Mike Leigh’s films are known for their observant depictions of the working class, their tragicomic tones, and their improvisational construction. But there are some misconceptions about his work that Mike would like to clear up. He does so while talking with Marc about his life-changing introduction to foreign films, his method of collaboration with his actors, the difference between realism and naturalism, and some details about the making of Secrets and Lies, Vera Drake, Topsy-Turvy, Naked and his new film Hard Truths. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Chapter 1: What challenges did Marc face before the interview?
Of course we were, by definition, middle class.
Right.
The paradox is that we, you know, I was taken to shows where, I went to the movies a lot. I, you know, we saw the vaudeville pantomime. I saw Laurel and Hardy live on stage. Oh, in that tour?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you see that movie about that tour? Of course. Oh, my God.
But I was nine. My mother took me to see them live on stage. Yeah. And they were a disaster. They couldn't get it together.
And you had seen the movies? So you were expecting something?
Well, actually, I know the director and she said she wanted to put a scene in. Because I told her about my experience. And Oliver Hardy lay horizontally on a park bench in a train station. Yeah. Und Stan Laurel saß an einem Ende. Aber Hardy konnte es nicht zusammenführen. Er war gurgelnd und korpsiert. Und es ist nicht passiert. Und sie haben den Tabellocken runtergebracht.
Was ich faszinierend fand. Und sie wollte das Szenario in den Film legen. Und sie haben es nicht gemacht. Aber sie war überrascht von der Idee.
Sie konnten es einfach nicht zusammenführen. Aber das ist die Menschheit der ganzen Sache.
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Chapter 7: What personal experiences does Marc share during the episode?
Und das ist, was wir nutzen. Es ist interessant, du hast gestern Abend die Geschichte erzählt, dass Produzenten Dinge entfernen wollten.
Das ist in der Tat kaum geschehen. Das war eine ungewöhnliche Gelegenheit. Ich denke, das wurde von sehr negativen und unrelevanten Vorwürfen motiviert. Aber das sollte nicht als Norm von meinen Filmen genommen werden. Denn die Sache mit meinen Filmen ist, dass wir den Backern sagen, There's no script. We can't tell you what it's about. We can't discuss casting.
And please don't interfere with this at any stage of the proceedings. Give us the money. And either they say, fantastic, here's the money, go away, make a film. Or they tell us to fuck off, basically. I mean, it's straightforward, isn't it? And most of the latter happens. Now, my late producer, Simon John A. Williams, who died about 10 years ago of cancer, would come back from meetings with...
Potential Backers. They don't mind that there's no script. They don't mind that they don't know what it's about. But they will insist on a name, meaning a Hollywood star. And I'd say, let's walk away. They'll give you any amount of... Let's walk away. In the minute there's any suggestion that anyone's going to really interfere, I want nothing to do with it.
I mean, what's interesting about Peter Liu is that Amazon Studios were new on the block at that time. And they came in and backed it without any reservation or hesitation and never interfered with it at all and were really supportive. But they were new on the block back in those days.
Also, es wäre falsch, diese Geschichte zu interpretieren, die ich gesagt habe, die du bezeichnest, als die Norm zu sein, weil es eine sehr exzeptionelle Situation war. Aber du hast den Kampf gewonnen. Ja, total, ja. Und wir haben den Palme d'Or gewonnen.
Und was war die Beziehung in diesen, in diesen Linien am Anfang mit der BBC?
Oh, that was fantastic. The BBC were great in that period. This is not so anymore, by the way. You'd go in and they'd say, okay, no script, don't know what it's about. That's the budget, that's the deadline, go away and make a film. And it was fantastic.
And, you know, a whole bunch of us, I mean, what's important about that in the wider scheme of things is the only place you could make films in the UK was for television, mostly for the BBC, not entirely. Und wir sitzen da und sagen, wir machen diese Filme mit all unseren Fähigkeiten und Fähigkeiten, aber die Welt denkt, es gibt keinen britischen Film.
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