In June, I wrote that Mike Leigh was struggling to find financing for his next project. Well, it looks like he’s finally found enough dough to make his next one.
Leigh is in the pre-production stage with this still untitled drama, and it will feature an all-Black cast, which is definitely a departure for the filmmaker, who is primarily known for his kitchen-sink influenced dramas about mundane lower-to-middle-class white families.
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.
Although this next film is in “pre-production,” it might also already be loosely shooting. Leigh is notorious for not having a script to work with, and really not saying anything about what the film’s going to be, exploring and arriving at the film organically. The writing comes relatively late in the process, the result of a close collaboration with his cast.