Mike Leigh

Started by godardian, May 12, 2003, 05:06:15 PM

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godardian

Wow, so nice to see lots of new Mike Leigh fans being created. . . .

I recently watched Naked with a friend of mine who has his Master's in Classics but did was not "grabbed" by Leigh's masterwork. I tried to explain it to him in terms of The Odyssey, but I came up short. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any good resources that tie the two works together in any interesting/convincing ways. Pubrick?

I would highly, highly recommend All or Nothing (2002) to anyone here who hasn't yet seen it. I consider it Leigh's seconde masterpiece. It's probably equal to Naked, really, though its power isn't quite as lapel-grabbingly immediate.
""Money doesn't come into it. It never has. I do what I do because it's all that I am." - Morrissey

"Lacan stressed more and more in his work the power and organizing principle of the symbolic, understood as the networks, social, cultural, and linguistic, into which a child is born. These precede the birth of a child, which is why Lacan can say that language is there from before the actual moment of birth. It is there in the social structures which are at play in the family and, of course, in the ideals, goals, and histories of the parents. This world of language can hardly be grasped by the newborn and yet it will act on the whole of the child's existence."

Stay informed on protecting your freedom of speech and civil rights.

Bethie

I rented Secrets & Lies last week but never found the time to watch it. Thought you'd all like to know
who likes movies anyway

The Red Vine

Quote from: Garam on March 16, 2006, 03:44:14 PM
I just watched my first Leigh film; Meantime.

move on to "Naked". I saw it last week and was blown away.
"No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.">

hedwig

Quote from: RedVines on March 16, 2006, 04:37:49 PM
I saw it last week and it was blown away.

You should've put a paperweight on it then.

The Red Vine

"No, really. Just do it. You have some kind of weird reasons that are okay.">

hedwig

the Will Self interview on the second disc of the Naked criterion is ridiculous.. i've never read any of the guy's books but now i'll try to avoid them by any means necessary. this guy seems to think his opinions on Leigh's films are more valuable than Leigh's. Self goes on and on (and on) about what he thinks of Leigh's movies, then waits for him to agree/elaborate. it's too bad, because Leigh is pretty honest about his work and intentions, but everytime he says something insightful, Self jumps in with some inane bullshit like, "i think as an artist -- and i've encountered this IN MY OWN WORK SEE IM AN ARTIST TOO -- i believe that you are, in a way, a Becketian sort of spiritual blah blah blah oh my god look how smart i am. btw sir, I've seen Secrets and Lies TWO WHOLE TIMES."

i haven't heard the main commentary yet. the best thing on the extras disc is the short film starring thewlis, "The Short and Curlies", about a guy whose only means of communication is humour. it's funny and sweet, the perfect way to wash out the puke taste from the Will Self interview.

soixante

I read somewhere that Leigh takes public transportation, not only to save money but to stay in touch with everyday reality.  Could you imagine Ron Howard, Inc., doing that?  I have quite an imagination, and I can't Imagine it.

Music is your best entertainment value.

Pubrick

Quote from: soixante on June 29, 2006, 02:52:11 AM
Ron Howard, Inc.
not the whole company, no. not all in one bus at the same time anyway. it might be better to car pool in that situation.
under the paving stones.

soixante

I recall, at least back in the mid-90's, that Ron Howard wore baseball caps with the logo of his most recent film stitched thereon whenever he made talk-show appearances.  Could you imagine Mike Leigh -- or any other auteur of note -- doing something equally crass?

Years ago, right after Night Shift was unleashed upon the public, I was at a Burger King in L.A., and none other than Sir Ron Howard was chomping down on a Whopper at an adjacent table.  I could draw an analogy between Howard's taste in food and his taste in film projects, but why belabor the obvious?
Music is your best entertainment value.

Redlum

\"I wanted to make a film for kids, something that would present them with a kind of elementary morality. Because nowadays nobody bothers to tell those kids, \'Hey, this is right and this is wrong\'.\"
  -  George Lucas

Garam

Since that post up there, I've seen both Life is Sweet and All or Nothing, much preferring the former. They did both disappoint me a bit, though. Life is Sweet felt loads like MeanTime with a couple of little differeneces, and All or Nothing seemed like a parody of the social realism genre. It didn't add anything new to it except higher production values.

