Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight said the series’s film adaptation, The Immortal Man, was made for cinemas, and has discussed long-term plans for his Birmingham-based Digbeth Loc Studios.
“We want our fans to be able to watch it together rather than communicate virtually,” Knight told Screen International on the film’s set in November 2024. “Peaky has always been cinematic; we’ve always tried to have those cinematic values.”
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is presently on release in UK and US cinemas before it streams on Netflix.
“There’s certain things we could do because it was a film,” Knight continued. ”The distinctions are much more blurred [between TV and film] than they used to be but I think if you’re looking at the budget and cast of this, there is a difference. It is amazing.”
Directed by Tom Harper, The Immortal Man is set six years after the series ended and sees Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby come out of hiding when a new threat beckons. New cast includes Barry Keoghan, Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth.
The film was produced by Netflix, BBC Film, Banijay Entertainment, Caryn Mandabach Productions, and Tiger Aspect. It was shot at Knight’s own Digbeth Loc Studios in Birmingham, which opened in 2024.
“I always thought it would be possible, but it was difficult planting an industry here,” the filmmaker said of his hometown. “What I’m trying to do here is develop film and television studios, but also skills and training so that local people are going to be brought into the industry.”
Future plans
The studio is now housing production on a Peaky Blinders spin-off series, set in post-war Birmingham, but Knight is keen to broaden out from the Peaky universe.
“I don’t like that word local, I want it to be an international film studio,” the screenwriter said. “It would be great if we’re crewed by people who are from here, but I don’t necessarily want it to be the place where you come to just make a film or TV series about Birmingham.”
While plans for a studio in Los Angeles are on hold, Knight revealed expansions at its existing base are in the works.
“There’s lots of land with warehouses and factories [around here],” Knight explained. “It’s all buildings and structures that no other industry wants, but we do. We want big, empty spaces with no pillars and a roof that doesn’t leak.
Knight and Murphy also spoke to Screen about working with Barry Keoghan, crafting the film’s soundtrack and grappling with their respective legacies. Watch the interview below.
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