Mike Leigh Still Struggling to Secure Financing For His Next Film

There’s a Mike Leigh career retrospective going on at the Lincoln Center right now. Every movie from his illustrious career is being screened.

The legendary filmmaker hasn’t been shy in revealing his issues when it comes to securing funding for his next film. If you remember, last October he told the BBC’s Culture Life that he was "struggling like mad to get anybody to back a film". He's not short on ideas and energy, just money.

Then, in November, he doubled down saying that Netflix rejected his new project.

Now, in an interview with Variety, he says things haven’t really changed since last fall; “It’s always been a bit of a struggle, but there’s a lot more reluctance and resistance for backers to take that on board now,” he says.

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.