The great Oscar-winning director James Marsh (The Theory of Everything, Man on Wire, Red Riding) spoke with MovieWeb’s Greg Archer about his new film, Dance First, a character study of the iconoclastic Nobel Prize-winning writer Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot) and his wondrous, troubled life. Dance First hits theaters Aug. 9, 2024 and is on digital platforms Aug. 16.

Literary genius Samuel Beckett (played by Gabriel Byrne) lived a life of many parts: Parisian bon vivant, WWII Resistance fighter, Nobel Prize-winning playwright, philandering husband, recluse. But despite all the adulation that came his way, he was a man acutely aware of his own failings. Titled after Beckett’s famous ethos Dance first, think later, the film is a sweeping account of the life of this 20th-century icon.