Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/22819
director’s chair am concerned!’ “The truth is, I used to talk at length about the dangers of digital editing and so on, and it’s all rub- bish! I was wrong, because it’s actu- ally a wonderful invention. The same is true of what you can do digitally, not only with the picture, but with the sound too. In fact, I just shot a shortish film using the Arri Alexa, and it’s very exciting. The look we got is just extraordinary. So I’m a huge fan now.” POST: You must have been the last British holdout. LEIGH: (Laughs) “Not quite. When we were cutting this — and The film was edited by Jon Gregory on an Avid system. ing and post and all the editing.What’s now so exciting in post is digital grading, which we did at Pepper Post.They’re very good and I’ve worked with them a lot now.” POST: You’ve worked with editor Jon Gre- gory on many of your films. How does that re- lationship work? LEIGH: “I hadn’t worked with him for some years, as he wasn’t available. He’s a great editor, and for me a great editor is someone who could cut my film perfectly even if I’d been knocked down by a bus, and Jon is exactly that. He starts assembling while we shoot, and he really understands the material and what I want. So he does his cut and then we discuss it. “Frankly, if you’ve got to sit next to an ed- itor all the time and look over his shoulder, it’s not as creative.You’re too close to it. It’s important to be able to respond to his cut. And after five months of intensive rehearsal and three of shooting, I’m completely spent, so it’s good to relax a bit and gradually get to know the film you’ve just made.We cut on Avid, and I love that too.” POST: But you once told me you hated digital and all electronic editing systems — “I will go on editing on a Kem or whatever until they drag me to a computer. I think all elec- tronic editing is bad for you creatively.”What changed your mind? LEIGH: “Here’s what happened. I was in the middle of shooting Topsy-Turvy in bak- ing heat, with the threat of an actors’ strike because of some misunderstanding, we were behind schedule, everyone was com- plaining — and right in the middle of all that, the producer and editor came to see me, both ashen-faced. I thought something else had gone horribly wrong! They told me, almost ducking for cover,‘We really feel you should cut this on Avid.’ I said, ‘Is that all? That’s the least of my worries — you can cut it on a sewing machine as far as I 16 Post • January 2011 I say this with great affection — Ken Loach was also cutting his new film down the cor- ridor — 16mm, cutting with a Steenbeck, like we did a thousand years ago. He’s the real Luddite! “I’m also the chairman at the London Film School, which is an important part of my life, helping younger filmmakers. One day Ken — who doesn’t look at anything until he’s shot it — popped in and asked me, ‘I want to watch my film and we can’t find anywhere that can screen 16mm. Can you get us into the London Film School?’” POST: Who did the visual effects and how many visual effects shots are there? LEIGH: “Pepper did them all and we had quite a lot, although most of them were en- hancing stuff and getting the right look for the different seasons.” POST: How important are sound and music to you? LEIGH: “Crucial.We did all the mixing at Goldcrest and it’s so amazing what you can do in post now with all the digital tools. When we did Vera Drake, we shot the interrogation scene at a real disused cop shop in London, and this interrogation room had hard white tiles with a glass roof, and it went brilliantly except that it pissed down the whole time, so we had all this rain noise, and I didn’t want to post sync a scene like that. But our sound editor Nigel Stone, who also did this film, was able to remove all the rain noise from the original track using Pro Tools, and I was thrilled. You could never have done that before digital.” POST: Did you do a DI? LEIGH: “Yes, at Pepper, and it was very is how we shot it, with different stocks and exposures, and then in the DI we were able to take it even further and tweak and en- hance it. So I’m a huge DI fan.” POST: Is film dead? LEIGH: “The jury’s out. It will survive in some form, but I think its days are num- bered.” POST: How’s the British film scene? LEIGH: “Financially, it’s always struggling, but creatively, I think it’s very healthy, and with my involvement with the London Film School, I’m very committed to helping young filmmakers. The problem is, not enough young filmmakers are given the support and encouragement they need, and when they are, they’re interfered with. “On the other hand, all the new tech- nology is fantastic, and they can get cheap, very high-quality gear and make films of all kinds. So given that, I feel quite optimistic about the future.” POST: You films have received numerous Oscar nominations over the years. Have you ever been approached by Hollywood? LEIGH: (laughs) “Not a lot. It has hap- pened, and I do get backing from companies like Focus, but the idea of doing a Holly- wood movie is really a red herring for me. I’m par t of World Cinema, and the British film industry, and the whole point for me is that I have total control, which I wouldn’t have in Hollywood. Of course, there’s a price to pay — low budgets — but for me, it’s a worthwhile bargain.” Another Yearwas posted at London’s Goldcrest. POST: But if a big Hollywood studio of- fered you a $250 million budget, as long as they had final cut, wouldn’t you make the deal? LEIGH: “No! I wouldn’t do it. I’ve had similar offers but I wouldn’t touch it.” POST: What’s next? LEIGH: “I’m going to direct a revival of important for getting all the different looks and palettes of the film that I wanted. Each season has a different look and tone, which www.postmagazine.com Ecstasy, a play I wrote in the ‘70s, and do a film about the British painter Turner. I’ve been trying to do it for years, and we need a big budget, so we’ll see what happens.”