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Kermode & Mayo’s Take

Now and Ben: Steven Knight on ‘Maria’, his screenwriting secrets, the Peaky Blinders movie & more

Kermode & Mayo’s Take

Sony Music

Tv & Film, Film Reviews, Tv Reviews, Film Interviews

4.42.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this latest bonus nugget of ‘Now and Ben’ goodness, our sometime super sub Ben Bailey Smith chats to legendary film & TV writer Stephen Knight. He’s penned some of the most exciting scripts to hit our screens over the last three decades, from ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ and ‘Locke’ to ‘SAS Rogue Heroes’ and, of course, ‘Peaky Blinders’. Most recently he’s written ‘Maria’—a biopic of opera singer Maria Callas in her last days as she tries to rediscover her voice in time for her swan song. Following 2021’s ‘Spencer’, it’s Knight’s second collaboration with director Pablo Larraín. Ben sits down with Steven for an in-depth chat about the exceptional career that’s seen him become one of Britain’s most prolific and best-known TV & film writers. They talk humble beginnings in British TV comedy with Jasper Carrott, and his journey from the backstreets of Birmingham and the small screen to the bright lights of Hollywood. Ben even gets a cheeky bit of gossip about the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie… Listen out for more of Ben’s conversations with cinema’s most exciting creative talents dropping into the feed every ‘Now and Ben’… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Don't miss The Brutalist.

0:03.0

What do you think?

0:04.0

An electrifying cinematic experience.

0:07.0

It's magnificent.

0:10.0

Starring Adrian Brody, Felicity Jones, and Guy Pearce.

0:14.0

Fate brought us together.

0:16.0

And now, the winner of three Golden Globes, including Best Picture, Drama and Best Actor.

0:22.5

Welcome to America.

0:25.2

The Brutalist in cinema's January 24th.

0:28.0

Book tickets now, rated 18.

0:29.8

I am joined, excitingly, by someone who's kind of become a bit of a behemoth in writing terms in this country and

0:42.3

internationally and a bit of a hero of mine is Mr. Stephen Knight. Stephen, how you doing?

0:49.0

I'm very good, thank you. It's genuinely great to meet you. We were just talking off air there about humble, humble beginnings.

0:57.1

And I was remembering being a kid watching commercial breakdown and, oh, cat and carrot.

1:05.7

Yeah.

1:07.3

And was it the David Briggs and Jasper Carhart?

1:10.7

The detectives.

1:11.6

I love the detectives.

1:12.6

I wish to bring you back.

1:13.6

And I don't know if anybody really, like, I'm sure some people do, like the completeist, Stephen

1:20.1

Knight completists like me.

1:21.6

No.

...

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