Neil Maskell on his cryptic thriller ‘Klokkenluider’ and playing Churchill again in ‘Peaky Blinders’

nme.com:

Klokkenluider hits cinemas today (September 1), marking his first film as writer-director after an acclaimed career on-screen.Set in the quiet countryside of East Flanders, Belgium, Klokkenluider tells the story of British married couple Ewan (Amit Shah) and Silke (Sura Dohnke).

Ewan, who works in the Home Office, stumbled upon a dangerous secret while going about his duties – and has fled abroad to a remote house with his wife because he believes the recently acquired knowledge has put their lives at risk.

For extra security, he and Silke hire two bumbling heavies, Glyn (Roger Evans) and another Ewan (Tom Burke). Together, they wait for an investigative reporter (played by Jenna Coleman) to turn up so they can divulge the secret to the world.Maskell, who is best-known for playing tough guy roles in gritty homegrown classics such as Kill List, told NME he was inspired by real-world whistleblower Edward Snowden and the Oscar-winning 2014 documentary about his disclosures on the USA’s National Security Agency.“Snowden and the Citizenfour documentary was a big one for me,” he said. “And what’s happened to [journalist] Carole Cadwalladr [who helped to break the Facebook Cambridge Analytics data scandal and has since lost a resulting libel case against prominent Brexit backer Aaron Banks].