But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you’re not snooping into somebody else’s lives? Mike Leigh More Quotes by Mike Leigh More Quotes From Mike Leigh 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 be happy. That's just rubbish, basically. Mike Leigh rubbish life-is want I've long since stopped worrying about how I'm portrayed in the press because ultimately it's not that important. Everyone who knows me knows I do what I do with the greatest integrity. Mike Leigh worry integrity long The good thing from my perspective is that nobody puts any pressure on me to say what it's going to be. The backers accept that they don't know what they are going to get. Mike Leigh perspective good-things pressure There's a constant drip and trickle of life that goes into one's awareness really and consciousness of things. Mike Leigh constant consciousness awareness I feel very much ideologically, politically if you like, and emotionally part of the European cinema. Mike Leigh cinema ifs feels Given the events of even the 19th century, Zionism was inevitable. Given the events of the 20th century, Israel was inevitable. Mike Leigh century events israel I think Michael Caine is a perfectly good actor but it's obvious he's not going to be in one of my films. Mike Leigh perfectly-good actors thinking I can't really see how anybody could be particularly optimistic about the future in general because we are destroying the planet. Mike Leigh destroying planets optimistic Resolve was never stronger than in the morning, after the night, when it was never weaker Mike Leigh morning night funny I'm old enough to have friends and contemporaries who have long since retired, and that's their prerogative - enough is enough; it doesn't mean a thing to me. But I haven't got any money, so, you know, I just keep on working. Mike Leigh enough long mean It creeps up on you and becomes an obsession. It comes out of watching a million movies. Mike Leigh creeps millions obsession I grew up looking at... going to the movies a lot, as much as they'd let you. I grew up in Manchester in the north of England in the '40s and '50s. I saw a lot of movies. They were all Hollywood and British movies. I didn't see a film that wasn't in English until I was 17 when I went to London to be a student. Mike Leigh saws hollywood london But actually I make films that I think are extremely sophisticated and cinematic. Mike Leigh sophisticated film thinking I do not make films which are prescriptive, and I do not make films that are conclusive. You do not walk out of my films with a clear feeling about what is right and wrong. They're ambivalent. You walk away with work to do. My films are a sort of investigation. They ask questions . . .. Sometimes I hear that some [Hollywood] studio is interested in me. Then they discover that this is the guy who works with no script, that there is no casting discussion, no interference, that I have the final cut, and that does it. Mike Leigh cutting guy feelings Film-makers should remain true to their principles and never compromise, there is a real revival in the British film industry but there is a danger that we will become colonial servants of Hollywood. We need to maintain our own integrity. Mike Leigh principles real integrity I know, that trends and all of those things and formulae that calculate what audiences want to see and what audiences don't want to see and various other demographic demarcations are the eccentric and ludicrous prerogative of Hollywood studios. But out there in the real world - by which I mean the rest of the world where we make truthful organic films, independent films unimpeded by interference - it's not about all those sort of calculating what is commercial. It's about wanting to say things and saying them in a way that will get through to people. Mike Leigh independent real mean 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 is only a tiny slice out of the massive amount of operation that goes on around the world. Mike Leigh hollywood important thinking I'm developing the stuff all the time. There's a film in my head. I'm imagining a film. Mike Leigh developing film stuff I've walked out of films. But for every film I've ever walked out of, I've probably walked out of 500 plays. Mike Leigh film play If I'm ever working on a set and anyone talks about a master shot, I say there is no master shot. Before I even went to film school, I learned about movies by being in a British feature film, where everything was shot master shot, mid-shot, close-up. But I reject the idea of a master shot. You don't shoot everything mechanically; you find imaginative ways that serve the action. Mike Leigh film action school
