With Stephen Fry joining Miriam Margolyes in Lee Knight’s Oscar-nominated A Friend of Dorothy, it’s fair to say few short films can boast such star power – especially those from a filmmaker making their debut as a director. The short has given Knight a dream start to his career as a director, premiering at Raindance before going on to screen at a host of festivals, including wins at HollyShorts, IndyShorts, Odense, and Gåsebäck Film Festival. The film also screened at the Oscar-qualifying In The Palace in Bulgaria, where we first had the chance to meet the director during his sweeping festival run, so it’s a delight to chat to him here in the last of our Oscar-nominated filmmaker interviews for this awards season here on DN.
A Friend of Dorothy is a humorous and heartfelt comedy drama looking at the unexpected friendship formed between Margolyes’ titular Dorothy and newcomer Alistair Nwachukwu’s character of JJ. That friendship leads to a safe place where both these lost souls can express themselves and, more importantly, be seen as the people they truly are. Knight talks to us about fostering a similar safe space on set, working with actors of vastly different experience, collaborating with a full production team for the first time, and how his experience as an actor deeply informed his approach to directing.
I’ve experienced being on set and being on stage with directors who shouldn’t be in the business. So, for me to be on the other side of things knowing that I have licence to change that in my own way is so important to me.
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