Miranda Sawyer interviews Oscar winning Leeds born filmmaker Wash Westmoreland.

Working with his late-husband, Richard Glatzer, Wash co-wrote and co-directed the 2014 release Still Alice, starring Julianne Moore who went on to win an Oscar for her performance. After his partner Richard Glatzer was diagnosed with a form of motor neurone disease, his mobility became more and more limited. He celebrated the 2015 Oscar win in hospital with Westmoreland who asked his partner what film he wanted to do next, and using his big toe to type a response, he spelled out the letters C-O-L-E-T-T-E. A few days later his partner passed away, and it was then that Westmoreland said he must complete the project.

Wash first wrote Colette, the story of Nobel Prize-winning French novelist Sidone-Gabrielle Colette, back in 2001. The script went through 15 drafts, and three title changes before he settled on Colette which stars Keira Knightly.

Miranda chats to Wash about working with Keira Knightly on Collette, queer identity in film from early works The Fluffer and Gay Republicans, and Quinceanera, which ended up winning both the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Show less