No screenplay is possible, unless you get some attachment from somebody who's going to get it made. Steven Knight More Quotes by Steven Knight More Quotes From Steven Knight I think people are drawn to characters that break the rules. I think there is something about a good person doing bad things for what they consider to be a good reason. Then the battle is on to almost prove to the audience that it's justified. How far can you go with that? How far can that character go before people won't accept it? Trying to walk to edge of that line is a challenge. Steven Knight character people thinking Just the idea that someone is married and they've got a kid, and he reports for work one morning and his boss says, "You're wife is a spy. Shoot her." In the real story, he just went back and did it, which would have been a short film. Therefore, I had to spend some time exploring what you would do. Steven Knight real morning kids [Allied] meant to be a film that's a bit different. It's roots are in the '40s and '50s, and that sort of filmmaking style. Steven Knight style different roots In terms of how [Allied] looks, it's fantastic and much better than I had hoped because it's so lush and so beautifully executed. Steven Knight fantastic term looks It was great fun to do because of the central character. With The Girl in the Spider's Web, the girl is really the central character. She's the whole thing. Steven Knight girl fun character A commission and an original are two different things, and both have their virtues and vices. A commission is a bit more collaborative, in that you outline the story that you think should be told, and then you write it. Steven Knight writing two thinking I've been writing so much. And what happens with TV is that they split [Taboo] into two blocks, so you get a director that does four and another director that does another four. You commit yourself to seven days a week, for 12 or 13 hour days for a long time. I couldn't really do that. Steven Knight block writing two I didn't direct [the Taboo episodes]. I wrote all of them. Steven Knight taboo episodes direct You know that when you suggest something on the page, it's going to be there, plus more. It's a great luxury to know that you don't have to push it. You just lay it out, and it will be there. Steven Knight luxury plus pages It's such a gift when you know who you're writing for and you know that that actor is capable of so much that you can relax a bit. Steven Knight relax actors writing Expect the unexpected, is what I'd say about Taboo. It's different. I don't think you've seen anything like it. It's getting incredible responses, so fingers crossed. Steven Knight unexpected different thinking There were three options [in Allied], which were for [Bred Pitt] to shoot [Marion Cotillard], for them to escape, or for her to pull the trigger, which is a heroic act to spare him. When I was thinking about how it would end, a long time ago, I think I tried each of them to see, but two of them did not work. Steven Knight two long thinking What I wanted to do [in Allied] was get two characters who fall in love for real, across the barricade, and then it transcends the war. Steven Knight falling-in-love real war It has to be an actress like Marion Cotillard [in Allied] because there are so many levels to it. It's set in the Second World War, when lots of people were doing things that, outside of a war, you wouldn't do, like killing and dropping bombs. She's doing things that one wouldn't approve of, but it's war. Steven Knight bombs war people It's great that the story [Allied] is set in the '40s because the '40s feel to it is completely appropriate. Steven Knight appropriate stories feels It felt [at the Allied set] like, "At last, I'm in Hollywood," even though I was in West London. It was like, "This is how a film should be made." It was beautiful. Steven Knight london lasts beautiful I visited the set [of Allied] a few times, and it was a great set to visit. A lot of it was in West London, in an old Gillette factory. You'd go into the factory through the security, and then there were a lot of camels and goats. Most sets are really dull, but this was fantastic. Steven Knight camels london west There [in Allied] was depicting London in the war, as well, and doing that in a way where you see something that you don't normally see, which is how hedonistic it was. In reality, that's what was going on. But, all of it worked. Steven Knight london war reality Whenever I see a cut of a film and something is gone, I don't notice it unless it obviously should have been kept. Steven Knight cutting should-have gone The story [of Allied ] itself is the story I wrote, and that's what's great about Bob [Zemeckis ]. You have meetings, but it's meetings for clarity, not to change what they're saying or doing. He takes what's on the page and executes it so brilliantly. Steven Knight bob pages stories