainly a major coup for Warner, and it’ll be fascinating to see how the musical maestro tailors his M.O. to gel with the period setting.
For the first time in Nolan’s decorated career, Dunkirk will act as the first of his films to be overtly based on a real event – and what an event it is. The Dunkirk evacuation – then referred to as Operation Dynamo – was considered one of the largest rescue missions in the history of World War II, when the Allies staged a monumental rescue effort to save thousands of soldiers from the beaches of Northern France during the early 40s.
Having already scouted locations around Dunkirk and its seaside environments, it’s understood that Warner plans to ease the wheels into motion in May of this year, when location shooting will begin in earnest. On paper, Nolan and Zimmer are taking the reins of a wartime epic that could produce a spectacle and gripping intensity that we haven’t seen since Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.
It’s due to release on July 21, 2017, and we’re already harboring an inkling of excitement.