WATCH: Mark Rylance says Spiderman inspired his Dunkirk performance

The Oscar-winning actor stars in the new Christopher Nolan film

Published 19th Jul 2017

Mark Rylance took inspiration from Spiderman for his part in Dunkirk - because the comic book hero rescues people.

The Oscar-winning actor has joined Christopher Nolan's ensemble cast in the war epic, which tells the story of the rescue of over 300,000 soldiers from the beaches in France during World War II.

Mark plays Mr Dawson, one of many civilians who took their boats to France to help the rescue effort.

When asked if he thinks he'd have sailed to France, Mark told us: "I think I would have done... My favourite comic hero was Spiderman and all those comic books encourage you to be a rescuer.

"I always loved the way Spiderman didn't take credit....I've always admired people like that and wanted to be like that."

Mark's character, Mr Dawson, isn't alone in his boat, and is joined by his son Peter (played by Tom Glynn-Carney) and George, who's played by rising star, Barry Keoghan.

Barry told us about working with Mark, saying he is always "watching, and observing and curious about you as a person and gives you his time".

Despite his kind words, Mark claims Barry "took him to the cleaners" when they played dice games in between takes on set.

Mark joked: "I don't feel it was very respectful, but I just thought of him as the enemy, and when I got to the scenes I was more emotionally motivated to rescue people."

Check out our interview with Mark Rylance and Barry Keoghan below >>>

Dunkirk is in cinemas from 21st July. You can watch the trailer below >>>

We also caught up with director Christopher Nolan and stars Harry Styles and Fionn Whitehead >>>