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Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh Books

Writer

Mike Leigh is a renowned British screenwriter and director, born on February 20, 1943 in London. His works are known for their profound social insight and unique narrative style, having received multiple BAFTA and Academy Award nominations.

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Related Quotes

“I'm old enough to have friends and contemporaries who have long since retired, and that's their prerogative - enough is enough; it doesn't mean a thing to me. But I haven't got any money, so, you know, I just keep on working.”

Knows Mean Long Enough Havens Retired Prerogative Enough Is Enough

Author:Mike Leigh

“But actually I make films that I think are extremely sophisticated and cinematic.”

Thinking Film Sophisticated Cinematic

Author:Mike Leigh

“But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you’re not snooping into somebody else’s lives?”

Ifs Should Film Snooping

Author:Mike Leigh

“Given the events of even the 19th century, Zionism was inevitable. Given the events of the 20th century, Israel was inevitable.”

Given Century Events Israel Inevitable 20th Century 19th Century Zionism

Author:Mike Leigh

“I feel very much ideologically, politically if you like, and emotionally part of the European cinema.”

Ifs Feels Cinema

Author:Mike Leigh

“I think Michael Caine is a perfectly good actor but it's obvious he's not going to be in one of my films.”

Thinking Film Actors Obvious Good Actors Perfectly Good

Author:Mike Leigh

“I try and create for the audience something that relates to real-life experience.”

Trying Real Audience Real Life Relate Life Experience Real Life Experiences

Author:Mike Leigh

“I'm developing the stuff all the time. There's a film in my head. I'm imagining a film.”

Film Stuff Developing

Author:Mike Leigh

“I've walked out of films. But for every film I've ever walked out of, I've probably walked out of 500 plays.”

Author:Mike Leigh

“It's an unhealthy habit to say that life is what you make of it, and if you want to be happy, then you can be happy. That's just rubbish, basically.”

Ifs Want Life Is Habit Unhealthy Rubbish Want To Be Happy

Author:Mike Leigh

“My work is about life as you and I experience it. You're either lucky or you're not lucky; either your relationship works or it doesn't.”

Lucky Our Relationship Wonderful Experience

Author:Mike Leigh

“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.”

Want Mean Care Choices Process Down And What You Want Core Artistic Making Choices Artistic Process

Author:Mike Leigh

“I think it’s important that nobody forgets that although Hollywood commercially dominates the world cinema, in fact what comes out of the filmmaking here is only a tiny slice out of the massive amount of operation that goes on around the world.”

Thinking World Important Facts Forget Goes On Amount Hollywood Tiny Around The World Operations Cinema Massive Filmmaking

Author:Mike Leigh

“I've long since stopped worrying about how I'm portrayed in the press because ultimately it's not that important. Everyone who knows me knows I do what I do with the greatest integrity.”

Knows Long Important Worry Integrity Presses Know Me

Author:Mike Leigh

“Life is about luck and it's about circumstances and socioeconomic conditions and all the rest of it, but you know, you can also make choices. It's about spirit and generosity and all the other things, too.”

Knows Life Is Spirit Choices Conditions Circumstances Luck Generosity

Author:Mike Leigh

“My work requires acting at its most committed - it demands actors of enormous resilience, but also intelligence and wit. It doesn't work for narcissistic or selfish actors.”

Actors Acting Demand Committed Resilience Selfish Wit Enormous Narcissistic

Author:Mike Leigh

“The whole thing about making films in an organic film on location is that it's not all about characters, relationships and themes, it's also about place and the poetry of place. It's about the spirit of what you find, the accidents of what you stumble across.”

Whole Character Film Spirit Accidents Theme Location

Author:Mike Leigh

“There are plenty of bad actors and there are plenty of bad directors. There are actors who will always be bad and there are good actors who you cry for because they're being badly directed or the material isn't good enough.”

Enough Actors Cry Materials Directors Plenty Good Enough Good Actors

Author:Mike Leigh

“You will find hardly any improvising on camera anywhere in my films. It's very structured, but it's all worked out from elaborate improvisations over a long period, as you know.”

Knows Long Film Periods Cameras Improvisation Improvising

Author:Mike Leigh

“I really think people are greatly stimulated and enriched by experiencing in film just as we can from novels and other art, experiencing things that resonate with what our lives are about. I think people really want to know... want to share, want to have the stimulus to think and care about the way they live their lives, the way they relate to other people, their aspirations, their hopes, et cetera.”

People Thinking Knows Way Want Art Care Film Novel Our Lives Share Relate Aspiration Stimulus Experiencing Things

Author:Mike Leigh

“Films are made all over the world all the time and only a thin slice of that product is Hollywood.”

World Made Film Products Hollywood

Author:Mike Leigh

“I take no notice of the trends. It has never concerned me at all. My job is to deal with what I want to deal with and reach an audience by doing so.”

Want Jobs Deals Audience Concerned Trends

Author:Mike Leigh

“I know, that trends and all of those things and formulae that calculate what audiences want to see and what audiences don't want to see and various other demographic demarcations are the eccentric and ludicrous prerogative of Hollywood studios. But out there in the real world - by which I mean the rest of the world where we make truthful organic films, independent films unimpeded by interference - it's not about all those sort of calculating what is commercial. It's about wanting to say things and saying them in a way that will get through to people.”

“I grew up looking at... going to the movies a lot, as much as they'd let you. I grew up in Manchester in the north of England in the '40s and '50s. I saw a lot of movies. They were all Hollywood and British movies. I didn't see a film that wasn't in English until I was 17 when I went to London to be a student.”

Film Saws Students Grew Grew Up Hollywood England British London Manchester

Author:Mike Leigh

“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.”

