Jul 27, 2026 · 48 min · 12 segments
Flick Ford is joined by Telford Mills, Sarah Richardson and Tyler Bain to discuss the storied and varied career of the British writer-director Mike Leigh. They discuss the empathetic and honest look…
Sarah RichardsonPanelist
Flick FordHost
Tyler BainPanelist
Telford MillsPanelist
But before we get into the reviews, I'd love to hear how you'd describe Mike Lee's style and the kind of stories that he's drawn to.
I don't want to steal his thunder, but I did see that Telford had the word singular written in all caps in his notebook,
and so that was amazing.
It's
Well, I think the thing that's interesting about Mike Lee is that he does have several different modes, right? He has the domestic...
you know, kind of comedic dramas that are really focused on class dynamics, on like familial and, you know, kind of small community dynamics.
Often, you know, not really pop focused, very character focused, you know, there's a lot of, they're often kind of actors showcases.
There's these kind of like, you know, everyday life stories told within kind of a small scale, often within living rooms and occasionally a little bit of workplaces, but it's really often focused within the familial home.
But at the same time, you know, Lee expands outwards to his historical films.
You have, I haven't seen the historical drama Peterloo about a massacre and class movements from a few years ago.
Um, and you have, yeah, Topsy Turvy, which is like quite a wonderful and decadent, um, yeah, historical period piece, uh, about, um, the famous playwrights, Gilben Sullivan, um, the musical theater, you know, uh, impresarios.
It's often about, you know, the kind of, Yeah, there's like these small ways that people pass, you know, build a life together through cups, endless cups of tea and over meals, you know, just very basic daily meals.
And, you know, there usually does like build to some kind of crisis, but there's that real attention to just that.
Yeah, the way that we pass our days and the way that we move together through space.
I mean, I'm saying we, but, you know, I guess it's this particular group of, like, usually working class to middle class British people.
I think something that's really important to talk about with Mike Lee, for people who don't know, is the way he kind of makes his movies.
And going back to our favourite singular, in a very quick summation, he will basically choose the actors he wants to work with and say, do you want to work together, yes or no? they start off with a completely blank canvas and then over usually a couple of months they develop the characters together from the ground up and I mean by things like which toothpaste do they use what was their favorite snack when they were five you know every detail of their life in an almost like ridiculous level and then after a couple of months we'll start kind of figuring out who the characters are and stuff.
But before we get into the reviews, I'd love to hear how you'd describe Mike Lee's style and the kind of stories that he's drawn to.
I don't want to steal his thunder, but I did see that Telford had the word singular written in all caps in his notebook,
and so that was amazing.
It's
Well, I think the thing that's interesting about Mike Lee is that he does have several different modes, right? He has the domestic...
you know, kind of comedic dramas that are really focused on class dynamics, on like familial and, you know, kind of small community dynamics.
Often, you know, not really pop focused, very character focused, you know, there's a lot of, they're often kind of actors showcases.
There's these kind of like, you know, everyday life stories told within kind of a small scale, often within living rooms and occasionally a little bit of workplaces, but it's really often focused within the familial home.
But at the same time, you know, Lee expands outwards to his historical films.
You have, I haven't seen the historical drama Peterloo about a massacre and class movements from a few years ago.
Um, and you have, yeah, Topsy Turvy, which is like quite a wonderful and decadent, um, yeah, historical period piece, uh, about, um, the famous playwrights, Gilben Sullivan, um, the musical theater, you know, uh, impresarios.
It's often about, you know, the kind of, Yeah, there's like these small ways that people pass, you know, build a life together through cups, endless cups of tea and over meals, you know, just very basic daily meals.
And, you know, there usually does like build to some kind of crisis, but there's that real attention to just that.
Yeah, the way that we pass our days and the way that we move together through space.
I mean, I'm saying we, but, you know, I guess it's this particular group of, like, usually working class to middle class British people.
I think something that's really important to talk about with Mike Lee, for people who don't know, is the way he kind of makes his movies.
And going back to our favourite singular, in a very quick summation, he will basically choose the actors he wants to work with and say, do you want to work together, yes or no? they start off with a completely blank canvas and then over usually a couple of months they develop the characters together from the ground up and I mean by things like which toothpaste do they use what was their favorite snack when they were five you know every detail of their life in an almost like ridiculous level and then after a couple of months we'll start kind of figuring out who the characters are and stuff.
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3 of 6
Leigh's Blank-Canvas Method
First, how Mike Leigh actually builds characters.
Reconsidering Flawed Characters
Next, nuance that reshapes our shared view.
Happy-Go-Lucky: No Notes
Then, hear an unabashed declaration of perfection.
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