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Features
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Mike Leigh's Proof of Life
In order to achieve the improvised feel of films such as Vera Drake, Mike Leigh relies on six months of intensive rehearsal, research and discussion.
Monday, November 1, 2004
By Brett Buckalew
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Jeff Vespa/Wireimage.com
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A master of meticulousness
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For many film directors, the very process of making a movie provides not just deep artistic satisfaction, but a far giddier, more superficial sense of ego reaffirmation. While it’s hard to imagine many filmmakers admitting to it, the rush that comes with guiding dozens of other artists to work within your very specific vision, or the feeling of power that accompanies seeing your name after the credit ‘a film by,’ is inevitably a chief benefit of the job.
So what makes the acclaimed cinema of British director Mike Leigh all the more remarkable is that its creation is totally dependent on Leigh throwing his ego, or any other high and mighty pretensions of directorial omnipotence, out the window. In order to render the warm, chaotic lives of struggling, working-class England denizens as realistically as possible, in films ranging from Naked to Secrets and Lies, Leigh insists upon collaborating with his actors for an intensive, six-month rehearsal period before writing a shooting script. The result is the viewer getting a vivid sense of genuine life unfolding before his or her eyes, as Leigh’s oeuvre has always been praised for capturing the kind of offhand, everyday moments that more traditionally made films ignore.
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T. Whitby/Wireimage.com
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Actress Imelda Staunton
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For the sacrifice of his ego, Leigh has been rewarded with a number of films where the behind-the-scenes collaborative generosity is not just evident in the finished product, but practically shines through the screen. While Leigh’s newest film, Vera Drake, may have a tighter narrative than is typical for him - it follows an abortionist (Imelda Staunton) in the economically unstable environment of ‘50s London, whose arrest sends shock waves through her tight-knit family - it is still defined by the kind of humanistic narrative detours that have always marked his movies. The film finds just as much heart and meaning when following an emotionally catatonic rape victim (Sally Hawkins), or the shaky marriage of its heroine’s brother-in-law (Adrian Scarborough), as it does when focusing on the resolve-testing dilemma faced by its titular protagonist.
When sitting down to discuss how his legendary filmmaking process has shaped Vera Drake, Leigh reveals a long-held approach to the medium. “The whole film, as with all my films, is evolved out of a massive amount of improvisation, research, and discussion,” he explains. “There is no other way I know how to make films. So, far from letting [the actors] improvise, I feel it’s essential to the creation of the film that they did improvise.”
However, Leigh also emphasizes that what adds control to his method is having all the improvisation contained within the pre-production period, so that when the film starts shooting, a script shaped by the collaborative process has been completed. “What you see on the screen is not improvised in front of the camera,” he explains. “It’s all been distilled and structured and scripted through rehearsals, so that what we shot was hopefully very precise…and very dramatic and cinematic.”
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Fine Line Features
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Staunton as Vera Drake
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For Staunton, being an integral part of creating the character of Vera was the realization of an acting dream. After memorable but small supporting performances in such prestigious films as Shakespeare in Love and Sense and Sensibility, the actress has finally gotten a large showcase for her talents in Leigh’s film, where she must communicate the conflict within a matriarch whose double lives unexpectedly collide.
“It’s the best job of my life,” Staunton gushes about working with Leigh. “He gives actors everything they need and more: encouragement, time, patience. He gives you power, which is to be used wisely.”
Far from feeling overburdened by the prospect of carrying a movie, Staunton felt liberated when making Vera Drake, due to Leigh’s prioritizing of creative freedom. “You’re never, for a moment, as an actor, going, ‘What will I do? How should I be? How should I look?’” the actress relates.
“You are so that character that all you’re doing is reacting how they would react. And he creates that atmosphere, and he enables every actor in the film to be as honest and truthful [as they can be].”
Staunton was further energized by all the research that went into the making of the film. Like Leigh’s recent Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake is a rigorously authentic period piece, which meant that cast and crew were required to delve into the post-war, class-divided society depicted in the film.
“We had months of going to museums, and reading up on it, and newsreel footage, and books—a lot of homework,” Staunton remembers. “The acting was there, but the other stuff that went with it was fantastic; to really go into that time was great.”
A major barrier during that time which the film tackles head-on was the illegality of abortions, arising from an 1861 statute that wasn’t repealed until 1967. While the moral and legal debate swirling around abortion is still going strong decades later, Leigh feels that his film is far from a hot-button provocation.
“What I tried to do was create a kind of prism where we look at these events, to create a metaphor which presents questions of good and evil, of good intentions and criminality, in a way that the audience has to deal with,” he describes. “And it isn’t for me to be reductionist and merely slam the audience with black-and-white propaganda, which I couldn’t anyway, because that’s not in my nature.”
However, Leigh readily concedes that his films are clearly intended to spark discussion among audience members. “It’s not an abstract film any more than it’s a popcorn film,” he states.
| Leigh is just as upfront about how he may be at a biological disadvantage in examining a matter that has eternally been a specifically female struggle. “With abortion, and related issues, of course one is disposed, in a post-feminist, emancipated, liberal way, to say, ‘Ah! It’s a women’s and a men’s problem!’” the filmmaker admits. “But really - historically, traditionally, socially, culturally - men f*ck and leave, while women are left with the problem. So it is a women’s issue.”
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Whatever Leigh’s gender limitations may be, his clear-sighted compassion in dealing with such a sensitive issue has already paid off, awards-wise. Vera Drake walked away with the Golden Lion and a Best Actress prize for Staunton at this year’s Venice Film Festival, and Staunton is currently considered almost a sure bet for a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
When that possibility is brought up to Staunton, the actress humbly defers. “I’ll have to just deal with that as I can,” she says. “I have no idea what it would be like, but this is happening to me at a time in my life when my head is fairly screwed-on, and it ain’t gonna be spinning anywhere.”
“The best experience has happened to me - I’ve had this film! That’s been the best thing! And all this is like going to a party, isn’t it?” If the party does indeed continue throughout awards season, then it will be further proof that Leigh’s unconventional way of filmmaking yields bountiful gifts.
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