He’s already had quite the career as a scriptwriter, but now Dirty Pretty Things/Eastern Promises scribe Steve Knight is looking to turn director for one of his own screenplays with Hummingbird.
Shine Pictures has picked up an option on the script, which, while it might sound like a coming-of-age drama about a precocious young girl, is actually about a former special services soldier who turns criminal.
"I believe the story is timely and the characters are drawn from a city full of broken lives and sudden opportunities,” Knight tells Variety. "It is about redemption and love in a rarely seen urban underworld, and even the romance is forbidden."
Knight is looking for a cast now and is set to kick off shooting in the autumn.
It’s just the latest step for a man who got his start writing for Jasper Carrott, and has since segued into working with the likes of Stephen Frears, David Cronenberg and Michael Apted. He’s contributed to Clash sequel Wrath of the Titans and has various projects set up around Hollywood, including Larklight, Pawn Sacrifice and the as-yet-untitled (and still in limbo) Eastern Promises sequel.