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STACK sat down with Christopher Nolan, Harry Styles and
FionnWhitehead to talk Dunkirk. Words Gill Pringle
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When Christopher Nolan first
announced he would make an
epic action film about Dunkirk - the
big question was: who would play Winston
Churchill? After all, one of Churchill’s most
iconic addresses is so pertinent to the Dunkirk
story, his stirring words commonly referred to
today as the “We shall fight on the beaches”
speech.
Intense secrecy surrounded Nolan’s 70-page
script about the WWII evacuation of 330,000
British and Allied forces from the beaches of
Dunkirk, France, between May 27 and June 4
1940, and none of the cast were even given
copies before being hired; the lines they were
asked to rehearse were often red herrings.
With so many competing Churchill
performances in the starry 2017 film and TV
line-up - Brian Cox in Churchill, Gary Oldman
in Darkest Hour and John Lithgow in TV’s The
Crown - would Nolan even be so bold as to
throw a fourth Churchill into the mix?
Unsure if an actor had actually been cast
as Churchill then, who would be chosen to
actually recite his historic speech?
“That was a tough one because while we
were rehearsing to play soldiers, many of
us - including myself - were given Churchill’s
speech to read,” recalls Harry Styles, 23,
whose presence in the film will guarantee that
every teenage girl on the planet will become a
WWII history buff.
The task of reciting Churchill’s speech would
ultimately fall to unknown British actor Fionn
Whitehead who, as Tommy, is the emotional
heart of the movie.“It was included in the
audition but no-one knew who they were
going for and whether or not it was going to be
in the script.
“It wasn’t until I was offered the role and
given the script, that I found out. No pressure
there!” grins Whitehead when STACK meets
with him and Styles at a hangar at Santa
Monica airport where WWII aircraft and rifles
are displayed on make-shift beaches.
“The whole time I was reading it, I was
The
Great
Escape
012 AUGUST 2017
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There was no room
for complaining
about any personal
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Harry Styles (left) with
Aneurin Barnard and
FionnWhitehead
Director Christopher Nolan on
set with Kenneth Branagh
st154_012-013_CINEMA-Dunkirk.indd 1 21/7/17 12:06 pm