Said car is being driven by Ivan Locke, played by Tom Hardy.
Were you aiming for the claustrophobia of a small theatre?
While makingHummingbird, we tested the cameras by shooting from moving vehicles.
Then we would view the test footage in a cinema, and I found it really good.
So I wanted to put an actor in there, in that moving image.
Then wed take a break, and do it again.
That was the way of trying to capture the moment.
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How did Tom Hardys performance evolve then with subsequent takes?
Clint Eastwood would print the first take and use that.
You had him reading cue cards, so presumably the first few goes were a lot rawer?
Which bits did you choose to cut in?
More from the early stuff or the later stuff?
Hes a very, very good reader Tom Hardy.
He can read something hes not read before, and do it well.
But wed been through the script for five days with all the actors around a table.
And then the script was on autocues in front of him.
My main direction was to always go for less emotion.
For Ivan Locke not to follow the emotions of the people hes speaking to on the phone.
The best take was usually at three oclock in the morning, when everyone was exhausted.
Thats when we really captured Ivan Locke.
And yet I hate them!
Or maybe just do another remake ofInsomnia!
Its hard, working at nights.
A motorway at night is a different thing to a motorway during the day.
Im guessing in good and bad ways.
You get the random nutter on the motorway at night.
But I gather you had a police escort when you were shooting?
And they jumped into the film.
Theyd get bored, put on their lights, and shoot past!
It was great, because it worked.
We used it a few times.
But normally when youre shooting you do get people hooting their horns and interrupting.
But we got very little of that.
At the time of night we were shooting, the traffic was quite thin anyway.
I said to all of the actors, no matter what happened, carry on.
We did hit traffic jams.
But because of the way we were shooting, we knew that we always had options.
We had three cameras rolling at all times, so we had lots of coverage.
Was this more fun to edit thanHummingbird, then?
You dont have the continuity issues.
you’re free to take something from any place on any night and itll work.
Youre not worrying about anything other than performance.
I read an interview with someone once, whose job it was to monitor timings on traffic lights.
He called it the traffic light engineers equivalent of winning the World Cup.
I worked briefly at a building site, and its the arrival of concrete, thats the big drama.
One man is in charge of it.
I spent some time with the man who built The Shard, the man who oversaw it.
That was his building as far as hes concerned.
It belonged to him.
He organised it, and when that building was finished, his feeling of satisfaction was incredible.
Thats what I wanted to capture, the everyday drama.
Lockecame together very quickly, I understand.
Under a year start to finish wasnt it?
I met Tom [Hardy] because he and his people wanted me to write another project.
So while I was talking about the other project, I talked about this.
That was in October.
And we were shooting in February.
It was really fast.
IM Global financedHummingbirdand this, and they were great.
They said yes on the basis of a paragraph.
My day job is writing scripts for films, and its a very good living.
When you came to makeHummingbird, you said back then youd been keen to direct.
Two films on, how does your relationship with directors change once youve helmed movies yourself?
Having directed, I now understand the brutality of it.
Its very hard work.
When you write, you have the film in your head.
I now understand how difficult it can be.
How close did you get?
Because the environment is so controlled, theres not a lot of areas within that.
So its pretty much identical to how I envisaged it, which is very unusual.
Im been so fortunate that the directors who have taken on my stuff have been so good.
What they do is different to how I would have done it.
Often its how you imagined it, but not always.
Different director, different approach.
But after a while, you think what would I do, how would I do it?
Was it the Oscar nomination that opened doors for you?
Yeah, it did help.
I didnt really realise it at the time.
Whereas Locke has seemed a smoother ride.
Im really pleased with it, and I know Jason is.
He thinks its one of the best films hes ever done.
Im really pleased hes pleased with it as well.
But when you have a complication as to what people expect, youre going to have a bumpy ride.
WithLocke, its been great.
It became much simpler.
People were relating to it very personally.
It is about an ordinary man.
And I think all of that helps.
Some projects take ten years, some have a charmed life.Lockehas had a charmed life.
Im guessing you werent keen on the titleRedemptioneither?
One crucial Hummingbird question: do you get to keep The Stathams hairpiece from the start of the film?
[Laughs] Yeah.
Therein lies a tale!
[He did not tell this tale!]
Your heritage lies partly inThe Detectivestoo.
How was working on that show?
I loved doing that.
It was such a laugh.
I was writing with someone called Mike Whitehill.
And thenThe Detectivesbecame a long running thing, which Im really proud of.
Whenever I see an old DVD of it, Im really pleased with it.
And Robert Powell was great too.
We used to have a lot of fun.
How intimidating was it writing jokes for Jesus?!
[Laughs] Yeah.
Robert Powell is very underestimated as a comic performer.
Your background stretches back to novels though.
I interviewed John Michael McDonagh earlier in the year whenCalvarywas announced.
He argued that the best stories are in novels now, but nobody seems to read them.
Would you go along with that?
I think people are still reading.
Im just not sure theyre reading books.
I think theyre reading stories.
But there are people who say television series are taking the place of the novel.
You have so much more time.
Talking ofPeaky Blinders,how close are you to getting a green light on series three?
Well, the BBC are the BBC.
I couldnt make it, sadly!
I think its brilliant though.
It was a great honour when the Blues fans did that, I was really pleased with that!
Youve been linked with other projects this year.
At one stage, you said you were writing on a script for Steven Spielberg.
Is that still the case?
Can I ask more about that?
Well, I am, but the nature of it means I cant talk about it!
Its not one of his announced projects?
And then theresWorld War Z 2?
You were linked with that.
Is there truth in that?
The first film battled taking a source with non-sequential narrative and turning it into a three act film.
Well, again, Im afraid I cant really tell you too much!
The process and the writing is underway.
I cant talk about where were taking it!
What else are you involved with?
The 100 Foot Journeycomes out over here soon.
Then were shooting a film with Bradley Cooper in London at the moment.
We will be shooting until the end of October.
Youre not directing that one?
Ive also gotPawn Sacrifice.
And then another project starts shooting in January.
But I do have to ask you what your favourite Jason Statham movie is?
[Laughs, and thinks for a bit].
Oh God!The Bank Job!
Thats the one Im thinking of!
Steven Knight, thank you very much!
Lockeis out on DVD and Blu-ray now.
