Lee Knight told David Hennessy about his award- winning short film A Friend of Dorothy which stars Miriam Margolyes and has just had its Irish premiere.
The Irish Film Institute hosted BAFTA-winning actress Miriam Margolyes recently for the Irish premiere screening of Lee Knight’s Oscar-qualified short film, A Friend of Dorothy.
The writing and directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Knight, A Friend Of Dorothy follows an elderly woman living alone whose unexpected friendship with her young neighbour, JJ (Alistair Nwachukwu), begins when his football lands in her garden.
As their connection deepens, the film explores themes of loneliness in old age, queer identity, and intergenerational friendship.
The cast also includes Stephen Fry and Oscar Lloyd.
Following the screening, host Rory O’Neill (aka Panti Bliss) reflected with Miriam on her extraordinary career on screens big and small.
Miriam Margolyes was honoured with a BAFTA for her role in Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence. She is also known for playing Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series.
While in Ireland, Margolyes also featured on Friday night’s Late Late Show.
A Friend of Dorothy had its World Premiere at the Raindance Film Festival in June where it was nominated for Best UK Short Film.
It won Best Director at the prestigious HollyShorts film festival in Los Angeles and the short has qualified to enter the race for Best Live Action Short at the 98th Academy Awards® in March next year.
It is inspired by the real-life friendship of Knight, his husband and their late neighbour Shirley Woodham.
Supported by the charity AgeUK, the filmmakers intend to extend the film’s reach beyond festivals with private screenings at schools and care homes across the UK. The charity’s CEO, Paul Farmer, says: “While Dorothy might be a fictional character in this instance, there are so many real older people out there for whom this extremely lonely existence is their stark reality – and many will not be lucky enough to meet a friend like JJ.”
Following its Raindance premiere and HollyShorts win, the short film continues its global festival run winning three Audience Awards at Oscar-qualifying Film Festivals Odense and IndyShorts, and the Gåsebäck Film Festival.
Lee Knight also won Best Directorial Debut at IndyShorts, and is nominated for the Emerging Talent Award at the New Renaissance Film Festival where the film is also nominated for Best UK Short.
Lee Knight chatted to us just before the film’s recent Irish premiere.
Are you going to be in Dublin with the film?
“I am. I can’t wait.
“I love Ireland and I love Dublin.
“I haven’t been to Dublin for many years but we are flying in for the day.
“We’re flying in for the day to see Miriam.
“It’s at the Irish Film Institute, the IFI, and it’s an exclusive screening and then they’re going to show the film and interview Miriam about her career after so it’s going to be wonderful. It’s always hilarious to see Miriam talk.
“You never know what you’re going to get.”
What inspired A Friend of Dorothy? Can you take us back to the start?
“Absolutely, it was inspired by a very dear friend and elderly neighbour of mine and my husband’s.
“We lived alongside her in London for about nine years.
“When we met her, she was lonely.
“Her husband had passed away, her kids all lived abroad and when she realised we were both actors, it unleashed this passion that she’d always had but that had laid dormant since her husband died.
“She came to our press nights.
“She took us to plays.
“We had this very, very lovely friendship and as she aged, we looked after her as well.
“There was a lot of love there and that was the inspiration so it’s a fictional story but it’s about a very unique friendship with someone who was at a different stage in her life than us.”
It’s lovely to see such an unlikely friendships on screen, I wish we could see more of it in real life. Why can’t an old person get some help from a younger person who would be getting some direction and purpose from it also?
“Absolutely, I think it has become more rare that we integrate and spend time with neighbours.
“I don’t know whether that’s social media, also COVID and that lockdown period.
“Being even more isolated was a really difficult time for many people, especially elderly people, they were even more isolated.
“I really hope this shines a light on the importance of really seeing and paying attention to those around you that might be in some way disadvantaged or in need.”
Let’s talk about Dorothy. Obviously Miriam brings the part to life so well as she is always captivating and compelling to watch. Did you always know she was your Dorothy? Was it hard to think of anyone else playing the role?
“Yeah, I wrote it for Miriam.
“I was actually doing Hamlet with Ian McKellen in Windsor the latter part of COVID and the idea came to me.
“I was missing a lot of my friends and I wrote it, and she was the first person in my mind.
“She was always in my mind and when I got the script to her somehow she said yes from the moment she got it, so it was always about her availability.
“It was always about actually when she was available, but she was on board from the minute she read it which was amazing.”
Did you already know Miriam then? Were you connected in the industry?
“We weren’t connected at all.
“It happened by coincidence.
“I was speaking to a friend of mine who is an actress and she said to me, ‘Oh, I’m going around Miriam Margolyes’ house because she’s signing some merchandise for a charity that I run’.
“And I said, ‘I’ve got a script for Miriam’.
“And she just said, ‘Would you like me to tell her about it?’
“And she did.
“And Miriam said, ‘Give him my email’.
“And she was apparently very blown away because she’s an actor and it’s all about the script, it’s all about that material and how you connect with the material so it obviously meant something to her.”
What was it like to shoot with her? I can imagine from seeing her on chat shows that she would be hilarious..
“It was the most wonderful, euphoric period of my career directing her and everything you see and everything you know about Miriam is true.
“She is so hilarious.
“She says what she thinks but she has this curiosity and empathy that is essential to an actor.
“You see it in abundance with her and that’s why I always knew that there was something so truthful that she was going to bring to this character.
“We had a blast.
“As well as her being hilarious and us bonding on set, it was very emotional and very powerful because she was having to tap into a character who is at the end of her life and it brought a lot of things to the surface for all of us.
“It was the most wonderful journey and we’re really good friends now.
“It’s meant a great deal to both of us.”
