Mark Rylance: ‘Government officials lied to Brits about World War Two success’

Mark Rylance’s research for his new role in Dunkirk made him realise British government officials lied to the nation about Germany’s success in World War Two.
History suggests Adolf Hitler’s forces were no match for the Allied troops of Europe, but Rylance suggests there was a lot Prime Minister Winston Churchill didn’t share with the country as the Nazis were taking over France.
The Oscar winner, who plays heroic seaman Mr. Dawson in director Christopher Nolan’s new film, tells WENN, “There’s a museum in London called the Imperial War Museum and much to my delight they had a lot of audio recordings, 60 or 90-minute recordings, with men like Mr. Dawson.
“It helped me to understand how little these men knew about what they were going towards. The government at the time was keen not to frighten the English people, who only just got over the First World War and didn’t want to know how terribly badly things were going in France at that time. Those recordings were very helpful to me.”
The newly-knighted Bridge of Spies star also reveals Dunkirk director Nolan didn’t like his actors getting too comfortable on set in between takes, refusing to let them sit down.
“He didn’t like actors having chairs on set, so there was nowhere to sit down…,” he adds. “You could sit down on other actors and, as one of the older actors, I was allowed to sit on the younger actors.
“I used (movie son) Tom Glynn-Carney,” he chuckles. “He’s had some complications, but he’s going to be alright with chiropractic help and modern surgical techniques. He might not play tennis again, however.”