Salman Rushdie premieres Sundance documentary on his recovery after 2022 attack

Описание: (26 Jan 2026)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Park City, Utah - 25 January 2025
1. Pull out Salman Rushdie poses for photos
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Salman Rushdie, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, authors:
Rachel Eliza Griffiths: "There was a moment once we were back home and Salman was more like Salman that, you know, I asked him, are you ready to look at the footage? And he said he was. And so, we set up a projector and the material and we kind of just spent time together going through different clips and moments and reliving it. And I think when we came to the end of that journey, we thought this is almost bigger than us. We have to share this, we have to go out with this. And so, that's kind of where we begin to think of it as something more than just a diary between us."
Salman Rushdie: "Yeah, because I hadn't -- Eliza had not allowed me to see the footage because she thought it would be too disturbing. And actually it was right, because by the time I did watch it, I was feeling much better. And so, that gave me a way of watching it without being too upset. But once we'd seen it together, then we initially approached Jason Richman at UTA, and we talked about wanting to think about a documentary. And through Jason, we met Alex [Gibney], and the moment we met him, we thought, 'This is the guy,' you know. Because it wasn't just that we admired his work, you know, we've both seen a lot of his films. But just the way he talked about how he wanted to approach the subject, we thought yeah, that's what we want, you know. And so, then it was a very easy relationship between the three of us."
Griffiths: "Yes."
3. Wide push in Salman Rushdie poses for photos
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Salman Rushdie, author:
"I've always thought that this kind of violent, ideologically-driven behavior raises subjects which are more than just the fact that I got hurt. It raises the question of freedom and free expression, and how we live in a civilized world, and the breakdown of that civilization. So, I said to Eliza quite early on that I thought the subject was bigger than me. And it was really that spirit that made us want to offer it to the world."
5. Wide push in Alex Gibney poses for photos
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Alex Gibney, director:
"I think he's worked through it, to be honest with you. And I think writing the book was part of him working through it. You know, I think, you know, first of all, he had to physically survive it. He had to recuperate physically. And then, I think mentally and spiritually, he has to work through it and his way of working through as a writer was to write 'Knife.'"
7. Medium Alex Gibney poses for photos
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Alex Gibney, director:
"Sometimes you pick them, sometimes they pick you. In this case, this one picked me. I mean, Salman and Eliza reached out to me. The very thought of doing something with Salman, and also with this footage that Eliza had taken, I couldn't turn it down. So, that's really what led to this one."
9. Medium (L-R) Alex Gibney, Salman Rushdie, Rachel Eliza Griffiths pose for photos
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Alex Gibney, director:
"I think the important thing is to tell a story. That's what I would say. And a story has conflict, a story has drama. A story also has a point of view. But unless the characters are living and breathing as characters, even in a documentary, it's not going to be interesting as a film, in my view. So, that's how you do it. You just dig in. And you start looking for moments of truth, and string them together in a narratively compelling way."
11. Wide Sundance Film Festival decoration
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