People Ifs Thinking Real Character Film Young Used Actors Cinema

Author:Mike Leigh

“If a film or any piece of work doesn't entertain, it fails - and that is using the word entertain literally, meaning it holds you there and you become absorbed by it so that you don't walk away and get bored and so on.”

Ifs Film Walks Pieces Failing Bored

Author:Mike Leigh

“There have always been and there always will be the peripheral sideline activities which are a form of entertainment, which is to say you pay a couple of cents and you see something freakish. That is what reality TV is.”

Reality Form Pay Tvs Couple Activity Entertainment Cents Reality Tv Sidelines

Author:Mike Leigh

“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.”

People Knows Matter Character Stories Film Interesting Judging Fascinated Acceptable Judging People

Author:Mike Leigh

“For me the journey of making a film is a journey of discovery as to what that film is. I mean what I do is what other artists do, painters, novelists, people that make music, poets, sculptors, you name it. It's about starting out and working with the material and discovering through making, working with the material the artifact.”

People Mean Film Artist Names Journey Poet Materials Discovery Starting Painter Novelists Discovering Sculptors Starting Out Artifacts

Author:Mike Leigh

“I can't really see how anybody could be particularly optimistic about the future in general because we are destroying the planet.”

I Can Planets Optimistic Destroying

Author:Mike Leigh

“I have to get out of bed every day to make something happen.”

Happens Bed Things Happen

Author:Mike Leigh

“In the first place, I'm pretty thorough about whom I choose. I instinctively look for the kind of actor who is going to be trusting. There are all kinds of insecure people out there called actors.”

People Firsts Looks Kind Actors All Kinds Insecure Thorough Insecure People

Author:Mike Leigh

“Some deeply untrusting actors - the kind that need to know exactly what's what and are completely insecure - might be quite good within the parameters of a certain sort of acting.”

Knows Needs Kind Might Certain Actors Acting Insecure Parameters

Author:Mike Leigh

“My job apart from anything else is to build an ensemble composed of actors who all come from a secure place so that they can all work together to make the film.”

Together Jobs Film Actors Secure Working Together Ensemble

Author:Mike Leigh

“The reason my films work is because every actor on set is very secure. They're able to fly.”

Reason Able Film Actors Secure

Author:Mike Leigh

“Very occasionally I hire an actor and get it wrong. The actor just doesn't trust the process or me as fully as I thought they would. In this case, you can be quite sure that if an actor is untrusting, it's got nothing to do with me or the process.”

Ifs Actors Process Cases

Author:Mike Leigh

“The notion that acting is simply about intuitively responding to situations the way you feel couldn't be farther away from how I ask actors to work.”

Way Feels Actors Asks Acting Situation Notion Responding

Author:Mike Leigh

“The kind of acting that's wholly literary or cerebral is wrong. It's useless for me to have actors so much in their heads that they can't be organic.”

Kind Actors Acting Useless Cerebral

Author:Mike Leigh

“When it comes to thinking about how a character talks, there are literary and language considerations. For actors to be able to differentiate between themselves and the characters they are playing while at the same time remain in character and spontaneous requires a sophisticated combination of skills and spirit.”

Thinking Character Able Spirit Actors Language Skills Combination Consideration Sophisticated Spontaneous Differentiate

Author:Mike Leigh

“The way an actor is trained doesn't ultimately have much bearing on my work. I'm interested in the actor as artist.”

Way Artist Actors

Author:Mike Leigh

“Some of my favorite movies are Hollywood movies. Hollywood is part of the cinematic spectrum. I nurture a healthy love-hate relationship with Hollywood.”

Hate Healthy Hollywood My Favorite Nurture Spectrum Love Hate Cinematic Hollywood Movies Love Hate Relationship Love And Hate Relationship Healthy Love

Author:Mike Leigh

“One of the reasons the whole Hollywood way of making films wouldn't work for me is because the way I operate would be anathema to anyone who wants to hold a job down in Beverly Hills.”

Way Want Reason Whole Would Be Jobs Film Hollywood Hills Beverly Hills Anathema

Author:Mike Leigh

“The main problem is that the Hollywood system has already made the film before the director shoots a single frame.”

Made Problem Film Directors Hollywood

Author:Mike Leigh

“I am very happy to be part of European and world cinema as a British filmmaker.”

World British Cinema Filmmaker Very Happy

Author:Mike Leigh

“There is a great tradition of independent filmmaking in the U.S. that I absolutely respect. There's some wonderful stuff that comes out in this country against all the odds.”

Country Stuff Wonderful Tradition Independent Filmmaking Odds Independent Filmmaking

Author:Mike Leigh

“Independent filmmaking has always been there and it's not to be forgotten.”

Independent Forgotten Filmmaking Independent Filmmaking

Author:Mike Leigh

“A lot of the reasons that I'm resistant to making films in the U.S. have nothing to do with not doing a film in Hollywood, but rather to do with what I'm committed to working on in the U.K. I feel very committed to the British film industry and infrastructure.”

Feels Reason Film Industry Hollywood Committed British Infrastructure Film Industry British Film

Author:Mike Leigh

“The problem with the British film industry is the nervousness and insecurity about - and genuflection toward - Los Angeles.”

Problem Film Industry British Insecurity Los Angeles Film Industry Nervousness British Film

Author:Mike Leigh

“The delineation between the actor and his part is a practical matter. When the camera runs, you want the actor to be the character.”

Want Matter Character Running Actors Cameras Practicals

Author:Mike Leigh

“I can't negotiate and collaborate with a character to create a distilled dramatic investigation of the raw material. I need to work with an actor. That stuff about actors who stay in character all the time is nonsense.”

Needs I Can Character Actors Stuff Materials Dramatic Nonsense Investigation Raw Materials

Author:Mike Leigh

About the Author

Born: February 20, 1943
Known for: Writer
Quotes: 74

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