Movies - TV
How Steven Knight Used A Peaky Blinders Setting To Mirror Tommy's Rise
By BEN F. SILVERIO
Creator Steven Knight and the rest of the "Peaky Blinders" team aspired to have their now-completed series stand among the classics of the medium, partly by focusing so intensely on the psychology of damaged figures like Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby. They reflect Shelby's arc and internal conflict in some cleverly effective ways.
In a 2017 interview, Knight addressed how he used the Shelby estate to communicate subtle ideas about the crime lord's mental state. "What I wanted to do was reflect on the idea that those big stately homes, [...] they were usually built by pretty much criminals who had done pretty bad things in order to get their knighthoods and their land from the king ... They're actually built on blood," Knight said.
He continues, "Tommy does exactly that. [...] but just as with the existing aristocracy, that symmetry and order [...] in the house and the architecture, even then was never mirrored by any sort of balance and symmetry within aristocratic families, famous as they were. The chaos is... you never felt Tommy was at peace in that house."