Harry Who?

Dear Ellie,May 21, 2016

I thought I would write you a letter, as if I were actually a soldier in WWII. Sure, we text every day, but I thought it would be more realistic, and romantic. Writing love letters is something that should never have gone out of style (no pun intended).

Filming a movie is so much more than I could ever have imagined. To be honest, this is incredibly insane. In a good way. My first day on set was absolutely crazy, I thought ‘what the fuck have I gotten myself into?’ But Nolan is amazing, and we all feel like we’re going through this together.

I know what you’re thinking, ‘Can he actually act?’ To be honest, I don’t know? He puts us in the craziest situations, with fire and explosions, that I feel like we’re all just reacting to our environment. So far, I have not had an issue messing up my lines, despite the fire and brimstone hailing down around us (there are actually spitfires dive bombing us, have I mentioned that?).

Remember all those lazy afternoons we spent swimming in the ocean? You were getting back in shape for hockey, I was unknowingly getting ready to swim, fully clothed, for my life. I am more tired than I have ever been, but the cast is wonderful and we all get along, mostly because we are all going through this same experience together.

I miss you playing with my hair: braiding it, brushing it, or whatever you were doing to it. I miss having you around every day, but most days I’m too tired to even think about that after filming. But it’s there, lurking at the back of my mind; ‘What’s Ellie doing today?’ I’ll think, or ‘how are her hockey try-outs going?’

I wonder if this is how my character Alex felt when he was on this exact beach here in Dunkirk. Looking over the channel at England, hoping his sweetheart got his letters. He’s kind of a dick, though, so maybe he didn’t have a girlfriend.

I hope you liked the hockey tickets I got you. When I heard your brother’s team was in the playoffs I figured you would want to go. I wish I could be there to watch with you, but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more without me asking what’s going on every five minutes. Sorry, I still haven’t quite figured out the game of hockey. But I’ll have to learn if I’m going to watch you play pro hockey this summer!

Good luck with try-outs, I’m very proud of you, princess!

I wish I could be there for you, but I’m sure you’ll do fine without me.

As always, lots of love.

Love,

Your frog prince

Notes

This is why I don’t normally switch POV when writing, because I’m bad at it! I’m sure Harry is much more eloquent than this, but at least we finally get to see his perspective (other than how Ellie sees it, which is skewed at times) and their cute nicknames for each other. If you like it, I think he’ll write her a few more letters from ‘Dunkirk’! : )