Christopher Nolan”s big-screen take on the legendary Dunkirk evacuation in 1940 is due to wrap the European end of shooting this weekend.

Dunrkirk is due to move on to the US for another four weeks” filming, which will complete the shoot. Nolan has assembled a plethora of acting talent for the project, including Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh and Cillian Murphy.

The Warner Bros. feature began principal photography in late May in Dunkirk, France, before moving on to Urk in the Netherlands and then the UK.

The UK stint took in locations including Weymouth and Swanage heritage railway, with local media outlets reporting the closure of Weymouth Harbour over two 12-hour periods last week. Modern street lighting was taken down and vintage cars brought in.

Nolan is also reported to have used a real, re-conditioned naval destroyer shipped over from Brittany to retain authenticity and avoid the use of CGI. The scale of the real-life events, which saw well over 338,000 soldiers rescued by a flotilla of boats, has led to a vast amount of extras being used in the film, with some reports suggesting cardboard cut-outs have also been utilised in the attempt to steer clear of VFX.