Sit tight, folks—a new Christopher Nolan movie is indeed gearing up. The filmmaker continues the casting process for his World War II action-thriller Dunkirk, and he’s added a familiar face to the ensemble. Per The Wrap, Cillian Murphy will be reteaming with Nolan for a fifth time with a supporting role in the WWII story following his turns in Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and Inception. While Begins and Inception are the only films that gave Murphy substantial screentime—his work in the other two Dark Knight Trilogy films are essentially cameos—it’s nice to see his relationship with Nolan will continue, and he fits in quite nicely with the ensemble Nolan has already assembled.
Murphy joins Tom Hardy as the other Nolan regular in Dunkirk, as Kenneth Branagh and Bridge of Spies Oscar-winner Mark Rylance are also set in supporting roles. The film takes chronicles the evacuation of Dunkirk during the British military operation that saved 330,000 lives as Allied soldiers were surrounded by German forces. But while Murphy, Hardy, etc. are considerable talents, Nolan opted to go with young newcomers for the film’s main stars, with Fionn Whitehead, Jack Lowden, Aneurin Barnard, and One Direction artist Harry Styles set in the lead roles.
As per usual, Nolan is shooting on film—a combination of IMAX 65mm and 65mm large-format photography to be specific—with Interstellar cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema reteaming with Nolan as director of photography. Filming is set to get underway this May as Nolan will be shooting in many of the real locations where these events occurred, so those who’ve been itching to see Nolan tackle a historical epic are finally going to get their wish.
Casting will be wrapping up here soon as the film’s May production start-date approaches, but we can bank on at least one more familiar face joining the ensemble in due time: Michael Caine. Scripted by Nolan, Dunkirk opens in theaters on July 21, 2017.
