Mike Figgis | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Figgis at the 2011 Deloitte Ignite | |
| Born | Michael Figgis (1948-02-28)28 February 1948 (age 77) Carlisle,Cumberland, England |
| Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, composer |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Children | 2 |
Michael Figgis (born 28 February 1948) is an English film director, screenwriter, and composer.[1] He was nominated for twoAcademy Awards for his work onLeaving Las Vegas (1995). Figgis was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers' online communityShooting People.
Figgis was born inCarlisle,Cumberland, and grew up inNairobi,Kenya until he was eight. The rest of his childhood was spent inNewcastle upon Tyne, where he was educated atKenton Comprehensive School (the musiciansIan Carr andJohn Walters were among his teachers there).[2][3] He studied music atTrent Park College, then part of theInstitute of Education, University of London, where he "lived a lie" for three years – he had, in his words, "bluffed [his] way into the music course without being able to read music", although he later learned how to study harmony, counterpoint and composition.[4]
Figgis's early interest was in music. He played trumpet and guitar in The People Band and is audible in their first record (produced byCharlie Watts) in 1968. He also played keyboards forBryan Ferry's first band, The Gas Board. In 1983 he directed a theatre play, produced inTheatre Gerard-Philipe (Saint-Denis, Paris). This play performed with great success atFestival de Grenada and inTheater der Welt (Munich).
After working in theatre (he was a musician and performer in the experimental groupPeople Show)[1] Figgis made his feature film debut with the low budgetStormy Monday in 1988. The film earned him attention as a director who could get interesting performances from established Hollywood actors. His first American film wasInternal Affairs, which helped to revive the career ofRichard Gere. His next Hollywood feature,Mr. Jones, was misunderstood by the studio, who attempted to market the downbeat story as a feelgood film, resulting in a box office flop. Figgis poured his disenchantment with the film industry intoLeaving Las Vegas, which starredNicolas Cage andElisabeth Shue, which earned FiggisAcademy Award nominations for Best Directing and Best Screenplay. He followed this up with the romantic dramaOne Night Stand, starringWesley Snipes andNastassja Kinski, but the movie received a poor response from critics and was a commercial failure. His most ambitious film to date is the low-budget filmThe Loss of Sexual Innocence, a loosely based autobiographical film of the director himself.
In 2007, Figgis shotLove Live Long set betweenIstanbul andBratislava on the infamousGumball 3000 Rally, starringSophie Winkleman andDaniel Lapaine. In 2008, he was called upon byTransport for London to help shoot apublic information film entitledA Little Thought From Each of Us, A Big Difference For Everyone, encouraging more considerate behaviour on London's public transport systems, which was then shown in London cinemas. The ad comprised the screen split into four sections, each section showing one of four scenarios all on the same double-decker bus. At the end of the ad, the friction-creating scenarios were resolved and the ad ended on "A little thought from each of us. A big difference for everyone."
Forays intodigital video technology led Figgis to conceive of and directTimecode, which took advantage of the technology to create an ensemble film shot simultaneously with four cameras all in one take and also presented simultaneously and uncut, dividing the screen into four-quarters. He returned to theTimecode quad-screen approach for his section ofTen Minutes Older, but has also worked on documentary pieces including a segment ofThe Blues (called Red, White, and Blues) and a short piece onflamenco. His curiosity with the cinematic use of time has led him to citeRobert Enrico's 1962 film version ofAn Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge as an influential film for him. Figgis has a well-documented love-hate relationship with the Hollywood system which leads him to often be an outspoken critic of the system while also despairing the lack of a better alternative. At an appearance atCamerimage in 2005, he expressed the view that filmmaking had become "boring and perhaps need[ed] to become even worse before anything better can emerge" at least in reaction.
At one of the Shooting People events in 2005 he said that filmmaking with a small digital camera made the experience more like painting or novel writing than the movie industry. His fascination with camera technology has also led him to create a camera stabilisation rig for smaller video cameras, called theFig Rig which places the camera on a platform held within asteering wheel-like system and has since been released byManfrotto Group.[5]
To promote a new camera phone,Sony Ericsson commissioned Figgis to createLife Captured, a short film made out of mobile phone snapshots taken by 14 people from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, who were selected to submit a series of photos after winning the global competition.[6]
Figgis, since 2008, has been professor of film studies at theEuropean Graduate School inSaas-Fee,Switzerland, where he conducts intensive summer seminars.[1]
Figgis was made an Honorary Associate ofLondon Film School.
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Composer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Stormy Monday | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1990 | Internal Affairs | Yes | No | No | Yes | |
| 1991 | Liebestraum | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1993 | Mr. Jones | Yes | No | No | No | |
| 1994 | The Browning Version | Yes | No | No | No | |
| 1995 | Leaving Las Vegas | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1997 | One Night Stand | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 1999 | The Loss of Sexual Innocence | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Miss Julie | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ||
| 2000 | Timecode | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2001 | Hotel | Yes | Story | Yes | Yes | |
| 2002 | Ten Minutes Older | Yes | Yes | No | No | SegmentAbout Time 2 |
| 2003 | Cold Creek Manor | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
| 2008 | Love Live Long | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also cinematographer |
| 2012 | Suspension of Disbelief | Yes | Yes | Executive | Yes | Also cinematographer and editor |
Documentary film
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Flamenco Women | |
| 2001 | The Battle of Orgreave | |
| 2004 | Co/Ma | Also executive producer, cinematographer and editor |
| 2017 | The Battle of Hastings | |
| 2019 | Somebody Up There Likes Me | |
| 2025 | Megadoc |
TV movies
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Producer | Composer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | The House | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| 1991 | Women & Men 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | SegmentMara |
TV series
| Year | Title | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | The Blues | "Red, White and Blues" |
| 2004 | The Sopranos | "Cold Cuts" |
| 2008 | Canterbury's Law | "Pilot" (Also executive producer) |
| 2018 | The Affair | "401" |
