Sam Mendes’ BAFTA, PGA and Golden Globe Award-winning World War I epic heads into Oscar Sunday with 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Visual Effects.
In 1917, director Sam Mendes immerses audiences in a harrowing World War I story inspired by his grandfather, Alfred, who had enlisted enlisted at age 17 and saw fierce combat in the British Army during what historians once referred to as "The war to end all wars." In the film, Mendes uniquely constructs the narrative into a single shot cinematic experience. Even with all the meticulous planning, digital augmentation was needed to stitch different takes together. According to production VFX supervisor Guillaume Rocheron, “Some of the sections that we stitched together were like five to seven minutes long and others were a couple of seconds long. One thing I can say is, in the end, we touched 91% of the frames of the film.”
Nominated for 10 Oscars and winner of BAFTA, PGA and Golden Globe Awards, among others, 1917 heads into Oscar Sunday as a heavy favorite. Check out the three new featurettes just released that highlight some of the spectacular work that went into the film’s production.
1917 is directed by Mendes, who wrote the screenplay with Krysty Wilson-Cairns (Showtime’s Penny Dreadful). The film is produced by Mendes and Pippa Harris (co-executive producer, Revolutionary Road; executive producer, Away We Go) for their Neal Street Productions, Jayne-Ann Tenggren (co-producer, The Rhythm Section; associate producer, Spectre), Callum McDougall (executive producer, Mary Poppins Returns, Skyfall) and Brian Oliver (executive producer, Rocketman; Black Swan).
The film is produced by Neal Street Productions for DreamWorks Pictures in association with New Republic Pictures. Universal Pictures is distributing the film in the US; Universal and Amblin Partners are distributing the film internationally, with eOne distributing on behalf of Amblin in the U.K.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
