In June, I wrote about Mike Leigh struggling to find financing for his next project. Then, a few months later, I was told that he’d finally found enough dough to make his next one.
Regardless, today’s THR’s exclusive is nothing new to our readers. Leigh, who is turning 80 next week, will start shooting this mysterious new film later this year. The aim is probably Cannes 2024.
I had been told last year that 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.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.