British director Mike Leigh has revealed his forthcoming film, Tender Loving Care, will probably be his last.
- READ MORE: ‘Hard Truths’ review: quiet devastation and laugh-out-loud rants from legendary director Mike Leigh
One of the UK’s most celebrated directors, Leigh is famous for improvisational films usually centring on the lives on working class people. He has been nominated for seven Academy Awards across his career, and won the Palme D’Or at Cannes for his 1996 drama Secrets & Lies. Films such as Naked (1993), Vera Drake (2004), and Mr Turner (2014) have been considered among the best British films of all time by many critics.
His new film, Tender Loving Care, is a movie that the film’s production company describes as an “insightful exploration of the contemporary world”. In a Golden Globes roundtable interview, reported by IndieWire, the director revealed that this film is likely his last due to his suffering from myositis, a disease where the immune system attacks the muscles, which given him issues with mobility.
He told the gathered journalists that making another film was “not going to be possible”. Asked if this is his last film, Leigh replied: “Absolutely. I think very likely, yes.” Speaking about how the condition affected shooting on Tender Loving Care, he explained: “I was lucky in making this last film – people were very helpful. You’ll see when I get up that my two friends all helped me to stand up. So I probably can’t do much more.”
Leigh spoke about his struggles with mobility while making films in 2024. Speaking to the same outlet, he said: “I can’t get upstairs easily. But hey, we did it. Anything’s possible.” His most recent film was the acclaimed British drama Hard Truths, which NME gave five stars and described as “quietly heartbreaking” as well as “very funny but also pretty bleak.”
