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.

Luftwaffe yellow nose cones; visible Weymouth Sea Life Tower

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:21:20Read transcript

The Luftwaffe did not paint fighter nose cones yellow until later in 1940.
In scenes shot in Weymouth, the top of the Sea Life Tower, built around 2012, is visible.
There are few story nits once the structure is accepted, beyond why someone did not swim back.
The hosts joke about picking nits with British pre-war strategy; they state Churchill was only 16 days into his tenure and that Czechoslovakia would have nits of its own.
No other nits are offered.

Was Farrier rescued or taken to a POW camp?; Which one of the three stories would you watch?; Was Dunkirk snubbed in 2017?

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:26:58Read transcript

Farrier ends up in a German prison camp; a Farrier prisoner-of-war camp movie is wanted, and he would spend about five years there like the gardening prisoner in The Great Escape.
If only one story could be watched, the river-rat story is chosen; the air story is the blockbuster but lacks dynamism alone, and that survival story is what is understood least.
Yes, it was snubbed; Shape of Water won; whether a July release hurt is left open.
The score loss and missing screenplay nomination are big snubs; the storytelling is with scissors, music and images; the cinematographer (transcribed "Hoitsevan Hoitama") was also overlooked; a 76-78 page script may have been held against it.