Steven Knight LOCKEs It Up

Steven Knight, San Francisco, CA 4/9/2014

Steven Knight has written two of my favorite films, EASTERN PROMISES and DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, the latter featuring Oscar(tm)-nominee (and the guy who shoulda won, Chiwetel Ejiofor in one of his early roles). Naturally I was delighted to be able to talk with a man who created such complex, surprising, and challenging stories, particularly because LOCKE, which he also directed, is no less involving and suspenseful. The difference is that LOCKE takes place entirely in a BMW on a night drive from Birmingham to London as the driver of that car, the eponymous Locke, deals via phone calls, with his life as he knows it falling apart because he has decided to do the honorable thing to make up for a mistake he made. And to do it at the worst possible moment.

When I spoke with Knight on April 9, 2014, it was hard not to get philosophical about the film’s subtext, as well as impossible to NOT ask the obvious questions, such as finding the right car in which Locke would spend the pivotal hour-and-a-half or so of his life, and the specific accent Hardy assumed for the role.  Bluff, jovial, and wonderfully loquacious, Knight was a perfectly delightful conversational partner, even humoring my penchant for reading way too much into details. 

Click here to listen to the interview (14:13) LOCKE — Steven Knight Interview.