Legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh is not being shy in divulging his issues with securing funding for his next film. If you remember, last month he told the BBC’s Culture Life that he was "struggling like mad to get anybody to back a film". He's not short of ideas and energy, just money.
Now, he’s doubled down saying that Netflix turned his new project down:
“I’m finding I’m having problems getting funding. People want to know what it is and why it is,” he says. “Netflix just turned me down, which is a shame, because they have plenty of money. They said they couldn’t possibly contemplate backing it without knowing who the cast is or what it’s about. It’s nonsense, because if they made it, people would watch it – because it would be there.”
Netflix has now turned down projects from David Cronenberg, David Lynch and Leigh. And those are the ones we know about.
Leigh has been a consistent figure in the world cinema scene with landmark works such as “Secrets and Lies", “Life is Sweet” and “Naked.” However, the British director has been struggling of late, 2014's "Mr. Turner," a biopic of artist J.M.W Turner, barely made any scratch and 2018’s “Peterloo” was famously rejected by Cannes.
When asked by Screendaily about receiving awards at festivals, Leigh mentioned the Cannes fiasco, “Everybody knows that Cannes rejected ‘Peterloo.’ They said they respected it but it wasn’t for them.”
Regardless, Leigh deserves backing for any damn film he wishes to make. The man is a legend.
Before practically going bankrupt, Row K had planned to release "Cliffhanger" in August 2026 on more than 3000 screens nationwide — hopefully with Vertical it hits as many theaters.