Sam Mendes' Oscar-tipped 1917 was filmed in one continuous single take

Sam Mendes' first World War drama, 1917 is making headlines for the director's unique approach in shooting the film. The film was shot in one continuous single take to create a kind of theatrical effect. Mendes who has directed two James Bond films teamed up with the visionary cinematographer Roger Deakin for the Oscar-tipped movie. 

Deakin told the media that at first, he thought it was a publicity stunt by the makers but he realised it later that it was not a gimmick, it's a way to get sucked into the story. While Mendes said that there were days when he thought, "Why did I do this to myself".

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Premise

The film is based in part on an account told to Mendes by his grandfather, Alfred Mendes. The film is set in 1917 in northern France where two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake are given a seemingly impossible task of delivering a message to another British battalion of 1,600 men, which includes Blake's own brother. 

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Schofield and Blake travel through a post-apocalyptic landscape as they navigate their way through dead bodies, rats, a bad dream of broken tree stumps and mud lakes left by shell craters only to discover German trenches. As they pass through it they realise how much better equipped, well trained the Germans were. But they must carry on to convey the message to another British battalion fighting on the other front. 

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Mendes and Roger began filming on April 1, 2019 and continued through June 2019 in Wiltshire, Hankley Common, and Govan, Scotland, as well as Shepperton Studios. The film stars George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Claire Duburcq, with Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch.

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The film is scheduled to release in the United States on December 25, 2019, and United Kingdom on January 10, 2020, by Universal Pictures.