Sam Mendes opened up about a crucial creative decision made while filming 1917 during the film’s preview panel at New York Comic-Con on Thursday. According to the director, printed at the top of the script were the words — “this movie is designed to be one shot.”
“The movie’s set in two hours of one day in the spring of 1917. The Germans — this is obviously true — retreated to the Hindenburg line and, for a few hours, the British had no idea where they’d gone,” Mendes told the audience.
“It’s across this landscape that the two young men are sent to preserve the lives of 1,600 men who are to be sent to attack the Hindenberg line,” he explained. “The movie takes place in just two hours and in one unbroken shot.”
Playing the two young British soldiers Blake and Scofield are Dean-Charles Chapman and George McKay. They are joined by a couple of big name stars including Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch.
1917 hits theaters this December.
