Mike Figgis
Encyclopedia
Michael "Mike" Figgis is an English film director
, writer
, and composer
.
and grew up in Africa
. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows
and cast her in several films. He is cousin to Irish filmmakers Jonathan Figgis
and Jason Figgis
who run the award-winning film production company October Eleven Pictures
in Ireland. His sons Arlen Figgis and Louis Figgis have also followed their father in to the film industry, as editor and producer respectively.
's first band. In 1983 he directed a theatre play, produced in Theatre Gerard-Philipe (Saint-Denis, Paris, France). This play performed with great success at Festival de Grenada and in Theater der Welt
(Munich, Germany).
After working in theatre (he was a musician and performer in the experimental group People Show
) he made his feature film debut with the low budget Stormy Monday
in 1988. The film earned him attention as a director who could get interesting performances from established Hollywood actors. He initially made a splash in America in the 1990s with the gritty thriller Internal Affairs
that helped to revive the career of Richard Gere
. His next Hollywood feature Mr. Jones
was misunderstood by the studio who attempted to market the downbeat story as a feelgood movie resulting in a box office flop. Figgis poured his disenchantment with the film industry into Leaving Las Vegas
, creating star turns for Nicolas Cage
and Elisabeth Shue
which earned Figgis Academy Award nominations for Best Directing and Best Screenplay. His most ambitious film to date is the low budget film The Loss of Sexual Innocence
, a loosely based autobiographical movie of the director himself.
Forays into digital video
technology led him to conceive of and direct Timecode
, 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. Since then, his work output has almost exclusively been on the cutting edge of creative digital filmmaking, with the exception of star-laden Cold Creek Manor
. He returned to the Timecode quad-screen approach for his section of Ten Minutes Older
, but has also worked on documentary pieces including a segment of The Blues
(called Red, White, and Blues) and a short piece on flamenco
. His curiosity with the cinematic use of time has led him to cite Robert Enrico
's film version of An 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, in his mind, at the moment. At an appearance at Camerimage
in 2005, he expressed the view that filmmaking had become "boring and perhaps need[ed] to become even worse before anything better can emerge" successfully at least in reaction.
He was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers online community Shooting People
. At one of their 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 stabilization rig for smaller video cameras, called the Fig Rig
which places the camera
on a platform held within a steering wheel
-like system and has since been released by Manfrotto Group
.
In 2007, Figgis shot his newest feature Love Live Long set between Istanbul and Bratislava on the infamous Gumball 3000 Rally, starring Sophie Winkleman and Daniel Lapaine.
Since 2008 Mike Figgis is professor of film studies at the European Graduate School
in Saas-Fee
, Switzerland, where he conducts intensive summer seminars.
In 2008, Figgis was called upon by Transport for London
to help shoot a PIF
entitled A 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."
To promote a new camera phone, Sony Ericsson
commissioned Mike Figgis to create Life Captured - a short film made out of mobile phone snapshots taken by fourteen people from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who were selected to submit a series of photos after winning the global Life captured competition.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
.
Personal life
Figgis was born in Carlisle, EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and grew up in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Figgis for several years had a relationship with the actress Saffron Burrows
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
and cast her in several films. He is cousin to Irish filmmakers Jonathan Figgis
Jonathan Figgis
A Co-Founder and Director of award-winning film production company October Eleven Pictures, Film Director and Producer Jonathan Figgis worked in the animation industry for a number of years, contributing on award-winning independent animated shorts as well as television series’ for the...
and Jason Figgis
Jason Figgis
Jason Figgis is a film director.He has worked on a variety of programmes for The Discovery Channel, Sky One, Sky Arts, RTÉ , SVT KSM , and Spentzos Films .-Links:* entry on IFTN...
who run the award-winning film production company October Eleven Pictures
October Eleven Pictures
October Eleven Pictures is an Irish Production Company based in Dublin, Ireland. It is a company dedicated to the development and encouragement of new and existing talent in the arenas of film, design and music. October Eleven Pictures was set up by The Figgis Brothers, Jonathan Figgis and Jason...
in Ireland. His sons Arlen Figgis and Louis Figgis have also followed their father in to the film industry, as editor and producer respectively.
Career
Figgis's early interest was in music and he played keyboards for Bryan FerryBryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry, CBE is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in...
's first band. In 1983 he directed a theatre play, produced in Theatre Gerard-Philipe (Saint-Denis, Paris, France). This play performed with great success at Festival de Grenada and in Theater der Welt
Theater der Welt
Theater der Welt is a theatre festival in Germany....
(Munich, Germany).
After working in theatre (he was a musician and performer in the experimental group People Show
People Show
The People Show is the longest running English experimental theatre company, based in the East End of London.Founded by Jeff Nuttall and Mark Long in 1966 and performing its first show in the basement of Better Books in London's Charing Cross Road, the People Show was London's first performance art...
