“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.” WholeCharacterFilmSpiritAccidentsThemeLocation 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
“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.” PeopleKnowsMatterCharacterStoriesFilmInterestingJudgingFascinatedAcceptableJudging People 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 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
“He's [Constable] a great painter as far as it goes, but I don't think he's remotely interesting. Not really. It's very pretty and it's very thorough, but it's not evocative, it's not dramatic, it doesn't do what Beethoven does - it doesn't shake you down to the roots of your soul, which Turner does. Constable is just very nice, basically. And moving on to personality, Constable was a very dull character.” ThinkingDoeSoulCharacterMovingInterestingNicePersonalityRootsPainterYour SoulDramaticDullShakesVery NiceThoroughTurner Author:Mike Leigh
“What I do is to collaborate with each actor and work one-on-one to create a character. And that is a matter of huge complexity and is a combination of a great deal of discussion and a lot of practical work. It involves a lot of consideration for the real people out there, and all kinds of sources of real people. The result is the character. But I'm not supposed to talk about what it is we do, because it's nobody's business.” PeopleKindRealCharacterAll KindsDiscussionComplexityConsideration Author:Mike Leigh
“I don't know what the character is going to be. We sit down and we create a character, and all of the characters in all of my films are made like that.” CharacterFilm Author:Mike Leigh
“I did sit in cinemas as a kid looking at English and American movies thinking, "Wouldn't it be great if the characters were like real people?" And the worst thing is films are constantly advertising themselves, drawing attention to their style of things. But actually I make films that I think are extremely sophisticated and cinematic. But you don't want the audience thinking about the bloody film. You want them to think about what's going on, and believe in it. Be flies on the wall, you know?” PeopleThinkingBelieveRealCharacterKidsFilmAttentionAudienceWorstStyleWallAdvertisingBloodySophisticatedAmerican Movie Author:Mike Leigh
