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. — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
It's important to be true to the events, but the most important thing is to get to the essence of the experience. Not to be bogged down in an academic way by a notion of the truth. First of all,… — 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 Image
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 Image
Films are made all over the world all the time and only a thin slice of that product is Hollywood. — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you're not snooping into somebody else's lives? — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
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 Image
