Back in 2020, during a Peaky Blinders watchalong stream, creator Steven Knight revealed that Jason Statham was his initial top choice to portray Thomas Shelby – not Cillian Murphy.
“I met them both in LA to talk about the role and opted for Jason,” he told Esquire, who hosted the event.
“One of the reasons was because physically, in the room, Jason is Jason. Cillian, when you meet him, isn’t Tommy, obviously. But I was stupid enough not to understand that.”
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As it so happens, Knight’s last-minute decision to correctly go with the future Academy Award winner of Oppenheimer fame came down to some simple clarification via text message. One that instantly changed his mind.
“He sent me a text saying, ‘Remember, I’m an actor.’ Which is absolutely the thing, because he can transform himself. If you meet him in the street he is a totally different human being.”
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I think we can all agree that a bullet was collectively dodged. Not to bag on old mate Statham, or anything… like we’ve partially done so while investigating why the man is such a don despite the overall quality of his film output.
The Peaky Blinders movie (officially titled The Immortal Man) has officially wrapped principal photography with an expected release date window of late 2025/early 2026.
Not only will this all-star affair re-welcome Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, Sophie Rundle as Ada Thorne (nee Shelby), and Stephen Graham as Hayden Stagg, but also welcome the likes of Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, and Karry Keoghan.
