Mike Leigh

An accomplished playwright and theater director, Mike Leigh is one of England's most revered filmmakers, renowned for his highly realistic depictions of working-class life. Leigh ventured into film and television during the 1970s, but largely remained a provincial artistic figure. In subsequent years, he helmed a number of movies that aired on the BBC and Channel 4, most notably the gritty '83 drama Meantime, which featured early screen performances by Gary Oldman and Tim Roth. Leigh's arrival on the international stage came with the striking feature film Naked, a fascinatingly bleak tale that follows a bitter sociopath (David Thewlis) around London. Though Leigh is closely associated with domestic dramas such as Secret & Lies, he isn't afraid to venture outside of that subgenre, as he deftly proved with the lively period piece Topsy-Turvy. While the director has a reputation for encouraging improvisation during the development of his films, he tends to use these sessions to create very concrete screenplays, belying the notion of unscripted narratives. This attention to detail is what keeps lauded actors, including Sally Hawkins and Jim Broadbent, coming back to work with Leigh, and that same quality is what audiences consistently find intriguing as well.