1917 director Sam Mendes hired Paul Biddiss, ex-British paratrooper to train actors

Sam Mendes' epic war movie 1917 is an incredible watch as those involved behind the scenes made it as real as possible. According to media reports, the filmmakers used British paratrooper to train the actors in the movie, including the 800 extras.

Filmmakers hired Paul Biddiss, an ex-paratrooper for the British Army and film and TV military adviser to work on the project. Biddiss while talking to the press said that the explosions in the film were all real and no CGI was used to perform the stunt. 

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Ex-British paratrooper trained actors

Paul confirmed that the explosions were without the bits of metal in that as they could have hurt people on the set. Paul also trained the two leads, George Mackay and Dean-Charles Chapman on how to use weapons. Along with the two leads, Paul trained all the 800 extras that he himself selected out of 2,000 applicants. Apart from training the actors, Paul's job was to maintain accuracy at all times. Paul would train actors with bullet wounds and would tell them how to accurately move with the injury.

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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. The movie was first premiered in the United States on December 25, 2019. It received critical acclaim for direction, musical score, sound effects, and cinematography. 

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Mendes 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. The movie received ten nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards and three nominations at 77th Golden Globe Awards, where it won two accolades for Best Motion Picture and Best Director. 

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