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Sunday, May 28, 2017 5:42am ET by  

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Harry Styles says filming 'Dunkirk' was a gruelling experience

Harry Styles has admitted that he found filming the epic war movie Dunkirk a truly gruelling experience.

The movie was inspired by the miraculous evacuation of nearly 340,000 allied soldiers from Dunkirk and its surrounding beaches in World War II. 

The 23-year-old singer will make his feature film debut in director Christopher Nolan's upcoming movie - which tells the story of how a fleet of British ships and boats, many manned by volunteers, rescued Allied troops from a French beach - and admitted that filming long scenes in water took its toll. Speaking to lwlies.com, Styles said:

"A week before we started, Emma (Thomas, the film's producer) called me and said, 'By the way, I forgot to ask... you can swim right?' It was a relief to know that I could because there was so much swimming involved. However much you train for it, filming in the water for an hour in full clothes is a gruelling experience."

The One Direction star also revealed that he was surprised by Christopher Nolan's energy. He said:

"The biggest thing I learned from making this movie is that Chris Nolan doesn't sit down. He leads by example, so any time there's a break given, it's because he knows everyone else needs one.

"It makes it really hard to complain because you know he's been there longer than you, you know he's the first one there and he's going to be the last one to leave. For him, it's all about making the project the best that it can be and that's infectious."

Styles says that the movie is ultimately a story about survival. He explained:

"From a character point of view, the story is stripped back to basic instinct. It's all about that survival instinct and how different people reacted to the situation in different ways. So you have clashes and tension between different characters and that intertwines with the land, air and sea themes."

Dunkirk is set to be released in the US and UK this year on July 21 in IMAX.

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