After serving as an executive producer alongside Thomas on Zack Snyder's "" (2016) and "Justice League" (2017), Nolan returned to directing with "Dunkirk" (2017). Based on his own original screenplay and co-produced with Thomas, the story is set amid World War II and the evacuation of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk, France, in 1940. Describing the film as a survival tale with a triptych structure, Nolan wanted to make a "sensory, almost experimental movie" with minimal dialogue. He said he waited to make "Dunkirk" until he had earned the trust of a major studio to let him make it as a British film, but with an American budget. Before filming, Nolan sought advice from Spielberg, who later said in an interview with "Variety", "knowing and respecting that Chris [Nolan] is one of the world's most imaginative filmmakers, my advice to him was to leave his imagination, as I did on "Ryan", in second position to the research he was doing to authentically acquit this historical drama." Starring Fionn Whitehead, Jack Lowden, Aneurin Barnard, Harry Styles, Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy, and Kenneth Branagh, "Dunkirk" was released in theatres in July 2017 to widespread critical acclaim and strong box office results. It grossed over $526million worldwide, which made it the highest-grossing World WarII film of all time. In his review, Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote: "It's one of the best war films ever made, distinct in its look, in its approach and in the effect it has on viewers. There are movies—they are rare—that lift you out of your present circumstances and immerse you so fully in another experience that you watch in a state of jaw-dropped awe. "Dunkirk" is that kind of movie." The film received many accolades, including Nolan's first Oscar nomination for Best Director.