Filmmaker Steven Knight talks ‘Locke’

Writer/director Steven Knight recently spoke with “Breakthrough Entertainment” about his new drama “Locke.”

In “Locke,” which opens Friday, May 2, Tom Hardy plays a successful construction manager whose life is drastically changed by a series of phone calls while he drives.

Listen to “Breakthrough Entertainment’s” full interview with Knight by clicking HERE. The following is an excerpt from the interview in which the writer/director discusses his motivations behind the movie.

I think that film has traditionally chosen for its topics things that are conventionally dramatic; things that are going to make the papers – like murder, espionage and drug deals. In most people’s lives, the drama is more domestic – but it is no less important. In this story, something happens that, for the people involved, is the end the world. It is the end of the marriage. It is the end of a whole way of life for someone.

As we all live our day-to-day lives, we have these dramas that are not considered to be worthy of going on the screen but my theory was that when people sit down in the theater … and look at the screen, if they see someone that they recognize – if they are looking in the mirror, facing a situation that they are familiar with – I think that can have a very profound effect on them.

I chose someone like Ivan Locke because he is the most ordinary man in the world. His job is very ordinary. He is dealing with concrete, which is considered to be very boring. But I think what the film sort of suggests is that every life is a movie. Everybody is the hero of their film. Ivan behaves like a hero because he chooses to and because he decides to do the right thing in a very ordinary domestic situation.” – Steven Knight

Joseph J. Airdo

Joseph J. Airdo is a film critic, producer and on-air personality for Breakthrough Entertainment, a talk radio show airing 10-11 a.m. Saturdays on KPHX 1480 AM and BreakRadioShow.com that shines a spotlight on the practical perspectives of the topics and themes explored in movies. He has a pet duck named Frozen who is as opinionated about movies as he is. E-mail him at [email protected].

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