Steven Knight to Make Directing Debut on HUMMINGBIRD

Screenwriter Steven Knight (Eastern Promises) is set to make his directing debut on his script for the thriller Hummingbird.  Deadline reports that the film “follows a damaged ex-special forces soldier, who finds himself trapped in the criminal underworld, and assumes another man’s identity to exact revenge.”  The story is a good fit for Knight whose previous credits also include Stephen Frears’ Dirty Pretty Things.

While I dug Dirty Pretty Things, I think Eastern Promises had a weak script and worked more because of the direction and the performances.  However, regardless of what I think of his track record (and it’s tough to judge writers solely by their credits due to the WGA’s bizarre arbitration rules), Knight is currently one of Hollywood’s hottest screenwriters.  He’s working on the script for a remake of Le Cercle Rouge, a Robert F. Kennedy biopic, the Bobby Fischer drama Pawn Sacrifice, and Eastern Promises 2.  Filming on Hummingbird is expected to begin this fall.