With a storied career spanning more than five decades, Mike Leigh stands as one of the most esteemed filmmakers of his time. Born in England in 1943, he’s renowned for his dazzling recreations of working-class British life, in a repertoire ranging from light-hearted comedies to searing social critiques.

Leigh’s pioneering approach involves extensive rehearsal periods with actors, eschewing traditional scripts in favor of improvisation. The deeply character-driven work that’s resulted has won him Best Director at Cannes for the black comedy Naked, the Palme d’Or for the ensemble drama Secrets & Lies, and Venice’s Golden Lion for the period film Vera Drake.

In Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh, a definitive, career-spanning interview with Amy Raphael, Leigh reflects on his life-long pursuit of authentic storytelling. On the process of crafting characters with emotional resonance and rich inner lives, he says:

“The whole job for me is taking a journey of investigation during which I discover the truth…. It’s how the characters respond and how I then respond to them. It’s how I reorganize or reinvestigate the material and, indeed, challenge it in a creative way to arrive at what is dramatically coherent to me.”

Sharing his desert island book list with One Grand, Leigh’s literary tastes bristle with the joys and sorrows of everyday life. From Upton Sinclair to Zadie Smith, find his favorites below, and check out the bookshelves of other iconic directors here.

Mike Leigh’s Reading List


The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (also rec’d by Michael Pollan)

“This had a profound effect on me in my early twenties. A grim but sympathetic portrait of the tough lives of poor immigrant workers in the Chicago meat-packing industry, it was one of the key works that inspired me to make films about ordinary people’s lives.” -ML

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (also rec’d by Colson Whitehead, Dua Lipa, Irvine WelshJoan DidionLin-Manuel Miranda & Richard Branson)

“They call this masterpiece ‘magical realism’, but I hate the label. Real it is, human and passionate and endlessly moving and compelling. It’s about family, relationships, fate, time. And ghosts. And solitude. Marvelous.” -ML

White Teeth by Zadie Smith (also rec’d by Elena Ferrante)

“For me, this is a most important work. Zadie Smith brilliantly evokes contemporary Britain with astonishing accuracy, and unique wit and charm. A book to savor.” -ML

Three Novels: Molloy, Malone Dies, The Unnamable by Samuel Beckett (also rec’d by Kurt Cobain)

“A massive influence. He sums up existence. He reinvents writing itself. He makes me howl with pain and scream with laughter.” -ML

4 3 2 1 by Paul Auster

“For me, Auster’s masterpiece, and worth our waiting for. The dazzling scope of his inventiveness is breathtaking. Healthily nostalgic for us who are contemporary with his multiple central character. A compulsive read; I found it hard to put down, and I couldn’t get enough of it. I found the negative response to the book in some quarters quite astonishing, but as the frequent recipient of diametrically opposite reviews myself, I ought to know better!” -ML

Journey to the End of the Night by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (also rec’d by William S. Burroughs)

“Hard to choose between this and his ‘Death on The Installment Plan’. But Céline’s quasi-autobiography wins. Despite the nihilistic cynicism of which he is often justifiably accused, underneath it all, his characters bristle with life and hope.” -ML

The Third Policeman by Flann O’Brien (also rec’d by Hozier)

“My favorite of Flann O’Brien’s novels, although I love At-Swim-Two-Birds. Profound, haunting, mystical and utterly hilarious. The bizarre narrative is accompanied by an eccentric parallel saga about something obscure called The De Selby Codex, a red herring that gradually grows in quantity until it all but obscures the main story.” -ML

To the Kwai and Back: War Drawings 1939–1945 by Ronald Searle

“Searle has inspired and influenced me since I was six years old. He was one of the greatest illustrators and cartoonists of the 20th Century. A Japanese prisoner-of-war in his early 20s, he managed, often with great difficulty, to make drawings and, remarkably, to keep them. Horrifying, often moving, sometimes funny, this collection is a total joy, on so many levels.” -ML

Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens

“Another influence. What characters and characterizations! How perceptively Dickens portrays our complex imperfections! And, incidentally, what a splendid picture of 19th century America!” -ML

The Bab Ballads by W.S. Gilbert

“As the maker of Topsy-Turvy, I’m an unapologetic fan of W.S.Gilbert. ‘Bab’ was his childhood pet-name and his adult pen-name. His delightful verses and drawings are a total gas, and no bathroom library should be without a copy.” -ML

(via One Grand Books; photo by Samuel de Roman)


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Categories: Directors