Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh

Born: February 20, 1943
in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, UK
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE (born 20 February 1943) is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied 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 work for the theatre and making films for BBC Television, many of which were characterized by a gritty "kitchen sink realism" style. His well-known films include Life is Sweet (1990), the comedy-drama Career Girls (1997), the Gilbert and Sullivan biopic Topsy Turvy (1999), and the bleak working-class drama All or Nothing (2002). His most notable works are arguably Naked (1993) for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes, the BAFTA-winning (and Oscar-nominated) Palme d'Or winner Secrets & Lies (1996) and Golden Lion winner Vera Drake (2004).

His films and stage plays, according to the critic Michael Coveney, "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period."  Coveney further noted Leigh's role in helping to create stars – Liz Smith in Hard Labour, Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party, Brenda Blethyn in Grown-Ups, Antony Sher in Goose-Pimples, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in Meantime, Jane Horrocks in Life is Sweet, David Thewlis in Naked – and remarked that the list of actors who have worked with him over the years – including Sheila Kelley, Paul Jesson, Phil Daniels, Lindsay Duncan, Lesley Sharp, Kathy Burke, Stephen Rea, Eric Richard, Julie Walters – "comprises an impressive, almost representative, nucleus of outstanding British acting talent."  Ian Buruma, writing in the New York Review of Books in January 1994, noted: "It is hard to get on a London bus or listen to the people at the next table in a cafeteria without thinking of Mike Leigh. Like other wholly original artists, he has staked out his own territory. Leigh's London is as distinctive as Fellini's Rome or Ozu's Tokyo."

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Movies for Mike Leigh...

