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Sam Mendes wanted to do this movie as his follow-up to American Beauty (1999), which had just been nominated for seven Academy Awards. Another offer came from Newmarket Films on behalf of Writer, Producer, and Director Christopher Nolan, of whom Author Christopher Priest had never heard. Priest was prepared to close the deal with Mendes, when a VHS copy of Nolan's Following (1998) was delivered to his house by motorcycle (Memento (2000) was still in post-production). Priest was impressed, and chose Nolan (in part to also support a new filmmaker over an established one).

Never Cursed wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 5:11 pm ...It's rumored that the movie will be presented as one long shot a la Birdman

Roger Ryan wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:34 pm The trailer itself presents at least three examples of standard angle/reverse angle cutting, so I don't think the entire film will be presented as a single shot. Certainly it looks like numerous shots could be quite extended, but the very nature of filming a story in one continuous shot implies what you watching is happening in real time. It may be stretching credulity to conceive of everything shown in the trailer as happening in a two-hour window.

Never Cursed wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 9:20 pm

Roger Ryan wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 8:34 pm The trailer itself presents at least three examples of standard angle/reverse angle cutting, so I don't think the entire film will be presented as a single shot. Certainly it looks like numerous shots could be quite extended, but the very nature of filming a story in one continuous shot implies what you watching is happening in real time. It may be stretching credulity to conceive of everything shown in the trailer as happening in a two-hour window.

Just because those instances are in the trailer doesn't mean that they're present in the final edit, no? It might have been easier to relate that scene (the one with the commander giving the leads their orders) in a trailer if it was conventionally edited, but that doesn't mean that it won't be presented in a different way in the final product. Moreover, lots of movies, Birdman included (with its transitions from night to day) have one-shot/pseudo one-shot sequences where time progresses in an abnormal way, so I don't see your point re: long takes implying real time.

Sam Mendes wrote:(1917) is set in northern France during the spring of 1917, just at the point the Germans had retreated to the newly built and massively fortified Hindenburg Line. The British troops woke up one morning to find that the Germans had simply disappeared. There was a period of terrified uncertainty—had they surrendered, withdrawn, or were they lying in wait? It is across this mostly abandoned and shattered landscape that our two men have to journey. The Germans had destroyed anything of value—burnt down the towns, taken most of the civilians, chopped down the trees, and they had left behind booby traps, snipers, and a few other unexpected surprises.

Never Cursed wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 4:57 pm A behind the scenes promo video confirms that this is made to look like one shot and that the events of the film occur in real time.

mfunk9786 wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 9:37 pmBTS?

Nasir007 wrote: Mon Sep 30, 2019 8:37 pm They are claiming in the BTS that it is completely 100% real-time, no lapses.

solaris72 wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 4:05 pm I remember reading that Tarkovsky wanted to make a film just like this, all one shot, real time, and set during a battle. Obviously would've needed to either use invisible edits a la Rope (perhaps easier to do on a battlefield but Tarkovsky likely wouldn't have been satisfied with using explosions or things rushing past the camera to hide the edits) or else some kind of special camera setup. I don't know enough to say if this latter idea was possible, the fact that (as far as I know) extended camera rolls weren't done makes me suspect that it wasn't. Perhaps if you had two 35mm cameras and one lens with a prism reflector...second camera could start running a minute before the first runs out, and then you could change the mag on the first. But the apparatus would have to be pretty big.

Soothsayer wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2019 4:41 pm
Can't remember where but I think Tarkovsky was hoping to do this in the "Kulikovo Battle" sequence that was originally planned for Andrei Rublyov but not included due to budget cuts.