Luke Owen chats with Steven Knight about Locke…
Out now on DVD, Flickering Myth Deputy Editor Luke Owen sat down with Steven Knight, writer and director of Locke to talk about the movie, filming in one location and working with Tom Hardy.
Read our review of Locke here.
LO: How did Locke come about?
SK: I had just finished making a conventional film and I wondered if there was something else that I could do that would test me. I had been testing camera filming cars for moving theatre backgrounds and I wondered if I could put that on the big screen. I like playing with films and that’s where Locke came from.
Where did the story come from?
Well, first of all I wanted to point that camera at the sort of person who doesn’t get it pointed at. I wanted him to be a regular man. And I knew that I wanted to play it in real time so that’s where I created the story. And, lastly, I knew I wanted the character to have everything and end with nothing so we could see that journey.
Talk to me about the character of Locke, where did the Welsh accent come from?
He is what he is. He’s the most ordinary man in the world, you know. He comes from a regular background. He works in construction. And when Tom came in to read, I mean, Tom’s not one for “doing accents”, but it was what came out of the character. And I think the Welsh accent works well as it’s quite natural.
Writing and shooting something for one location must have been hard, did you find any difficulties?
(Laughs) Yeah it was hard. The difficulty for me was knowing that I had to keep the audience into this story. So I needed, in the first six minutes, to get them dilemma. I needed to get the audience into that. Once I got them there, it was up to them if they wanted to stay. One of the best comments I’ve had from a screening was that they had forgotten that you don’t even see the other characters on screen, which I think is great.
Do you have any regrets from the script writing stage, anything you wished you’d added in or taken out?
Not really. We did five days worth of table reads with all the actors, and it was there that we made all of the changes we needed to. Everything that was going to change in the script was going to happen in those reads. And not much changed really. But by the end of the five days, we knew we had everything we needed.
Tom is great in the movie, what’s he like to work with?
He’s brilliant. And he was so committed to this project it was great. He’s… he’s interested in the art of acting, not the art of celebrity. He was great to work with.
What was the process for making the film with the other actors?
What we did was we opened up the phone line from a hotel conference room and just called in real time. So I was in a truck behind Tom and I had contact with the car and the hotel. And then I’d call action and we’d shoot in real-time and film the call. Once the call was finish we’d reset and start again. It was as close to real-time as possible.
Would you ever be tempted to shoot in one location again?
No, I don’t think I would again. But I’m only going to direct things that are shot in different ways. I’m not really interested in the big studio pictures. I’ve had commissions and offers from Hollywood etc, but I’m really interested in trying something new.
So, no superhero movies on the horizon for you then?
(Laughs) No. I mean there’s nothing wrong with them and I have liked them in the past. But they have their way of making movies that is different to mine.
And lastly, if you were in Locke’s situation, would you have gone to the hospital or gone home?
(Laughs) I don’t know. You know…. well… yeah, you know what, I don’t know (laughs).
Many thanks to Steven Knight for taking the time for this interview.
Locke is available on Blu-ray, DVD & across digital platforms from August 25th
Originally published August 20, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