There’s a touching moment when Dorothy speaking about her son who has moved to the other side of the world leaving no room in his life for her.
I can’t help thinking it is very true of many families, especially Irish families in recent years, who have lost a member or maybe more than one to Australia and of course that is not a trip home one can make with any regularity.
I thought that was very sad but very true when she said that..
“Yeah, it is true and I think that we have to be aware.
“Everyone has to live their life.
“I always apologise to my mum for being so busy with work and she says, ‘I’m happy that you’re living your life’, but at the same time, we just need to have that awareness.
“I think that we do have to think about people who we’re leaving behind or just making that effort, especially when people get older.”
Of course the family returns after Dorothy’s passing for what they believe they are entitled to from her will but in the film JJ is the only one that we see caring about her..
“Exactly because what this story is about is it’s not about money or what you can gain.
“We all experience the craziness of people when it’s to do with what people leave in their wills.
“I know this from my own family experience and actually I’ve drawn upon that, from my own family experience because people go wild when it’s to do with what is left behind in a will and who deserves what.
“That’s kind of a theme within the film but what it’s about is all the noise surrounding the will and money.
“It comes down to two people that connect and change each other’s life in a chance meeting and that love is, I think, the most important thing.
“It overshadows everything about money and gain and who gets what.”
The grandson character, played by Oscar Lloyd, is unlikable from the start. He first takes JJ to be trying to sell something and is then suspicious about why he would spending time with his grandmother..
“It’s so funny because, as a gay man, I spoke to older women very easily.
“There’s something safe about an older woman when you’re a young in the closet gay person.
“I think a lot of people don’t understand that and that’s why the grandson is that symbol of, ‘You must want something from my grandma. There must be something you’re after. Why would a young teenager want to be with an old lady when he should be out meeting girls?’
“But actually everything he needs is in her house, everything he needs to learn about himself, everything he needs to move on and find out who he truly is is in that house and that’s what’s so special about it, that their relationship is key and a lot of people don’t understand that.”
You wrote one lead part for Miriam but the film also rests on Alistair Nwachukwu’s performance as JJ..
“He is just a delight.
“He promised he would give his heart and soul to this film and I’m forever grateful that he did exactly that.
“He really just wanted to honour what was on the pages of that script and we had a beautiful collaboration.
“He was curious and hungry to get as much as he could from me to give the best performance and every time I watch that film, I see that playing out in front of me and it makes me emotional every time, both of them together.
“And Stephen Fry, of course, I could watch him all day.
“He’s just amazing.
“And Oscar Lloyd, who plays the grandson in a way that you do dislike him but also you kind of love to dislike him, you know?”
Speaking of Stephen Fry was he another one that you sent the script to or was there some connection to him?
“There was.
“Actually I went to a charity event and I watched him speak.
“I’m a big fan of Stephen and I just remember sitting at this charity event thinking, ‘He would be absolutely perfect for the character of Dickie’.
“So the next day I had a meeting with one of my producers, James Dean- Who’s really my champion and has always believed in me from day one- Said, ‘Look, I’ve actually worked with Stephen before. I think I might be able to get an email to him’.
“And within 24- Actually I think it was less than 24 hours- Stephen replied and said, ‘This is absolutely brilliant and I would love to do it’.
“I really believe that if a script speaks to someone- However famous, however lauded they are as an actor- I think if a script speaks to them and they are available and they can do it, I really think they will for sure because it’s just all about the material.”
The film has picked up awards already and is creating quite the buzz. How does it feel to have people talking about your first short film in terms of Oscars and BAFTAs?
“It’s crazy.
“This is my writing and directorial debut and when my team started talking about Oscar and BAFTA, I would kind of laugh and just shake it off a little bit but as I’ve gone around the world and I’ve seen audiences’ responses and I’ve seen the impact that it’s had, of course it’s crazy, I keep winning these awards which is so wonderful but it really makes you realise the power of storytelling and the urgency of a story like this, so now it doesn’t seem too surreal in a way.
“It seems like, ‘Okay, this is sort of possible’.”
What is it about the story that you think speaks to people?
“I think it’s actually quite a few things.
“What I love about the responses is that people take away something completely different from another person.
“For example someone came up to me in LA. She was this young black girl and she said, ‘I’ve just seen your film with my parents. My brother’s just came out. My parents don’t really understand but watching this film, they’ve just understood from a different lens the journey of a young black guy coming out’.
“And then you’ll get someone else who’ll say, ‘I was very, very good friends with this elderly woman who was very lonely and I miss her and I wish I could have given a love letter like your film to her.
“There’s lots of different things and I think it also makes people think about themselves if they’re getting older and they think about who is around them, who is going to be there for them to, in the film, open a tin of prunes when they can’t because their arthritis won’t let them.
“I think that’s the joy of it, that it speaks to people in many different ways.”
It is the tin of prunes that Dorothy needs help with. We take these things for granted in our youth, of course..
“That’s true.
“Shirley Woodham, who this friend this film is based on, would need her prunes opening because they only had prunes with a ring pull and her arthritis couldn’t open it.
“And she used to say, ‘I need these every day to keep my bowels from going into a standstill’.
“It was essential that she had these prunes so me and my husband used to go around, open her prunes so it’s a real thing that happened.”
What is next? Obviously this is your debut but I imagine you’re already looking ahead to the next thing..
“Yeah, my real focus is turning this into a feature film.
“That’s my number one priority and what I want to be my next piece of work so I’m focusing on the script and preparation for that.”
A Friend of Dorothy continues to screen at film festivals.
For updates, follow @afodorothy_film on Instagram and X.
Also look out for an announcement about it coming to streaming platforms.
