Mike Leigh

Out of Character by Alison Steadman: A lively and undemanding memoir by an actor only a monster could fail to love

Though there is grist and insight here, for the most part this is a saunter through a largely happy life

Fri Nov 01 2024 - 04:58

‘People assume I was having play dates with Lily Allen and Peaches Geldof. We didn’t know anyone in show business’

Leo Leigh grew up in the film world. In Sweet Sue, his first feature, his approach to movie-making has produced one of the year’s most complex female characters

Wed Dec 20 2023 - 05:00

Godzilla used to be a metaphor for nuclear horror. Nowadays the monsters are metaphors for the lumbering franchises they appear in

Patrick Freyne: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is zippy, characterful and fun, but I could do better

Fri Dec 08 2023 - 05:15

Michael Palin, Mike Leigh and Christy Moore: This week’s unmissable online events

Celine Byrne and Robert Webb also among the virtual attractions over next seven days

Thu Apr 29 2021 - 06:00

23 Walks: Top-class acting from Alison Steadman, Dave Johns and the dogs

Film review: The lead actors just about make this canine-themed movie sit up and beg for attention

Fri Jan 22 2021 - 05:00

They should have called it Dylan McDermott’s Sex Garage

Netflix’s 1940s-Hollywood drama is brimming with petroleum-based rumpy pumpy

Fri May 01 2020 - 05:00

Ken Loach: What’s Britain doing owning part of Ireland?

The director who has spent 50 years poking the establishment on Brexit, right-wing broadcasters and the gig economy

Wed Oct 30 2019 - 06:00

Thousands to re-enact Peterloo massacre in Manchester

Event marks 200th anniversary of defining moment in British political history

Fri Aug 16 2019 - 11:21

What’s that, Skippy? The dog from Brooklyn Nine-Nine has died? Awww

It’s a dog’s life being an animal actor, but they’re the real stars of my fave telly shows

Fri Jul 19 2019 - 05:00

Marianne Jean-Baptiste: ‘The arts are something you have to do’

In Fabric star has carved out a varied career in media but has not forgotten her roots

Thu Jun 27 2019 - 05:00

‘Covering the Cannes Festival is the hardest job in the world. Pity Us’

Donald Clarke: The #sordidtruth about covering Cannes in the age of Twitter

Sat May 18 2019 - 05:00

Madonna to perform two songs at Eurovision 2019 in Israel

Madonna will sing as a special guest at next month’s Eurovision in Tel Aviv

Tue Apr 09 2019 - 13:03

Claire Foy: ‘Pain plays a big part in all the characters I play’

‘I have an aversion to be being told I have to look a certain way to be an actress’

Sat Nov 10 2018 - 05:00

Mike Leigh: ‘Brexit was a terrible manipulation of people and their needs’

The director on why he's telling the story of a very British massacre, disagreeing with Jeremy Corbyn and avoiding 'thick actors'

Sat Nov 03 2018 - 06:15

TCD hit by Brexit, Whitey Bulger, Student ‘wage theft’ in Australia

News, views and opinions from Student Hub contributors and Irish Times writers

Fri Nov 02 2018 - 12:07

Peterloo review: a beautiful history lesson but where’s the Mike Leigh grit?

Who thought we’d end up praising the facets of a Leigh film that feel most like the work of David Lean?

Wed Oct 31 2018 - 06:30

Calling Natalie Portman a ‘supporting actor’ is like saying Thumper is the star of ‘Bambi’

Why is ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ not a musical? Because it wants to be an Oscar contender

Mon Oct 22 2018 - 11:35

Patrick Freyne: My day with Steven Seagal, Putin’s new envoy

I didn’t know he was accused of sexual assault and was an apologist for a KGB-trained autocrat

Sat Aug 11 2018 - 05:00

Irish films in the mix at Venice and Toronto festivals

The Favourite from Yorgos Lanthimos will compete for the Golden Lion at Venice and John Butler’s Papi Chulo will premiere at Toronto

Thu Jul 26 2018 - 07:00

‘It shouldn’t be political to show what it takes for people to survive’

Director Debra Granik on her new film ‘Leave No Trace’ and her biggest movie-making influences

Thu Jun 21 2018 - 06:00

Pressure builds on Russia to release hunger-striking Ukrainian prisoner

Oleg Sentsov is serving a 20-year sentence on terrorism charges thought to have been fabricated

Sat Jun 02 2018 - 05:01

Gaz Coombes: On My Culture Radar

Singer on how David Hockney inspired his album artwork, and the energy of New York

Sat May 12 2018 - 05:00

Cannes 2018: line-up features Jean-Luc Godard, Spike Lee and fresh faces

Programme flush with exciting talent but only three of 18 films competing for Palme d’Or have female directors

Thu Apr 12 2018 - 13:44

‘Michael Inside’ – how prison affects a teenaged first-timer

‘A lot of the former prisoners said the story of the film is very much their story’

Tue Apr 03 2018 - 05:00

Imelda Staunton: The Irish dancing teacher slapped me. I thought ‘I’m never coming back’

Oscar-nominated actor on breaking through age barriers, Harry Potter and why she hates Irish dancing

Fri Feb 23 2018 - 05:50

Men in pieces: Raw displays of vulnerability

After a year in which three well-known Northern actors took their lives, a three-week programme of events, Edgefest, focuses on male mental health

Wed Jan 31 2018 - 10:00

Ethan Hawke: ‘It’s a dance with fire. I saw that with River’s death'

Hawke was a posterboy for generation X actors. But after seeing first hand where his precocious talent could lead, he's become a thoughtful veteran of the Hollywood machine

Fri Jul 28 2017 - 05:00

Dublin Boyz n the Hood and gruesome gangland consequence

‘Cardboard Gangsters’ is a ’hood film, not a gangster film, says director Mark O’Connor

Mon Jun 05 2017 - 06:00

Broken relentlessly maps the landscape of everyday suffering

Anna Friel is brilliant as the lead in Jimmy McGovern’s bleak drama about faith and desperation

Wed May 31 2017 - 11:00

Royle Family star remembered by fellow actors

Co-stars and directors pay tribute to Liz Smith who died aged 95 on Christmas Eve

Tue Dec 27 2016 - 15:29

Let’s build a Dublin that we would like to see on screen

Development plan ignores how cameras see the city and distribute its image worldwide

Mon Aug 01 2016 - 01:00

Stephen Frears: ‘I’m a member of the metropolitan elite. If I were anywhere else, I'd hate me'

The director greets questions with a sigh, suffers no fools - and is entirely fascinating

Fri May 06 2016 - 06:00

Once upon a time in the Irish midlands

Enda Bowe’s photographs of an unnamed Irish town reveal young people on the brink of greater awareness

Tue Apr 12 2016 - 01:00

Glen Hansard: ‘I’m not setting out to be a master’

Now 45, the Frames frontman feels he is getting better at songwriting, and is happier ‘in my skin and in my songs’ – although he reckons he’s only halfway there on his own musical journey

Mon Oct 05 2015 - 06:00