When I was young I used to sit in the cinema thinking wouldn't it be great if you could have a film in which the characters were like real people ins…

- Mike Leigh

It's an unhealthy habit to say that life is what you make of it, and if you want to be happy, then you can be happy. That's just rubbish, basically. …

- Mike Leigh

But films should be voyeuristic. What else is a film if you’re not snooping into somebody else’s lives?

- Mike Leigh

It's important to be true to the events, but the most important thing is to get to the essence of the experience. Not to be bogged down in an academi…

- Mike Leigh

Some deeply untrusting actors - the kind that need to know exactly what's what and are completely insecure - might be quite good within the parameter…

- Mike Leigh

There are plenty of bad actors and there are plenty of bad directors. There are actors who will always be bad and there are good actors who you cry f…

- Mike Leigh

I try and create for the audience something that relates to real-life experience.

- Mike Leigh

The whole thing about making films in an organic film on location is that it's not all about characters, relationships and themes, it's also about pl…

- Mike Leigh

I discover what my film is by embarking on the journey of making it.

- Mike Leigh