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Director – Mike Leigh Mike Leigh was born on the 18th February 1943. He was born in Lancashire in a very working class area of Salford near Manchester. He was brought up in a Jewish family, and initially trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1960. He later attended Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, the Central School of Art and Design, and the London Film School. He played small roles in several British films in the early 1960s such as, West 11 and Two Left Feet and a part in the BBC TV series Maigret. In 1965 he began to write and direct his first plays .Mike Leigh first started honing his directing skills when he attended East 15 Acting School.
Mike Leigh • Mike Leigh has received a number of awards for his work. These include • Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival for Naked. • BAFTA for best Direction for Vera Drake • Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival, for Vera Drake • Palme d’Ore (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival, for Secrets and Lies.
Filmography The following films are those which Mike Leigh has had involvement in: • Bleak Moments – 1971 • Hard Labour – 1973 • The Permissive Society – 1975 • Nuts In May – 1976 • Abigails Party – 1977 • Kiss of Death – 1977 • Who’s Who – 1978 • Grown Ups – 1980 • Mean Time – 1983 • The Short and Curlies – 1987 • High Hopes – 1988 • Life is Sweet – 1990 • Naked – 1993 • Secrets and Lies – 1996 • Career Girls – 1997 • Topsy Turvey – 1999 • All or Nothing – 2002 • Vera Drake – 2004 • Happy-Go-Lucky - 2008
Films • The films that he is involved in directing don’t exactly follow specific genres although comedy is often present within his films, however the films he directs often have quite a controversial plot. Examples of this would be Vera Drake or Naked. • Also when directing films he rarely tells all of his intentions with the film plot, to the actors involved. Instead he prefers them to go along with the storyline, and any major developments in the plot, the actors find out when their characters find out. • Also his films mainly focus on problems faced by normal people in their everyday lives for example Nuts in May, which focuses on the idea of neighbour relations.
Style of Directing • Generally Mike Leigh’s films are based around an adult audience and are also in the comedy genre. There are a number of exceptions including Vera Drake which are not Comedy. • The majority of films that he works on are both written and directed by him. • One of his films I would recommend would be Vera Drake.
