The Knight stuff
EVER-PROLIFIC WRITER STEVEN KNIGHT ON HIS MOST ENDURING CHARACTERS
WORDS JAMES DYER RUSSELL MOORCROFT
The work of creative behemoth Steven Knight.
STICK A PIN in the current TV or cinema listings and you have a better than average chance of skewering a project written by Steven Knight. The hugely prolific screenwriter has a hand in everything from operatic biopic Maria to the derring-do antics of SAS: Rogue Heroes and bare-knuckle brawler A Thousand Blows. Over the course of his career, Knight has dabbled in historical drama, postapocalyptic fantasy and everything in-between, but one thing that’s remained constant is the vividness of his characters, be they a Brummie gangster or the people’s princess. Here, Knight talks us through the crafting of his marvellous creations.
MARIA CALLAS ANGELINA JOLIE, MARIA(2024)
The most renowned opera singer of the past century, Callas was a larger-than-life figure — one Knight had zero interest in when he set about writing the screenplay for Pablo Larraín’s latest. Instead, he set about trying to delve beyond ‘La Callas’ and tease out the woman beneath the icon. “With people who really existed, I try to avoid the history books,” Knight explains.