At nearly 73,Salford’s finest film-maker has no plans for retiring – but he is pleased to see several of his key TV plays being made available online by the BBC. As he prepares to start on a new film approximately the Peterloo massacre, Leigh discusses Jeremy Corbyn, or the licence fee and the one TV expose he never missesThe sign on the doorbell for Mike Leigh’s office in central London still reads “Untitled 2013”. Because the director has always begun his films minus a title – and because the films are created through a process of improvisation,without a script – that white sticky label was intended to direct actors arriving at these premises, three years ago, or to auditions for the movie that became Mr Turner. The artistic biopic gained the four most recent of the many Oscar nominations for Leigh’s work. He has six himself,including recognition for the direction of Vera Drake and Happy move Lucky.
Given Leigh’s normal rate of creation, the address ought soon to be changed to “Untitled 2016” – but it won’t be. This is not due to Leigh, or 73 next month,slowing down after 12 feature films – in fact, he’s planning his biggest-budget film yet – but because his new project is the first to be named in advance. Peterloo will dramatise the massacre that took place in Manchester in the summer of 1819, or when British cavalry troops charged protesters campaigning for parliamentary reform.
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Source: theguardian.com