Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh OBEis an English writer and director of film and theatre. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Artbefore honing his directing skills at East 15 Acting School and further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid-1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s his career moved between theatre work and making films for BBC Television, many of which were characterised by...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionDirector
Date of Birth20 February 1943
essence important way
It's important to be true to the events, but the most important thing is to get to the essence of the experience. Not to be bogged down in an academic way by a notion of the truth. First of all, the truth is an illusive and spurious concept.
film snooping should
But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you're not snooping into somebody else's lives?
israel events given
Given the events of even the 19th century, Zionism was inevitable. Given the events of the 20th century, Israel was inevitable.
cinema feels ifs
I feel very much ideologically, politically if you like, and emotionally part of the European cinema.
character judging-people interesting
I make films because I am endlessly fascinated by people. I'm fascinated immediately to know about the lives that are going on around me. That is what drives me. And that is because everybody matters, everybody is there to be cared about, everybody is interesting and everybody is the potential central character in a story. Judging people is not acceptable.
integrity real needs
Film-makers should remain true to their principles and never compromise, there is a real revival in the British film industry but there is a danger that we will become colonial servants of Hollywood. We need to maintain our own integrity.
stuff film developing
I'm developing the stuff all the time. There's a film in my head. I'm imagining a film.
thinking perfectly-good actors
I think Michael Caine is a perfectly good actor but it's obvious he's not going to be in one of my films.
real character thinking
When I was young I used to sit in the cinema thinking wouldn't it be great if you could have a film in which the characters were like real people instead of being like actors.
eye choices steel
Given the choice of Hollywood or poking steel pins in my eyes, I'd prefer steel pins,
real trying life-experience
I try and create for the audience something that relates to real-life experience.
mean choices care
I mean, artistic processes are all about making choices all the time, and the very act of making a choice is the distilling down and the getting to the core of what it is that you care about and what you want to say, really.