A making of featurette has been released for Sam Mendes upcoming WWI film 1917. Mendes decided he wanted the story to unfold in real time over the course of the film and cinematographer Roger Deakins shot the entire film to appear as if it is in one take. The film follows two soldiers tasked with crossing enemy ground to deliver vital information.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Mendes said “It was fundamentally an emotional choice, I wanted to travel every step with these men—to breathe every breath with them. It needed to be visceral and immersive. What they are asked to do is almost impossibly difficult. The way the movie is made is designed to bring you as close as possible to that experience.”

Here is the featurette:

The ambition of shooting an entire film to feel like a continuous shot inevitably added complexity to the planning. Two scripts were used, one for dialogue and another for the accompanying camera moves. Every scene had to be paced out and every set constructed around these constraints. Shooting with the Arri Alexa LF allowed them to fit the camera rig into some tight spaces.

Sam Mendes reveals “From the very beginning, I felt this movie should be told in real time… Every step of the journey, breathing every breath with these men felt integral”. Roger Deakins adds that this epic film is not to be missed in cinemas: “Until you see it on a screen, you don’t realise how immersive it really is.”

eOne will release 1917 in UK and Irish cinemas January 10, 2020.


Here is the trailer: