Posted in: Hulu, TV | Tagged: A Thousand Blows, steven knight

Steven Knight on A Thousand Blows, "Peaky Blinders" Movie & More

Steven Knight spoke with Bleeding Cool about his Hulu series A Thousand Blows, offered an update on the "Peaky Blinders" film, and more.

To say Steven Knight is one of TV's greatest success stories would be an understatement. He accomplished so much in over three decades in the business since his start in 1990, writing for various shows, including The Ronn Lucas Show, Canned Carrott, Frankie Howerd on Campus, and Auntie's Big Bloomers. With over 50 writing credits to his name, he's done it all creatively, from writing, directing, and producing some of the biggest hits across several different genres like The Detectives, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Eastern Promises (2007), Dirty Pretty Things (2002), Locke (2013), Serenity (2019), and his two of his biggest recent hits include Netflix's Peaky Blinders and AppleTV+'s See. While promoting his historical drama A Thousand Blows, Knight spoke to Bleeding Cool about how he was pitched the series, crossing over historical figures, casting, comparing his contemporary and period work, the status of the upcoming Peaky Blinders film, and the reception to his visually-impaired driven dystopian drama that starred Jason Momoa. A Thousand Blows follows the story of Hezekiah (Malachi Kirby) and Alec (Francis Lovehall, two Jamaican best friends who arrive at the East End of Victorian London, come into the bare-knuckle boxing scene, and cross paths with Sugar Goodson (Stephen Graham) and renowned thief Mary Carr (Erin Doherty).

A Thousand Blows: Steven Knight on Creating a Fictional Crossover Between Hezekiah Moscow and Mary Carr

Bleeding Cool: What was the inspiration behind 'A Thousand Blows?'

Stephen Graham and his partner, Hannah [Walters] came to me with the story of Hezekiah Moscow and there wasn't a lot known apart from "Someone who arrived in London in the 1880s from Jamaica with an ambition to become a lion tamer but ended up becoming a bare-knuckle boxer." His story was told through accounts of real bare-knuckle fights in the East End, the things he got up to, a couple of court cases where he was involved.

I did research into it and found it an absolutely fascinating story. At the same time, I'd wanted for a long time to tell the story of the 40 Elephants and Mary Carr, which again is a true story. Mary Carr was a real person who ran a gang of all-female pickpockets, shoplifters, and con artists. Both stories are absolutely remarkable and credible, true stories, and what I thought I would do since they both happened at the same time and same place is to imagine if Mary Carr and Hezekiah Moscow had met, then what would have happened, and that's what this is.

When it came to casting, was Stephen penciled in from the get-go as Sugar Goodson, and how did Malachi and Erin get involved?

Both first choices, I mean Stephen was always going to be Sugar Goodson, and when you've got an actor of that caliber at the center of something, it gives you a great deal of energy and strength to write because you know that you've got someone who is going to be remarkable. We got our first choices for pretty much every role, which is unusual and obviously worked. Erin is amazing, Malachi is fantastic, and they both inhabited those roles in such a way that in the end, you feel this triangle of Sugar, Mary, and Hezekiah are at the heart of this.

What went into the process of assembling the creative staff for the directors and writers who got on board?

It's always a process, it's a question of who's available and then when you have actors of this caliber, you do tend to attract the best people and that's what started to happen. Disney was great in that they built 1880s London on the banks of the Thames, an abandoned brewery, so we have an actual place which is, if you ever get a chance, worth a visit. You can go there, walk down the street, down an alley, into the pub. up the stairs into Sugar's bedroom and look out over the bed and breakfast place. It's all there. That helped to attract people because it's like a playground where you can have fun.

Do you feel more at home with period pieces such as 'A Thousand Blows' and 'Peaky Blinders' than with something more contemporary?

I like to do contemporary stuff, which I'm doing at the moment. I try not to restrict myself to contemporary because it's one slice of time. Whereas if you're looking for your stories across 100, 200, 300 years, then you've got the luxury of finding some incredible stories like these ones.

Jumping on the 'Peaky Blinders,' how's the film coming along?

It's amazing, it's shot. We wrapped on December 13th. I've seen assemblies and rushes, obviously, and it's looking phenomenally good. I'm seeing the first cut at the end of this month. We've assembled the best British cast that is possible to assemble all in one place.

What was your greatest takeaway from your experience in creating the dystopian world of 'See' and what you're able to accomplish from a narrative and production standpoint?

'See' was an incredible experience and working with fantastic actors. I love world creation and creating that world. Following that concept through to its logical conclusion, intellectually, was a real challenge, and I loved it. I still meet lots of people who tell me that it's their favorite thing that I've done, which is great.

A Thousand Blows, which also stars James Nelson-Joyce, is available on Hulu. The Immortal Man, which continues the story of Peaky Blinders, stars Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, Graham, Sophie Rundle, Ned Dennehy, Packy Lee, Ian Peck, Jay Lycurgo, and Barry Keoghan, will be released on Netflix but has no date yet. See, which also stars Sylvia Hoeks, Hera Hilmar, Christian Camargo, Archie Madekwe, and Nesta Cooper is available on AppleTV+. you can check out our interview with Kirby.

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