Christopher Nolan has consistently been one of the few filmmakers who opts for in-camera effects rather than relying on CGI.

Going all the way back to Batman Begins, Nolan has repeatedly used practical, real-world environments and locations for his films. The harsh ice-worlds in Interstellar were filmed in Iceland, Inception was filmed n location in Mombasa, Tokyo and Paris whilst The Prestige used Victorian-era buildings to lend more credibility to its fantastical story.

His upcoming World War II epic, Dunkirk, is taking it one step further. The film, starring Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh is based on the true story British evacuation from Dunkirk in World War II - codenamed Operation Dynamo. In keeping with his penchant for using real-world settings, Nolan plans to use actual naval destroyers for the battle sequences.

According to a report by French nautical magazine Presse Océan, Nolan is looking to commandeer the French T-47 Class Destroyer, Maillé-Brézé for Dunkirk to serve as one of the main vessels for the production. The report states that the destroyer will be towed to Saint-Nazaire in Brittany where it will be fitted and transformed into a working vessel; when completed, it'll then sail to Dunkirk to begin filming around May or June.

The Maillé-Brézé, however, didn't see action in the Dunkirk evacuation. The destroyer was commissioned in 1957 and served in the French Navy for over thirty years before it was turned into a museum ship.

Dunkirk is set for a 2017 release.

Header image via Wikipedia