Steven Knight On His Approach To Writing ‘Maria’, Finding The Human Version Of The Facts & The “Elton John/Bernie Taupin” Relationship He Shares With Pablo Larraín

deadline.com:

Since first collaborating on 2021’s Spencer, Steven Knight and Pablo Larraín have developed what the former calls “a very Elton John/Bernie Taupin sort of relationship.” Knight, who wrote Spencer and scripted this year’s Larraín-directed Maria, recently spoke with Deadline about his approach to the story thatt reimagines American-Greek soprano Maria Callas in her final days as she reckons with her identity and life.

The movie — Knight eschews the term “biopic” — world premiered to great acclaim at the Venice Film Festival in September, led by a committed performance from Angelina Jolie as the titular opera star.

An Oscar nominee for 2004’s Dirty Pretty Things and creator of global phenomenon Peaky Blinders, Knight, as he explains in the Q&A below, relied on firsthand accounts of people who knew Callas, as well as her performances and interviews with the formidable woman who often was treated harshly during her lifetime before succumbing to a heart attack at her Paris home in 1977 at age 53.

The interview below has been condensed and edited for clarity. DEADLINE: You and Pablo worked together on Spencer; how did the idea of collaborating again on Maria come about?