In the first place, I'm pretty thorough about whom I choose. I instinctively look for the kind of actor who is going… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
The kind of acting that's wholly literary or cerebral is wrong. It's useless for me to have actors so much in their… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
There are plenty of bad actors and there are plenty of bad directors. There are actors who will always be bad and… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
The notion that acting is simply about intuitively responding to situations the way you feel couldn't be farther away from how I… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
My job apart from anything else is to build an ensemble composed of actors who all come from a secure place so… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
When I was young I used to sit in the cinema thinking wouldn't it be great if you could have a film… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
Some deeply untrusting actors - the kind that need to know exactly what's what and are completely insecure - might be quite… — 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… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
What I do is to collaborate with each actor and work one-on-one to create a character. And that is a matter of… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
Very occasionally I hire an actor and get it wrong. The actor just doesn't trust the process or me as fully as… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
When it comes to thinking about how a character talks, there are literary and language considerations. For actors to be able to… — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
The way an actor is trained doesn't ultimately have much bearing on my work. I'm interested in the actor as artist. — Mike Leigh Copy Share Image
I can't negotiate and collaborate with a character to create a distilled dramatic investigation of the raw material. I need to work… — 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
