Locke: A Thriller about a Concrete Pour

Could you imagine a gripping thriller where the thrust of the story consists of a construction manager working out the logistics of a concrete pour while driving on the freeway?…

Could you imagine a gripping thriller where the thrust of the story consists of a construction manager working out the logistics of a concrete pour while driving on the freeway? That’s the premise of Locke, a new British film written and directed by Steven Knight and starring Tom Hardy.

The entire movie is a long-form take on an everyday occurrence: someone driving while talking on the phone. But Ivan Locke is a man on his phone who has a lot at stake: the future of his marriage, the birth of his child (with another woman) and the biggest moment of his career yet– the success of a concrete pour that will form the foundation of what is to become a skyscraper.

This February downtown Los Angeles began a massive concrete pour of its own on what is to become the U.S.’s tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi, the new Wilshire Grand Hotel. Nicknamed the “grand pour,” the process lasted a full 20 hours and involved a small army of 200 trucks that unloaded 84 million pounds of concrete within that short window. While not as cinematic as Locke, this timelapse video (below) offers a look into the complicated and intricate world of creating building foundations.

To hear more about the creation of Locke, make sure you check out this interview with Steven Knight on KCRW’s The Business.

Record Breaking Concrete Pour: 24 Hour Timelapse from David Leonard on Vimeo.

Watch Locke trailer here.