BATTLE PLANS

HOW SAM MENDES AND TEAM TURNED WORLD WAR I DRAMA 1917INTO A REAL-TIME, ONE-TAKE WONDER

- IAN FREER

When Amblin Partners boss Steven Spielberg — who evidently knows a thing or two about making war movies — first read Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns’ script for 1917, he gave the filmmakers some simple feedback: “People won’t be able to breathe.” Set on 6 April 1917, the story follows two British soldiers, reserved Schofield (George MacKay) and cheeky chappie Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), on a perilous mission to deliver a letter that will call off an attack and save 1,600 lives, including Blake’s brother.

It’s a taut, thriller-like premise that honours the sacrifices made by a generation. Yet what Spielberg responded to also lay in the execution. As conveyed in the script, Mendes plays out the action in real-time and as if in one continuous shot. “The reason for doing it like that is to make the barrier between the audience and the characters as invisible as possible,” says Mendes. “The way into the movie is very simple, very direct.” Even for the director of an Academy Award winner (American Beauty), two James Bond films (Skyfall, Spectre) and that one where Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet shout a lot (Revolutionary Road), it has proven the filmmaking challenge of his life.

“Whatever happens to the movie,” Mendes says, “the experience of it was like nothing else I’ve ever done.”

THE IDEA

If the story of 1917 was inspired by the memories of Mendes’ grandfather Alfred, the form came from a long-standing interest in the power of the long take. This passion stretches back to a shot in his sophomore feature, 2002’s