Christopher Nolan Enlists Cillian Murphy for ‘Dunkirk’

When Christopher Nolan staffs up, he staffs up hard. For his war epic Dunkirk, a retelling of the British mission to evacuate Dunkirk during WWII that ultimately saved hundreds of thousands of lives, it was not enough for the vaunted filmmaker to shoot on a combination of 65mm film and IMAX 65mm, or to produce on location at the very battlegrounds where so many noble soldiers lost their lives. He had to get an all-star cast too, including esteemed British thespians Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh, and Mark Rylance, as well as the film debut of One Direction megastar Harry Styles. And now, Nolan has added yet another big name to his stable, albeit one attached to a more familiar face for the director.

The Wrap reports that Cillian Murphy, Nolan’s past collaborator on his trilogy of Batman films as well as Inception, has now been enlisted for Dunkirk. The film, gunning for a release (war pun!) on July 21, 2017, will add Murphy to the running list of respected actors with just the right brogue to pull the role off, though what role that might be has yet to be specified. Nolan has historically kept a very tight lid on details regarding his films, so it may be some time before we peasants in the general public know what Murphy will be doing in the film. But there’s still time for Nolan to amass more talent for this production before principal photography begins next month, in case he wants to snatch up even more talented Brits. What’s Damian Lewis up to? Billions keeping him busy?