Video: How Simon Stone’s Theater Work Shaped His Approach to THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10

When Simon Stone spoke to Netflix about his next film, he knew exactly what he wanted to make. "I think people at Netflix found it rather unexpected that I was suddenly really excited to do a thriller," the The Woman in Cabin 10 director and co-writer told BroadwayWorld in an interview ahead of the film's release.

Though known for his theater work, Stone was interested in getting behind the camera for The Woman in Cabin 10, eager to utilize cinematic and narrative techniques spearheaded by luminaries like Alfred Hitchcock. "I had never worked in a genre space in the film world. I'd certainly referenced genre work on stage in my opera or theater productions, but I'd never... been part of the Hollywood machine, working in a genre and a style that comes with expectations." 

He was particularly hooked by the premise: a journalist, played by Keira Knightley, who witnesses a passenger being thrown overboard a yacht late at night. Though she (and we, the viewers) are certain of what she saw, further trouble arises when she is later told the event didn't happen at all, leaving her to solve this mystery and prove that what she saw was real. He was also eager to bring an evolution to this character that we have seen so many times before. 

"You see [that premise] in a significant percentage of Hitchcock's films, which is 'an everyday human being gets caught up in the world scenario of their lives.' And that person is always a man...There are no women who were the voice of integrity and truth. So I was like, 'I want to make that movie with a woman at its core.' And this is the perfect vehicle for that.'"

At this point in his career, Stone's creative output mostly exists behind the scenes as a writer and director for the stage and screen. However, his background as a film actor was the catalyst that led him to the acclaimed theater work, which includes the currently running production of The Lady from the Sea at the London Theatre Company. That experience allowed him the opportunity to hone his craft as a storyteller, which he takes with him on film sets. 

"I used the money I was making as a film and television actor to fund my work in the theater as a director. And the reason I did theater rather than film is because you can get an audience from what you're doing immediately... I think I've got a little bit of a better gauge of whether jokes will land, whether things will be shocking, moving, because I'm sharing stuff with audiences several times a year. And that's really fun."

Check out our full conversation with Simon Stone now. The Woman in Cabin 10, starring Keira Knightley, Guy Pearce, and Olivier Award-nominee Hannah Waddingham, is now streaming on Netflix. The screenplay by Joe Shrapnel, Anna Waterhouse, and Stone is based on the bestselling novel by Ruth Ware.