Title: Reel Britannia
Character: Self
Released: June 9, 2022
Type: TV
Comedian Nick Helm narrates this bold new documentary series exploring the dramatic history of British cinema. Discover how cinema held a mirror up to society from 1960 through to the 00s.
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Why Are We (Not) Creative?
Title: Why Are We (Not) Creative?
Character: Self
Released: October 20, 2021
Type: Movie
In this second installment of his exploration of creativity, Hermann Vaske looks for factors that inhibit it. He asks artists, activists, and thinkers about things that kill their creativity.
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Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
Title: Drama Out of a Crisis: A Celebration of Play for Today
Character: Himself
Released: October 12, 2020
Type: Movie
Marking Play for Today’s 50th anniversary, Drama Out of a Crisis is a compelling exploration of the series, its origins, achievements, controversies and legacies. Featuring a rich and surprising range of archive extracts and original interviews with many who created the series, including producers Kenith Trodd, Margaret Matheson and Richard Eyre, and directors Mike Leigh, David Hare and Ken Loach.
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Scenes from A Separation
Title: Scenes from A Separation
Character: Self
Released: October 4, 2018
Type: Movie
Scenes from A Separation
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The One and Only Mike Leigh
Title: The One and Only Mike Leigh
Character: Himself
Released: November 24, 2014
Type: Movie
In a revealing documentary, Mike Leigh, director of Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake and Abigail's Party among many others, talks to Alan Yentob about a unique body of work and a lifelong struggle to make films on his own terms. On day one of a Mike Leigh film, there is no script, no story and the actors do not know if they will even be in the final film. It is a process that has yielded some of cinema's most celebrated performances, and Leigh's new film Mr Turner is already winning critical acclaim. Actors including Jim Broadbent, Eddie Marsan, Sally Hawkins, Lesley Manville and James Corden give fascinating insights into the director and his distinctive method of working.
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What Is Cinema?
Title: What Is Cinema?
Character: Self
Released: September 6, 2013
Type: Movie
Using the words and ideas of great filmmakers, from archival interviews with Alfred Hitchcock and Robert Bresson to new interviews with Mike Leigh, David Lynch, and Jonas Mekas, Oscar-winning filmmaker Chuck Workman shows what these filmmakers and others do that can't be expressed in words - but only in cinema.
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Title: Square
Character: Self
Released: January 8, 2012
Type: TV
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Vittorio D.
Title: Vittorio D.
Character: Self
Released: September 17, 2009
Type: Movie
A documentary about Vittorio de Sica with clips of his films and testimonials from friends and family.
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Looking for Truffaut
Title: Looking for Truffaut
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 2009
Type: Movie
Documentary about François Truffaut who is one of the most respected directors in the history of cinema.
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Title: The Alan Titchmarsh Show
Character: Self
Released: September 3, 2007
Type: TV
The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime chat show presented by Alan Titchmarsh. It was first broadcast on ITV on 3 September 2007 and currently airs on weekday afternoons. The show's main focus is the "Best of British" theme with many of the shows' segments focusing on fashion, health, nature, cookery and animals.
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All About 'Abigail's Party'
Title: All About 'Abigail's Party'
Character: Himself
Released: January 1, 2007
Type: Movie
A look at the production of Play for Today: Abigail's Party (1977).
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Title: The One Show
Character: Self - Guest
Released: August 14, 2006
Type: TV
A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One and BBC One HD. The programme is currently hosted by Alex Jones and Matt Baker from Monday-Thursday, with Chris Evans appearing instead of Baker on Fridays and relief presenters appearing when required.
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Title: The Culture Show
Character: Self
Released: November 11, 2004
Type: TV
A weekly BBC Two magazine programme focusing on the best of the week's arts and culture news, covering books, art, film, architecture and more.
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Cinema16: British Short Films
Title: Cinema16: British Short Films
Character: Self - Commentary, The Short & Curlies (voice)
Released: May 5, 2003
Type: Movie
This critically acclaimed DVD contains 16 of the best classic and award winning British short films and delivers a snapshot of British cinema past and present. It includes films from Britain's most exciting new talent alongside early shorts from it's most successful filmmakers' amongst them Chris Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins), Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Alien), Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies) and Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours). 01 About a Girl - Brian Percival 02 Boy & Bicycle - Ridley Scott 03 Dear Phone - Peter Greenaway 04 Doodlebug - Christopher Nolan 05 Eight - Stephen Daldry 06 Gasman - Lynne Ramsay 07 Girl Chewing Gum - John Smith 08 Home - Morag McKinnon 09 Joyride - Jim Gillespie 10 Inside Out - Tom & Charles Guard 11 Je T’aime John Wayne - Toby Macdonald 12 The Sheep Thief - Asif Kapadia 13 The Short & Curlies - Mike Leigh 14 Telling Lies - Simon Ellis 15 UK Images - Martin Parr 16 Who’s My Favourite Girl? - Adrian J. McDowall
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Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain
Title: Humphrey Jennings: The Man Who Listened to Britain
Character: Self
Released: December 31, 2000
Type: Movie
Documentary about Humphrey Jennings, an English documentary filmmaker from the 1930s to 1950.
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Mike Leigh: The Conversation
Title: Mike Leigh: The Conversation
Character: Interviewee
Released: April 23, 2000
Type: Movie
An interview with British film director Mike Leigh produced for BBC-TV.
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Welcome to Hollywood
Title: Welcome to Hollywood
Character: Mike Leigh
Released: October 1, 1998
Type: Movie
A film director (Adam Rifkin) decides to chart the course of a young actor (Tony Markes) as he tries to make it in Hollywood...
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Inside the Golden Statue
Title: Inside the Golden Statue
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1998
Type: Movie
A behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for the live broadcast of the 69th Annual Academy Awards ceremony.
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Mike Leigh: Making Plays
Title: Mike Leigh: Making Plays
Character: Himself
Released: September 4, 1982
Type: Movie
Writer and Director Mike Leigh discusses the techniques used to create his plays.
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Two Left Feet
Title: Two Left Feet
Character: Jim
Released: March 16, 1963
Type: Movie
Based on David Stuart Leslie's novel Two Left Feet is a story about Alan Crabbe (Michael Crawford a callow youth desperate for a date with any girl who can offer him the experience he lacks. Every time Alan tries a manful stride into the jungle of sex, his two left feet turn the attempt into a trip-and-stumble. Then he meets Eileen (Nyree Dawn Porter), the new waitress at the corner cafe, who signal unmistakable messages with her large inviting eyes.
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Title: Maigret
Released: October 31, 1960
Type: TV
BBC series based on the novels by Georges Simenon which starred Rupert Davies as Inspector Maigret, a French police detective who preferred to watch and listen in order to solve crimes. The series ran from 1960-63 on British television.
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Title: The Oscars
Character: Self
Released: March 19, 1953
Type: TV
An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.
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Untitled 13
Title: Untitled 13
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
Documentary about the making of Mike Leigh's Mr.Turner, unreleased due to unspecified 'legal reasons'
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Her Name Was Moviola
Title: Her Name Was Moviola
Character: Himself
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
A documentary about cutting film... the way it used to be done.