One Direction's Harry Styles offered role in Christopher Nolan's 'Dunkirk'

UPDATED: One Direction singer Harry Styles and Fionn Whitehead will star in Christopher Nolan's World War II action-drama "Dunkirk."

Warner Bros. had no comment on the offer for the film, which centers on the British military evacuation of the French city of Dunkirk in 1940. Styles and Whitehead are joining Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance and Kenneth Branagh. The film marks Styles' feature film debut.

Variety reported exclusively in December that Nolan had come on to direct and produce the film with his longtime partner Emma Thomas. They have been conducting an extensive casting search.

"Dunkirk" will be shot on a combination of Imax 65mm and 65mm large format film. Shooting will begin in May at many of the locations where the true-life events actually took place.

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A quickly-assembled British fleet evacuated more than 800 boats during World War II, saving more than 335,00 soldiers who had been cut off by the German Army. As the rescue was concluding, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill told Parliament, "We shall fight on beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender."

"Dunkirk" hits theaters on July 21, 2017.

Styles, 22, joined the group One Direction in 2010. The band, which has released four albums, was the subject of the 2013 Morgan Spurlock documentary "One Direction: This Is Us," which grossed $68 million worldwide.

The news about the offer was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

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