Quotethe Will Self interview on the second disc of the Naked criterion is ridiculous.. i've never read any of the guy's books but now i'll try to avoid them by any means necessary. this guy seems to think his opinions on Leigh's films are more valuable than Leigh's. Self goes on and on (and on) about what he thinks of Leigh's movies, then waits for him to agree/elaborate. it's too bad, because Leigh is pretty honest about his work and intentions, but everytime he says something insightful, Self jumps in with some inane bullshit like, "i think as an artist -- and i've encountered this IN MY OWN WORK SEE IM AN ARTIST TOO -- i believe that you are, in a way, a Becketian sort of spiritual blah blah blah oh my god look how smart i am. btw sir, I've seen Secrets and Lies TWO WHOLE TIMES."

Will Self's an odd one. Sometimes he can come across as the most irritatingly pompous man in the world, and then he goes and sends up his own image by appearing in ridiculously silly sketches with for two series on Shooting Stars. I haven't seen the interview, but I'd suggest you don't write him off just because of that. And his books are pretty funny, even if they are completely derivative of Martin Amis.


Anyway, the main reason I posted in this thread was to tell you that I have a torrent available of a half-hour 1975 TV drama that Leigh made. I got it from a UK TV torrent site I frequent, and it's completely legal. If anyone wants this, PM me your e-mail address and I'll send you the torrent. There are always loads of seeds, so it'll download in no time at all. It's 400mb in size, and it's called The Permissive Society.


I really want to buy that Nuts in May DVD. The lead actor, Roger Sloman, was always a scene stealer in UK sitcoms like The Young Ones/Bottom etc

MacGuffin

Leigh rings in the New 'Years'
Director stages Off Broadway return
Source: Variety

A legit hit in London that spawned a successful U.K. tour seems like a natural candidate for a stint on Broadway, especially when the production is written by an Oscar-nommed filmmaker.

But when Mike Leigh's latest play, "Two Thousand Years," makes its American preem this month, the show will play a small house Off Broadway, just as Leigh's four prior New York outings did.

"Years," which begins previews Jan. 15 at the 199-seat Acorn Theater, is the latest product of the mutually beneficial relationship between Leigh and Gotham troupe the New Group -- a longstanding link that has yielded hits for the New Group and a solid presence for Leigh on the New York theater scene.

"Two Thousand Years" is the fifth Leigh play produced by the New Group and helmed by Scott Elliott, the company's a.d. Centering on a secular Jewish family in suburban London, the show, which played a popular five-month run at the National beginning in September 2005, is also the first new play from Leigh since "It's a Great Big Shame!" in 1993.

The Brit writer-director has cultivated a rep for plays and pics that grow out of unusually long, collaborative rehearsal processes with casts of actors, during which character exploration and improvisation help determine the events of the story.

His CV includes plays such as "Abigail's Party" (1977), "Ecstasy" (1979) and "Goose-Pimples" (1981), although it's his film work -- "Vera Drake" (2004), "Topsy-Turvy" (1999), "Secrets & Lies" (1996) and "Naked" (1993), among others -- that is best known Stateside.

The relationship between the New Group and Leigh stretches back to 1995, when the troupe presented "Ecstasy" as its inaugural production. Elliott had been introduced by a friend to Leigh's BBC teleplays from the late 1970s and early 1980s, and contacted the writer's rep about producing and directing his plays in Gotham.

"Ecstasy," about the blue-collar lives of a group of friends in London, proved a major critical and B.O. success for the fledgling troupe.

"Mike Leigh definitely has a following. It began the New Group's following," says Elliott.

Elliott has gone on to direct New Group productions of Leigh's plays "Goose-Pimples," "Smelling a Rat" and "Abigail's Party." The 2005 staging of "Party," which starred Jennifer Jason Leigh, hit $1.3 million at the box office -- a hefty sum for a nonprofit Off Broadway company with a $2.2 million operating budget and an average production cost of about $315,000.

