Ian Freer:Schofield running for his life parallel to
a trench as soldiers stream over the top is 1917 ’s
signature image. There is debate over whether
its inclusion in the trailer counts as a spoiler,
but either way, it is powerful, thrilling cinema.Sam Mendes:We rehearsed and planned it
for a long time. It was a shot I had in my head
for months and months. The extras came out
of that trench hell for leather, which is why
George, who was doing this absolutely incredible
job of running, was absolutely taken out by one
of the background artists. He collides with him,
knocks him off his feet. That was not planned.
I had said to George before we started the
take, “Look, if something does happen, if youfall or someone knocks you off your feet,
keep going if you can.” And he did. And that’s
incredibly important in a movie where you
are looking for this combination of incredible
precision with the way you are constructing
the shot and on the other side of the camera,
great spontaneity, some rough edges, some
happy accidents, some life. You want to
encourage the actors to live the roles as much
as act them.Above:Schofield and his fellow soldiers run for their lives.
Left:Richard Madden as Blake’s brother, Joseph.Ian Freer:After failing to stop the attack,
Schofieldfinds Blake’s brother Joseph (Richard
Madden) and informs him that Blake has died in
action. It’s a bizarre moment forGame Of Thrones
fans — the casting suggests Tommen Baratheon
(Chapman) is related to Robb Stark (Madden)
— but it’s a quiet, beautifully played scene of
consolation and connection.Sam Mendes:I wanted him to look for Blake’s
brother and I wanted there to be tension around
whether he was going to find him. In fact, at
a certain point, it seems like he’s not. And there
he is suddenly. For me that feels the emotional
climax of the film: it feels right that it ends on the
personal rather than the political, on the micro
rather the macro. Because for a movie where you
are looking through a keyhole at a vast panorama
of death, you want to remain connected to the
individual right through to the end.Krysty Wilson-Cairns:I was worried about that
scene. It’s a tricky scene to write because you
have never seen Lieutenant Blake before. He is
almost a proxy for Blake. You have to play this
huge, emotional, wrenching scene. It was sparse in
dialogue and in rehearsals we made it more and
more sparse — less was more with it. Richard
Madden, George, Sam and I did a reading in
Sam’s trailer. I cried in the trailer. They weren’t
even in costume and I was crying in the trailer.
I thought, “Okay, I know this is going to be fine.”10 THE ENDING
Sam Mendes:He starts leaning against a tree
and he ends leaning against a tree, and that was
a conscious thing. It wasn’t in the first draft of the
script. The first draft of the script he was sitting
on the bank of a stream watching the sun rise.
We were location-scouting for the final tree and
there was a magnificent one and I thought,
“That’s where he should end up.” I went and sat
by it very much like Schofield sits in the movie and
felt the wind above me and the leaves and thought,
“This is supposed to be where he ends up.”MEETING THE
LIEUTENANT
9
THE
HINDENBURG LINE
8
Right: In a conscious echo of the fi lm’s opening scene,
Getty ImagesSchofi eld fi nally fi nds himself resting against a tree trunk.
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