Where Was Dunkirk Filmed? All Filming Locations Explained (2024)

Director Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk featured some stunning real-life scenery in its epic WWII story. Dunkirk saw Christopher Nolan bring together an all-star cast for an intense war drama about the Dunkirk evacuation. A pivotal moment in the fighting between British, French, and German forces, the battle at Dunkirk is depicted from the perspective of various soldiers throughout Nolan’s movie. While the movie does flash forward to a time after the evacuation ended, much of Dunkirk’s propulsive action takes place on the beach in Dunkirk during the first landings. Nolan’s movie spends significant stretches of screen time depicting how exactly the Dunkirk evacuation was pulled off.

While the real-life history depicted in Dunkirk is undeniably compelling, that is not all that the epic movie has going for it. Dunkirk’s starry cast includes Kenneth Branagh, Aneurin Barnard, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, and Harry Styles in a surprisingly strong central performance. The human characters in Nolan’s movie are thinly sketched, but it is easy to care about them as the young soldiers are sent into what seems like an unwinnable battle. Not only that, but Dunkirk also features some stunning real-life scenery. Nolan took pains to recreate the real settings of the battle as much as possible when filming Dunkirk.

6 Dunkirk’s Opening Scene Was Shot In Rue Belle Rade

Dunkirk’s opening scene sees a soldier running from gunfire before taking shelter in a barricade held by French soldiers. This scene was shot on Rue Belle Rade in Malo-les-Bains. Since many of the town's instantly recognizable colorful houses were destroyed during the war, nearby Malo-les-Bains was a closer visual match for Dunkirk’s streets. Of course, Malo-les-Bains is still in Dunkirk and was home to the events of the evacuation. As Dunkirk’s cast of characters is introduced, Nolan’s movie stays near this initial setting for much of its runtime and the production remained near Malo-les-Bains for many major scenes.

5 Dunkirk’s Beach Scenes Were Shot In Plage de Malo-Les-Bains

The central fighting sequences in Dunkirk take place on the city’s beaches. French and English troops were evacuated from Dunkirk beach and Nolan’s movie was shot on Plage de Malo-Les-Bains to ensure as much accuracy as possible. The first bombing scene takes place here, as does the bulk of Dunkirk’s action sequences, and the beach still resembles its 1940 appearance. When footage from the time is compared to moments from Nolan’s movie, it is immediately striking how much Dunkirk’s production team and location scouts were able to recreate the setting’s appearance.

4 Dunkirk’s Jetty Scene Was Shot On East Mole (Jetée de Malo)

Not all of Dunkirk’s settings could remain true to their real-life inspiration. Christopher Nolan’s ambitious attempts to recreate the events as they happened in reality occasionally ran into snags, as was the case with Jetée de Malo (the East Mole). This famous improvised jetty was a wooden structure that allowed the soldiers to climb aboard ships that could not dock ashore. Since the tide was too shallow, the East Mole played a major role in the Dunkirk evacuation. However, as it was strategically vital to the British and French soldiers, Jetée de Malo was destroyed by German soldiers during the melee.

Nolan’s production created a replica of Jetée de Malo to take the place of the original structure. This jetty was built in the same place where the original East Mole took up residence and needed to be rebuilt repeatedly throughout the filming process. This was almost inevitable since the jetty needed to look as threadbare and haphazard as its real-life counterpart. As a result, Dunkirk’s short-lived East Mole was as easily destroyed as its inspiration, and the movie’s many evacuation scenes were shot in various recreations of the construction.

3 Dunkirk’s Civilian Fleet Departure Was Shot In Weymouth

While Dunkirk and 1917 were released around the same time, the two World War epics use different approaches to their depictions of conflict. While 1917 stayed in the trenches with its soldier heroes throughout their harrowing ordeal, Dunkirk cut away from the fighting regularly to show how the war was playing out on a larger scale. One of the earliest instances of this can be seen when Dunkirk cuts to Weymouth, where the civilian fleet is taking off to aid the soldiers trapped in Dunkirk. This scene was shot in Weymouth Harbor. Fortunately, the town’s Georgian architecture has remained in place since 1940, making the scenes feel even more authentic.

2 Dunkirk’s Train Journey Was Shot In Swanage

See Also

War Movie Scripts Online (with Free PDF Downloads)

Harry Styles’ Alex and Fionn Whitehead’s Tommy go from Weymouth Harbour to London via train and their journey begins at Swanage Railway Station. The pair travel by night, but viewers will still be able to recognize the real-life Swanage Railway in this sequence. Like many train stations, Swanage Railway Station has maintained its original facade. This made it much easier for Dunkirk to pass off the contemporary train station as its 1940 counterpart, meaning the creators could shoot on location. Christopher Nolan’s career has seen the director utilize plenty of soundstages, but Dunkirk’s Swanage Railway Station is the real deal.

1 Dunkirk’s Sea-Set Scenes Were Shot In IJsselmeer

Speaking of sound stages, Dunkirk’s sea-set scenes presented a complex issue for the movie’s creators. To convincingly depict a ship at sea, the filmmakers understandably wanted to resist the allure of giant water tanks and instead film on open water. However, this is not always practical or safe, as currents can make filming at sea difficult even for smaller productions. To get around this issue, the creators of Dunkirk came to a clever compromise. Dunkirk’s sea-set scenes were shot in a real body of water, but it wasn’t the open sea between England and France. Instead, Dunkirk’s water scenes were mostly shot in IJsselmeer, a large lake near the small Dutch fishing village of Urk.

Since IJsselmeer is a massive lake that joins the sea at various points, the setting looks a lot like the open sea on film. However, since IJsselmeer is a lake, this Dunkirk setting did not cause as many practical problems as shooting on open water would have for Nolan’s massive production crew. Thus, Dunkirk’s creators found a solution that acted as the best of both worlds. IJsselmeer looks like a perfect match for the sea in Dunkirk but did not pose as many practical problems for the filmmakers as shooting on location would have.