It may not be his biggest commercial success, but among critics, Dunkirk is considered to be Christopher Nolan’s finest work.
The movie didn’t turn out how Nolan originally planned.
His writing process has always been one of stripping down to nothing other than the necessary beats. This is an attempt to maximise pace and forward motion on screen, and if you’ve seen his films, you know, he’s masterful at all of the above.
For Dunkirk, he’d go further with this ‘stripping down’ process than ever before: a 90-page screenplay with no dialogue. It’d be unrelenting tension with no relief. Characters would just be their actions.
In the middle of the creative process, Nolan explains the concept to a friend, a television writer, at a party. He gives a little backstory and the concept of this ‘no-dialogue’ approach. His friend listens and then he asks:
“Well, why?”
Nolan had no answer.
He’d been so single-minded, so convinced that this approach was the only one for this story, he’d never stopped to ask himself the question, why?
Now, attempting to come up with a reason, he couldn’t articulate any good reason why.
He adjusts course, writes the dialogue, produces a modern classic.
Despite his expertise, Christopher Nolan was walking down the wrong path with this movie until a peer asked him that simple question, why?
I expect the same is true for you.
My guess is, you have all the answers you’ll ever need, or access to them at least.
If you’re feeling stuck on the particular project you’re working on today, perhaps you haven’t asked the question that’ll unlock progress.
Even better, get that outside perspective before you feel stuck.
P.S. Story and quote from Christopher Nolan from the Scriptnotes podcast.