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. — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
The main problem is that the Hollywood system has already made the film before the director shoots a single frame. — Mike Leigh Copy Share
The delineation between the actor and his part is a practical matter. When the camera runs, you want the actor to be the character. — Mike Leigh Copy Share
Films are made all over the world all the time and only a thin slice of that product is Hollywood. — Mike Leigh Copy Share
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… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
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… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
I hope I make films where you walk away . . . with work to do, arguments to have, things to worry about, things… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
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… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
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… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
I take no notice of the trends. It has never concerned me at all. My job is to deal with what I want to… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
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… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you're not snooping into somebody else's lives? — Mike Leigh Copy Share
I try and create for the audience something that relates to real-life experience. When you're meeting somebody for the first time, all you have… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
People have been very resistant to giving me more than the standard amount of money. So I keep making films on a similar scale.… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
But actually I make films that I think are extremely sophisticated and cinematic. — Mike Leigh Copy Share
My work requires acting at its most committed - it demands actors of enormous resilience, but also intelligence and wit. It doesn't work for… — Mike Leigh Copy Share
