“There's more to come. Series 4 [of Peaky Blinders] is coming soon. But I'm proud of making my hometown, which is considered to be completely unfashionable, slightly fashionable. People actually know where it is now.” PeopleKnowsProudSeriesFashionableHometownBlinders Author:Steven Knight
“I've spent three hours with Snoop Dogg, talking about how he loved [Peaky Blinders series]. And David Bowie loved it. The late Leonard Cohen was a fan. It struck a chord with various people that I didn't think it would.” PeopleThinkingThreeHoursTalkingFansLateSeriesVariousChordsBowieBlinders Author:Steven Knight
“Snoop [Dog] said [Peaky Blinders] reminded him of how he got involved with gang culture. It's always fantastically flattering when I see people dress like that and take on the look.” PeopleLooksSaidCultureDogInvolvedDressesGangFlatteringBlindersSnoop Dog Author:Steven Knight
“I think it creates so many more opportunities and pitfalls in that you are treading on fresh snow, so you're in a new place.” ThinkingOpportunitySnowNew PlacesPitfallsTreadingFresh Snow Author:Steven Knight
“I think certain periods of history don't get dealt with because I think historians, and it's their job, but they look back and look for patterns. They look for sequences and they look for reasons, and certain periods of history don't fit with the general pattern of 1500 to the 20th century, during which there's the creation of the United States. At this time of 1814, two nations who would eventually become close allies were at war with each other, so it doesn't quite fit.” ThinkingLooksTwoWarStatesReasonJobsCertainNationsUnitedUnited StatesCenturyCreationPeriodsFitPatternsAlliesHistorian20th CenturySequenceTwo Nations Author:Steven Knight
“There was an unbelievable amount of animosity in that war [for America Independence] which people have forgotten, which was still around 50 years later.” PeopleYearsStillsWarAmericaAmountIndependenceForgottenUnbelievableAnimosity Author:Steven Knight
“I think the East India Company represents what we would think of as a very modern approach to the world where everything was counted, every penny was counted.” ThinkingWorldCompanyModernApproachIndiaEastPennies Author:Steven Knight
“East India Company were a huge multinational that had the added impetus that they felt they were spreading Christian civilization around the world - so they were pretty free to do anything they wanted.” WorldWantedChristianFeltCompanyHugeCivilizationIndiaEastAround The WorldImpetusMultinationals Author:Steven Knight
“East India Company weren't an evil organization that went around deliberately oppressing people, but they were driven by profit, and how familiar is that now?” PeopleEvilCompanyOrganizationIndiaProfitEastDrivenFamiliar Author:Steven Knight
“The story of James Delaney is also someone who very deliberately presents himself as an individual and plays nations against each other, plays the East India against the Crown, all of those sort of overwhelming concepts that ran the world at the time.” WorldPlayStoriesIndividualNationsConceptsIndiaEastRanOverwhelmingCrowns Author:Steven Knight
“James Delaney as an individual is sort of like a grain of sand in an oyster who is irritating all of them. But for me he's a creature of the time, like the industrialists who started the Industrial Revolution who extricated themselves from their class and their background” IndividualClassRevolutionCreaturesBackgroundsSandGrainOystersIrritatingIndustrial RevolutionGrains Of Sand Author:Steven Knight
“The plan is that there would be three seasons [in Taboo], and, as with Peaky Blinders, I have had a destination in mind from the beginning, because I think it helps as a writer. The destination in mind is that James Keziah Delaney sets foot on Nootka Sound. But that's a long way off.” ThinkingWayMindLongHelpingWould BeThreeSoundPlansFeetSeasonsDestinationLong WayTabooBlinders Author:Steven Knight
“I relish the eight-hour format of a single season because it gives you time to do that.” GivingHoursSeasonsEightFormatRelish Author:Steven Knight
“I think once those friendships, if you use that as an analogy, the friendships between the audience and the character is established, then you can start to take liberties. I believe that as this unfolds people will find the time invested worthwhile.” PeopleIfsThinkingBelieveCharacterUseI BelieveLibertyAudienceWorthwhileAnalogies Author:Steven Knight
“There's something about the evolution of television where it evolved from to the things that we're now watching and loving. It evolved from film writers, film actors, and I think gradually people are easing themselves into the amount of time they have.” PeopleThinkingFilmActorsTelevisionEvolutionAmountFilm Actors Author:Steven Knight
“A creative person can suddenly realize it's not 90 minutes. They haven't got to do three acts, they haven't got to do the arc, but they can do other things. I think just as novellas turned into novels, I think that television series can begin to have that depth.” ThinkingPersonsThreeCan DoRealizingNovelCreativeMinutesHavensTelevisionSeriesDepthArcsCreative Person Author:Steven Knight
“I'm not suggesting that ours [series] is unique in that, but they can begin to have that depth, that gravity, they can spend some time, so it's a bit more like reading a good novel, if you like.” IfsReadingBitsNovelUniqueSeriesDepthGravitySuggesting Author:Steven Knight