Although New Group has found success on Broadway as the original co-producer (with the Vineyard Theater) of "Avenue Q," the troupe's productions of Leigh plays strike a fiscal balance in smaller venues. "He's definitely an acquired taste," Elliott says of Leigh and his work.

From the New Group, Leigh gets a regular showcase for his plays in Gotham. "It's very good news that this director has brought my stage works to a New York audience that otherwise would only know my films," he says.

Along with the string of Leigh plays that began with "Ecstasy," the New Group has become notable for attracting respected stars (Wallace Shawn, Cynthia Nixon, Lili Taylor, Kristen Johnston, Chloe Sevigny) to a wide range of both revivals ("Aunt Dan and Lemon") and new plays ("This is Our Youth"). A 2004 production of David Rabe's "Hurlyburly" went on to a commercial run Off Broadway, and, most recently, Ethan Hawke's directorial debut, "Things We Want," ended an extended run last month.

As for Leigh, after focusing for a decade on movies, he was brought back to legit when Nicholas Hytner, a.d. of London's National Theater, asked him to write a play.

The result, created over an 18-week rehearsal period, was "Two Thousand Years," which follows the upheaval in a secular Jewish family when the son suddenly becomes devoutly faithful. The show, which received favorable reviews, sold out its initial offering of 16,000 tickets even before it began perfs in September 2005, and the production led to a successful U.K. tour in 2006.

The cast of theGotham incarnation, which opens Feb. 7, includes Natasha Lyonne. Leigh, who has seen every New Group production of his work except "Ecstasy," will visit "Two Thousand Years" late in its rehearsal period to make minor tweaks if necessary.

"I don't do what I do for Scott and his company anywhere else," Leigh says. "I like what he does."

Biz for the Gotham incarnation of "Two Thousand Years" could top sales for "Abigail's Party."

"Every time we do one of Mike's plays, the audience increases," Elliott says. "They get better and better attended."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

hedwig

Exclusive picture from new Mike Leigh film
Source: Time Out London

Leigh's new feature is called 'Happy-Go-Lucky' and will be released in the UK in the spring of 2008 – after having its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

'Happy-Go-Lucky' stars Sally Hawkins as a teacher in north London – a performance which, we're told, sees her 'in every single frame of the film'.

Hawkins previously had smaller roles in Leigh's 'Vera Drake' as well as his 2002 film, 'All or Nothing'. She will appear soon as Colin Farrell's wife in Woody Allen's 'Cassandra's Dream'.

Hawkins is joined in the film by the actor Eddie Marsan, who also appeared in Leigh's 'Vera Drake'.

We're told that 'Happy-Go-Lucky' is a comedy – as this exclusive still for the film might suggest – but we also hear that it's not a film without a dark side.

Time Out will report further on the film in the New Year.



MacGuffin

Mike Leigh shooting new film
'Happy-Go-Lucky' director busy at work in the U.K.
Source: Variety

Mike Leigh has started production on his first film since the Oscar-nommed "Happy-Go-Lucky." Untitled as are all his films while in production, the pic stars Leigh regulars Imelda Staunton, Jim Broadbent and Philip Davis and will shoot in London for nine weeks.

Thesps David Bradley and Stuart McQuarrie have signed on for their first Leigh film.

Georgina Lowe produces, with Gail Egan as exec producer. Leigh's longtime producer, Simon Channing-Williams, died in April.

Focus Features Intl. handles foreign sales and is co-financing with the U.K. Film Council's Premiere Fund and Film 4.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

matt35mm

http://fora.tv/2008/10/20/Mike_Leigh_at_the_Hudson_Union_Society

A nice, hour-long interview with Mike Leigh from around the time that Happy-Go-Lucky was released in the U.S.  It's fairly similar to a Q&A that xerxes, pete, and I went to at The Castro in San Francisco, but I don't know if any video exists of that.

He discusses, among other things, the way he works in creating the world of the film with the actors out of improvisation and focused rehearsal, and why he works that way instead of working with screenplays.