Christopher Nolan’s next film already has a date—July 21, 2017—but as is the case with his films, he likes to keep the plot under lock and key for as long as possible. For films like Inception and Interstellar, it makes sense; he wants to control the message since there’s no pre-existing material, and the premises are a little strange. However, his next original movie sounds like it could be a little bit more straightforward if a new report is correct.

According to La Voix Du Nord [via The Playlist], Nolan’s next movie is a World War II film based on Operation Dynamo, which was a “near-miraculous evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and other Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk which took place from May-June in 1940.” According to Wikipedia, the eight-day evacuation ended up saving the lives of 338,226 soldiers with a hastily assembled fleet of over 800 boats.

It sounds like it could be a rousing film that would absolutely be perfect of Nolan’s sense of scale, and yet it would also take him some place new, pulling him out of the fantasy and sci-fi genre where he’s dealt for so long and into reality. Ultimately, a great story is a great story, and it looks like he has the basis for one if this is what he’s pursuing (as for casting, I think it’s safe to assume he can get a whole host of A-listers if he wants them).

The current mayor of Dunkirk, France says that filming of an American blockbuster would take place in June 2016 “by a world-famous director” and La Voix Du Nord, a regional daily newspaper from the north of France, says their sources are saying it’s Nolan, who has been doing early location scouting with screenwriting partner and brother Jonathan Nolan.

Keep in mind that this is still unconfirmed, and will likely be for some time, but if it turns out to be true, I can’t wait to see what Nolan does with a story that approaches a blend of the fantastical (in this case, a monumental military effort) with gritty realism from a new angle.