1917 (2019 film)

Director, co-writer and co-producer Sam Mendes (left) and cinematographer Roger Deakins

Amblin Partners and New Republic Pictures were announced to have acquired the project on 18 June 2018, with Sam Mendes directing and co-writing the screenplay alongside Krysty Wilson-Cairns.[7] Tom Holland was reported to be pushing for a lead role in the film in September 2018 but ultimately was not involved as he was contractually obligated to do reshoots for Chaos Walking in April 2019.[8][9] In October 2018, Roger Deakins was set to reunite with Mendes as cinematographer.[10] George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman entered negotiations to star that same month.[11] Thomas Newman was hired to compose the score in March 2019.[12] That same month, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Richard Madden, Andrew Scott, Daniel Mays, Adrian Scarborough, Jamie Parker, Nabhaan Rizwan, and Claire Duburcq joined the cast in supporting roles.[13]

In August 2019, Mendes stated that the film shows "the story of a messenger who has a message to carry."[14] In December 2019, Mendes stated that the writing involved some risk-taking: "I took a calculated gamble, and I'm pleased I did because of the energy you get just from driving forward (in the narrative), in a war that was fundamentally about paralysis and stasis." The ideas for a script, which Mendes wrote with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, came from the story that Mendes's grandfather, Alfred Mendes, a native of Trinidad who was a messenger for the British on the Western Front, had told him.[15]

Roger Deakins was the cinematographer for the film, reuniting with Mendes for their fourth collaboration, having first worked together on Jarhead in 2005.[16] Filming was accomplished with long takes and elaborately choreographed moving camera shots to give the effect of two continuous takes.[17][18] Although many media accounts have referred to the story as being told in only one shot,[19][20] the story cuts to black one hour and six minutes into the film, when Schofield is knocked unconscious, and fades in upon his regaining consciousness after night has fallen.[21] Mendes explained, "It was to do with the fact that I wanted the movie to go from afternoon to dusk, and then from night into dawn. I wanted it to be in two movements...I wanted to take it somewhere more like a hallucination. Somewhere more surreal, almost dream-like. And horrifying too".[17]

1917 was the first film to be shot with the Arri Alexa Mini LF digital cinema camera. Deakins wanted to use a camera with a large format image sensor, but thought that the original Alexa LF was too large and heavy to capture the intimate shots he wanted. Arri provided him with a prototype of the Mini LF two months before filming was set to begin, and two more cameras a week before.[22][16] His lenses were Arri Signature Primes, of which he used three focal lengths: a 40 mm lens for most of the film, a wider 35 mm for scenes in the tunnels and bunkers, to emphasise feelings of claustrophobia,[16] and a narrower 47 mm in the river, "to lose some of the background".[23]

Filming began on 1 April 2019 and continued through June 2019 in Wiltshire, Hankley Common in Surrey and Govan, as well as at Shepperton Studios.[24][25][26][27] Concern was raised about filming on Salisbury Plain by conservationists who felt the production could disturb potentially undiscovered remains, requesting a survey before any set construction began.[28][29] Some shots required the use of as many as 500 background extras.[3]

Sections of the film were also shot near Low Force, on the River Tees, Teesdale in June 2019, a reference to river Styx.[17] The production staff had to install signs warning walkers in the area not to be alarmed at the artificial bodies and body parts strewn around the site.[30] For the scenes on the river, the cast and crew were assisted by a local outdoor adventure provider for safety and stunts.[31]

The filming of the film's climax, called by many as the "Schofield Run," required extensive pre-production, and took two days to shoot with George MacKay as Schofield running about 300 meters amidst explosions and over 500 extras as soldiers during every take. Crew members on set, including two grips, had to dress as soldiers and pass in front of the lens as the camera pulled back in order to get the "complex choreography" of the scene executed properly. On preparing for the scene, MacKay recalled that "...Sam gave me a lovely note ... He said, as much as there’s desperation and it’s intense and what he’s running to is so serious, there’s almost a euphoria to it as well. It’s this kind of utter release." During the second take, MacKay knocked into two extras as soldiers mid-run and continued to run after doing so, a moment that was not scripted. This take made it into the finished film and MacKay was not seriously injured as a result. MacKay described how they actually worked in the scene, saying "As soon as the collisions happened, they felt inevitable. There’s a grace to the run, but there’s also a reality to the fact that he got knocked about on the way." It was not until after filming that MacKay saw the impact that the scene would have upon himself and audiences when he saw the completed film on the screen. "To be honest, I cried...", said MacKay about the results, "...I don’t usually get that emotional watching something I’ve been involved in because I’m more objective, but I found it so moving." In conclusion, MacKay described the shot as a "reflection of the entire film," while going to say that "It’s a very simple journey through massive difficulty, but there’s the notion that it has to get done ... It’s something that will always be with me."[32]

1917 grossed $159.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $225.7 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $384.9 million,[5] against a production budget of $90–100 million.[3][4] Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $77 million.[38]

In the US, the film made $251,000 on its first day of limited release.[41] It went on to have a limited opening weekend of $570,000, and a five-day gross of $1 million, for an average of $91,636 per-venue.[42] The film would go on to make a total of $2.7 million over its 15 days of limited release. It then expanded wide on 10 January, making $14 million on its first day, including $3.25 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to gross $36.5 million for the weekend (beating the original projections of $25 million), becoming the first film to dethrone Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker at the box office.[43] In its second weekend of wide release the film made $22 million (and $26.8 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday), finishing third behind Bad Boys for Life and Dolittle.[44] It then made $15.8 million and $9.7 million the following two weekends, remaining in second both times.[45][46] During the four-day-weekend of the Academy Awards, the film made $9.3 million.[47][48]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 460 reviews, with an average rating of 8.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Hard-hitting, immersive, and an impressive technical achievement, 1917 captures the trench warfare of World War I with raw, startling immediacy."[49] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 57 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[50] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average 4.5 out of 5 from viewers they surveyed, with 69% saying they would definitely recommend it.[43]

Several critics named the film among the best of 2019, including Kate Erbland of IndieWire[51] and Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter.[52] Writing for the Hindustan Times, Rohan Naahar stated, "I can only imagine the effect 1917 will have on audiences that aren't familiar with the techniques Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins are about to unleash upon them."[53] In his review for NPR, Justin Chang was less positive. He agreed the film was a "mind-boggling technical achievement" but did not think it was that spectacular overall, as Mendes's style with its impression of a continuous take "can be as distracting as it is immersive".[54]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times called the film, "A carefully organized and sanitized war picture [...] that turns one of the most catastrophic episodes in modern times into an exercise in preening showmanship."[55] Alison Willmore of Vulture compared it unfavourably to the war film Dunkirk (2017), writing, "The artifice of the aesthetic premise overwhelms any of the film's other intentions."[56]

In September 2021, Screen Rant featured the best ten World War I movies according to users of IMDb, where 1917 ranked sixth.[57]

1917 received ten nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards, winning for Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects.[58][59] It received three nominations at the 77th Golden Globe Awards and won two awards: for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director.[60] It also received eight nominations at the 25th Critics' Choice Awards, winning three awards, including Best Director,[61][62] and nine nominations at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards, winning the most awards – seven, including Best Film, Best Director and Outstanding British film.[63][64] It was chosen by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute as one of the top ten films of the year.[65][66]