“I think Michael Caine is a perfectly good actor but it's obvious he's not going to be in one of my films.” ThinkingFilmActorsObviousGood ActorsPerfectly Good 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.” ActorsActingDemandCommittedResilienceSelfishWitEnormousNarcissistic 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.” EnoughActorsCryMaterialsDirectorsPlentyGood EnoughGood Actors 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.” PeopleIfsThinkingRealCharacterFilmYoungUsedActorsCinema 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.” PeopleFirstsLooksKindActorsAll KindsInsecureThoroughInsecure 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.” KnowsNeedsKindMightCertainActorsActingInsecureParameters 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.” TogetherJobsFilmActorsSecureWorking TogetherEnsemble Author:Mike Leigh
“The reason my films work is because every actor on set is very secure. They're able to fly.” ReasonAbleFilmActorsSecure 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.” IfsActorsProcessCases 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.” WayFeelsActorsAsksActingSituationNotionResponding 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.” KindActorsActingUselessCerebral 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.” ThinkingCharacterAbleSpiritActorsLanguageSkillsCombinationConsiderationSophisticatedSpontaneousDifferentiate 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.” WayArtistActors 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.” WantMatterCharacterRunningActorsCamerasPracticals 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.” NeedsI CanCharacterActorsStuffMaterialsDramaticNonsenseInvestigationRaw Materials Author:Mike Leigh
