Madhouse diaries : On set with Harry Styles (in advance !)

There is much excitement at The Madhouse because a Hollywood film about Dunkirk and Operation Dynamo is imminently about to be shot and it would appear that none other than Harry Styles is set to be one of the actors. As Sophie and Juliette are huge One Direction fans, this is hugely exciting news for them and the other stars like Leonardo Di Caprio pale into insignificance. I still can't get my head around the idea of Harry Styles with a 1940s haircut but there you go, time wil tell ! As it was a beautiful day, we decided to head to the promenade for a wander along the beach and see what's been going on in preparation for the shoot.

We headed down the Digue des Alliés to the historic jetty where the Dunkirk Evacuation took place.

Pierre and Juliette preferred running along the beach itself. This area is part of the flood prevention plan and loads of sand was brought in to create a bigger expanse of beach. They've planted beach plants in various areas to help protect the sand so it all looks pretty wild and natural.

It was a really warm, sunny day, a total contrast to our last visit when the dramatic storm clouds were rapidly closing in on us.

Looking back at the menacing colour of the sky, I really don't know how we didn't get absolutely drenched that day !

As we neared the end of the main jetty, we realised that our walk would be cut short because there was a security guard stopping people going any further. It will be off limits to the public for the next few months apparently.

If you compare the picture above with the one I took in February, you can see that they've demolished all the concrete posts along the jetty. Apparently the film producers wanted to put the jetty back to the way it was during the war, but this has been a bit of a controversial move with the locals. As someone pointed out, if they can use special effects to recreate the destruction of New York City and all its monuments by a tidal wave or earthquake, surely they could have just used technology to hide the pillars. I'm sure they'll put it back to how it was once they've finished filming.

We headed back up to the seafront which is getting ready for the summer season. They've put out the trampolines and the palm trees in oversized plant pots. It will be the beach huts that will be installed next then we'll know that summer is really on its way !

The Kursaal exhibition hall is going to be disguised as a factory for the film apparently, so there are loads of big containers supposedly filled with props.

Sophie's already planning how she's going to fit stalking Harry Styles in around her exams ! I think it'll be really interesting to see a true-to-life reenactment of the evacuation because, although we've visited the local war museum and seen numerous photos, it's impossible to really get the scale of events.