) he made his feature film debut with the low budget Stormy Monday
Stormy Monday
Stormy Monday is the 1988 feature film debut of director Mike Figgis. Starring Sean Bean, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting and Melanie Griffith, it is an atmospheric, noirish thriller. The notable jazz soundtrack is also by Figgis. Being set in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, the film is something of an homage...
in 1988. The film earned him attention as a director who could get interesting performances from established Hollywood actors. He initially made a splash in America in the 1990s with the gritty thriller Internal Affairs
Internal Affairs (film)
Internal Affairs is a 1990 American crime-thriller film set in Los Angeles about the police department's Internal Affairs Division.Directed by Mike Figgis, the film stars Richard Gere as Dennis Peck, a suave womanizer, clever manipulator, and crooked cop who uses his fellow officers as pawns for...
that helped to revive the career of Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
. His next Hollywood feature Mr. Jones
Mr. Jones (film)
Mr. Jones is a 1993 romantic drama film starring Richard Gere, Lena Olin, Anne Bancroft, Tom Irwin and Delroy Lindo, and directed by Mike Figgis.- Plot :...
was misunderstood by the studio who attempted to market the downbeat story as a feelgood movie resulting in a box office flop. Figgis poured his disenchantment with the film industry into Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas
Leaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film directed and written by Mike Figgis, based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic who has ended his personal and professional life to drink himself to death in Las Vegas...
, creating star turns for Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
and Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Shue
Elisabeth Judson Shue is an American actress and producer, most famous for her roles in the films The Karate Kid, Adventures in Babysitting, Cocktail, Back to the Future Parts II and III and Leaving Las Vegas, for which she won five acting awards and was nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden...
which earned Figgis Academy Award nominations for Best Directing and Best Screenplay. His most ambitious film to date is the low budget film The Loss of Sexual Innocence
The Loss of Sexual Innocence
The Loss of Sexual Innocence is a 1999 film written and directed by Mike Figgis. It tells the story of the sexual development of a filmmaker through three stages of his life, in a non-linear and disjointed manner...
, a loosely based autobiographical movie of the director himself.
Forays into digital video
Digital video
Digital video is a type of digital recording system that works by using a digital rather than an analog video signal.The terms camera, video camera, and camcorder are used interchangeably in this article.- History :...
technology led him to conceive of and direct Timecode
Timecode (film)
Timecode is a 2000 American experimental film directed by Mike Figgis.The film is constructed from four continuous 90-minute takes that were filmed simultaneously by four cameramen; the screen is divided into quarters and the four shots are shown simultaneously...
, 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. Since then, his work output has almost exclusively been on the cutting edge of creative digital filmmaking, with the exception of star-laden Cold Creek Manor
Cold Creek Manor
Cold Creek Manor is a 2003 American psychological thriller film directed by Mike Figgis. The screenplay by Richard Jefferies focuses on a family terrorized by the former owner of the rural estate they bought in foreclosure...
. He returned to the Timecode quad-screen approach for his section of Ten Minutes Older
Ten Minutes Older
Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films titled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to...
, but has also worked on documentary pieces including a segment of The Blues
The Blues (film)
The Blues is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music. In each of the seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the development of the blues...
(called Red, White, and Blues) and a short piece on flamenco
Flamenco
Flamenco is a genre of music and dance which has its foundation in Andalusian music and dance and in whose evolution Andalusian Gypsies played an important part....
. His curiosity with the cinematic use of time has led him to cite Robert Enrico
Robert Enrico
Robert Georgio Enrico was a French film director and scriptwriter.He was born in Liévin, Pas-de-Calais, in the north of France.-Filmography as director:* Fait d'hiver...
's film version of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is a short story by Ambrose Bierce. It was originally published in 1890, and first collected in Bierce's 1891 book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians...
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, in his mind, at the moment. At an appearance at Camerimage
Camerimage
The International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography CAMERIMAGE is a festival dedicated to cinematography and its creators cinematographers.The first seven events were held in Toruń, Poland. The next ten events were held in Łódź...
in 2005, he expressed the view that filmmaking had become "boring and perhaps need[ed] to become even worse before anything better can emerge" successfully at least in reaction.
He was the founding patron of the independent filmmakers online community Shooting People
Shooting People
Shooting People is an international social network for independent filmmakers that was founded in 1998 by Cath Le Couteur and Jess Search. With over 35,000 subscribers in the UK and NY, members share resources and knowledge to get their films made and seen....
. At one of their 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 stabilization rig for smaller video cameras, called the Fig Rig
Fig Rig
Fig Rig is a camera stabilization device for smaller film cameras/video cameras, designed by film director Mike Figgis. The Fig Rig is made commercially by the Manfrotto Group.- External links :*...
which places the camera
Camera
A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
on a platform held within a steering wheel
Steering wheel
A steering wheel is a type of steering control in vehicles and vessels ....
-like system and has since been released by Manfrotto Group
Manfrotto Group
Manfrotto is a brand manufactured by Lino Manfrotto + Co. Spa, a company headquartered in Bassano del Grappa, Italy. Manfrotto is a worldwide leading brand in the manufacturing of camera and lighting supports. Manfrotto is owned by the UK company The Vitec Group, which purchased Lino Manfrotto +...
.