“With any period piece I think the thing to do is forget that it's not contemporary when you're writing and to have the characters feel as much as possible like characters that you would know.” ThinkingKnowsFeelsWritingCharacterForgetPiecesPeriodsContemporaryThings To Do Author:Steven Knight
“I don't think that jealousy and love and hate and anger and all those things have changed in the past 200 years - people just express themselves differently.” PeopleThinkingYearsPastHateChangedAnd LoveLove And HateThings Have Changed Author:Steven Knight
“I wanted to take a damaged individual in a damaged society with damaged relationships between nations and take a look at how this individual survives amongst them, and that for me as a writer is the connection that you needed to get inside the skin of the main character and wonder how he's going to cope with all this.” LooksCharacterWantedIndividualNationsWonderNeededConnectionsSkinsMain Characters Author:Steven Knight
“I'm very, very excited because I'm just completing Episode 6 of Series 4 [of Peaky Blinders], which again I think is the best yet. And I'm loving it and it's not like work, it's not like a labor, I love doing it, and the boys are coming back and they're loving the scripts.” ThinkingBoysLaborSeriesScriptsExcitedWorking ItEpisodesComing BackCompletingBlinders Author:Steven Knight
“What happened was I was invited to meet Tom [Hardy] to discuss a project that he had in his mind about an adventurer who returns to England from Africa with secrets and with a history, and the original idea was set some 80 years later than it is now. But in the conversation I really took to the idea and I'd wanted for a while to set something in 1830 and 1840 in London, so it struck a chord.” YearsMindIdeasWantedSecretHappenedReturnConversationProjectsEnglandOriginalsLondonTomsInvitedChordsAdventurerHardyOriginal Ideas Author:Steven Knight
“I spoke to Tom's [Hardy] manager and said, "While we're talking about Taboo, do you mind if I also mention this film project that I've got, which is called Locke, and I need Tom to play the lead." And we spoke about both in that meeting and in the end the deal was that I would do Taboo if he did Locke and vice versa.” IfsNeedsMindSaidEndsPlayFilmDealsTalkingProjectsMeetingsVicesManagersSpokesTomsTabooVice VersaHardy Author:Steven Knight
“I wouldn't put myself in that bracket, but it's one of those things. I think what helps is that we [with Tom Hardey] don't socialize, we don't really know each other, we purely work together.” ThinkingKnowsHelpingTogetherWorking TogetherTomsBrackets Author:Steven Knight
“I think that helps because there has been no formality of friendship, the politeness of friendship, so we can just work directly on the work that's ahead of us [with Tom Hardey].” ThinkingHas BeensHelpingTomsPolitenessFormality Author:Steven Knight
“I am someone who thinks that if you've got an actor like that who wants to perform your work, then you should do it, and hopefully Tom [Hardey] likes to do the work that I do, so long may it continue.” IfsThinkingWantShouldMayLongActorsLikesHopefullyToms Author:Steven Knight
“[Taboo] has been exactly the same as working with the BBC in that creatively they do that precious thing which is to only make a comment when a comment needs to be made.” NeedsHas BeensMadeCommentTabooPrecious Things Author:Steven Knight
“You work, especially in the movie business more than in TV, but you have an environment where people feel obliged to have an input because that's what they do, and I think sometimes it can clutter things up and make things more problematic.” PeopleThinkingFeelsSometimesEnvironmentTvsObligedClutterInputMovie Business Author:Steven Knight
“With FX in particular, they've been fantastic and were really hands off. I mean, it helps that you've got Ridley Scott on your side.” MeanHelpingHandsSidesParticularFantasticYour Side Author:Steven Knight
“In other words, when you have someone [like Ridley Scott] with that authority, then you tend to be left alone. But they were good and they're really good people, and I'm a big champion of the BBC and I think that like minds find each other and I think that FX and BBC is a perfect match.” PeopleThinkingMindBigsLeftPerfectAuthorityChampionGood PeopleLeft AlonePerfect Match Author:Steven Knight
“I find the best way to make things real is to just put two characters into a space and let them talk to each other in the way that they would talk to each other, and then see what they would say. I know it sounds weird, but that leads the plot and takes you in another direction.” KnowsWayTwoRealCharacterSoundSpaceBest WayPlot Author:Steven Knight
“I'm always interested in characters who are closed down, but who open up when they choose to, rather than when they're obliged to. I think that's a very appealing thing, for an audience and just in life. I like the idea that something will say nothing, and then get straight to the point. That feels like how your heroes should be.” ThinkingFeelsShouldIdeasCharacterAudienceHeroObliged Author:Steven Knight
“I like to create a character where you believe, deep down, that they don't really care if they live or die. That's very liberating for the character because, if the character is prepared to die, then they can do anything. It's impossible to stop them.” IfsBelieveCharacterCareDiesCan DoImpossiblePreparedLiberatingDeep Down Author:Steven Knight
