Mike Leigh on ‘Hard Truths,’ James Bond and more

Episode notes

(Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for IMDb)

Some filmmakers have the whole movie in their heads before the first actor gets cast. On the other end of that spectrum. Some directors just kind of roll tape and let the movie happen. Then figure things out in editing.

Mike Leigh isn’t really either of those types of filmmakers. His films are collaborative. He builds the film in rehearsal with his actors over a matter of weeks and months. Leigh improvises character specifics, finding language. Asking what the characters eat for breakfast, what their childhoods were like, what the real nature of their relationships is. He does this until the characters are real. Ultimately, the script is tight, but it’s woven from all that preparation.

Leigh says he started work on his latest movie, Hard Truths, with one actor in mind: Marianne Jean-Baptiste. They’d last collaborated in 1996’s Secrets in Lies, a drama about an adopted woman meeting her birth mother. It earned five Academy Award Nominations, including one for Jean-Baptiste.

Hard Truths centers around the relationship between two sisters: Pansy, played by Jean-Baptiste and Chantelle, played by Michele Austin. 

Pansy can be a lot. She’s depressed, anxious and has a tendency to lash out at family and friends. Her approach to the world leaves her isolated by many, except her sister Chantell.

Mike Leigh joins us to talk about Hard Truths and his approach to filmmaking. He also shares what types of movies he enjoyed when he was younger and tells us about how he reacted to reading one of the first rave reviews he received as a filmmaker.

Hard Truths is now available to watch on demand.