Half-Assed Internet Research
Nolan's 1990s Channel crossing; casting unknowns; rebuilding the mole; inspiration films; Spitfire filming; Dawson's real-life model
In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:29Read transcript
- Michael Caine's voice is briefly in the film, in the airplane.
- New movies come with so much reporting that the research runs ten pages, unlike older films such as Butch Cassidy.
- The idea came to Nolan in the mid-1990s on a Channel crossing with Emma Thomas that took 19 hours in rough weather.
- The filmmakers wanted few stars and cast rookies; the mole was rebuilt from blueprints at about 900 feet for $900,000.
- Inspirations listed: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Greed, Intolerance, Sunrise, A Man Escaped, Pickpocket, Saving Private Ryan, The Wages of Fear, and Alien.
- The technical difficulty gratifies rather than distracts; the stretch of beach is Nolan's Gettysburg.
- Cockpit shots used a two-seat plane dressed as a Spitfire flown from the rear, cameras on a reconditioned Spitfire and camera operators in the water; the oil fire and static dogfight shots seem baffling.
- Dawson is based on the Titanic's second officer (transcribed "Charles Lightholer"), who took his yacht Sundowner to Dunkirk at 66, had lost an RAF son, and packed in over 55 men.