In 2007, Figgis shot his newest feature Love Live Long set between Istanbul and Bratislava on the infamous Gumball 3000 Rally, starring Sophie Winkleman and Daniel Lapaine.
Since 2008 Mike Figgis is professor of film studies at the European Graduate School
European Graduate School
The European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...
in Saas-Fee
Saas-Fee
Saas-Fee is the main village in the Saastal, or the Saas Valley, and is a municipality in the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
, Switzerland, where he conducts intensive summer seminars.
In 2008, Figgis was called upon by Transport for London
Transport for London
Transport for London is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London...
to help shoot a PIF
Public information film
Public Information Films are a series of government commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the UK. The US equivalent is the Public Service Announcement .-Subjects:...
entitled A 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."
To promote a new camera phone, Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
commissioned Mike Figgis to create Life Captured - a short film made out of mobile phone snapshots taken by fourteen people from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, who were selected to submit a series of photos after winning the global Life captured competition.
Filmography
- The House (1984)
- Stormy MondayStormy MondayStormy Monday is the 1988 feature film debut of director Mike Figgis. Starring Sean Bean, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting and Melanie Griffith, it is an atmospheric, noirish thriller. The notable jazz soundtrack is also by Figgis. Being set in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, the film is something of an homage...
(1988) - Internal AffairsInternal Affairs (film)Internal Affairs is a 1990 American crime-thriller film set in Los Angeles about the police department's Internal Affairs Division.Directed by Mike Figgis, the film stars Richard Gere as Dennis Peck, a suave womanizer, clever manipulator, and crooked cop who uses his fellow officers as pawns for...
(1990) - Women & Men 2: In Love There Are No Rules (1991)
- LiebestraumLiebestraum (film)Liebestraum is a 1991 mystery film directed by Mike Figgis, with Kim Novak, Kevin Anderson, Alicia Witt and Taina Elg.-Plot:Two affairs, a generation apart...
(1991) - Mr. JonesMr. Jones (film)Mr. Jones is a 1993 romantic drama film starring Richard Gere, Lena Olin, Anne Bancroft, Tom Irwin and Delroy Lindo, and directed by Mike Figgis.- Plot :...
(1993) - The Browning VersionThe Browning Version (1994 film)The Browning Version is a 1994 film directed by Mike Figgis and starring Albert Finney. The film is based on the 1948 play by Terence Rattigan, which was previously adapted for film under the same name in 1951.-Plot:...
(1994) - Leaving Las VegasLeaving Las VegasLeaving Las Vegas is a 1995 romantic drama film directed and written by Mike Figgis, based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by John O'Brien. Nicolas Cage stars as a suicidal alcoholic who has ended his personal and professional life to drink himself to death in Las Vegas...
(1995) - Flamenco Women (1997)
- One Night Stand (1997)
- The Loss of Sexual InnocenceThe Loss of Sexual InnocenceThe Loss of Sexual Innocence is a 1999 film written and directed by Mike Figgis. It tells the story of the sexual development of a filmmaker through three stages of his life, in a non-linear and disjointed manner...
(1999) - Miss Julie (1999)
- TimecodeTimecode (film)Timecode is a 2000 American experimental film directed by Mike Figgis.The film is constructed from four continuous 90-minute takes that were filmed simultaneously by four cameramen; the screen is divided into quarters and the four shots are shown simultaneously...
(2000) - HotelHotel (2001 film)-Plot:While a British film crew are shooting a version of The Duchess of Malfi in Venice, they in turn are being filmed by a sleazy documentary primadonna while the strange staff share meals which consist of human meat. Then there is the hit man, the call girl and the Hollywood producer all...
(2001) - The Battle of Orgreave (2001)
- Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002) Segment: About Time 2
- The BluesThe Blues (film)The Blues is a 2003 documentary film series produced by Martin Scorsese, dedicated to the history of blues music. In each of the seven episodes, a different director explores a stage in the development of the blues...
(2003) - Episode: Red, White, And Blues - Cold Creek ManorCold Creek ManorCold Creek Manor is a 2003 American psychological thriller film directed by Mike Figgis. The screenplay by Richard Jefferies focuses on a family terrorized by the former owner of the rural estate they bought in foreclosure...
(2003) - The SopranosThe SopranosThe Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
- Episode: Cold Cuts (2004) - Co/Ma (2004)
- Love Live LongLove Live LongLove Live Long is a 2008 experimental film centered around the Gumball 3000 rally....
(2008) - The Co(te)lette Film (2010)
External links
- http://film.wellcome.ac.uk:15151/mediaplayer.html?0056-0000-4852-0000-0-0000-0000-0&aud=1 Wellcome Trust oral-history interview from July 2009
- Mike Figgis Faculty page at European Graduate SchoolEuropean Graduate SchoolThe European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland is a privately funded graduate school founded by the non-profit European Foundation of Interdisciplinary Studies. Its German name is Europäische Universität für Interdisziplinäre Studien...
(Includes biography, filmography, photos and video lectures) - Digital Filmmaking book
- A short film for Agent Provocateur
- Interview
- Mike Figgis judged the Film of the Month competition in January 2009 on the independent filmmakers networking site Shooting People.