Mike Leigh, one of the independent movie world’s most celebrated directors with a career spanning six decades and wins including multiple BAFTA and both a Palme d’Or and Golden Lion, has said he’s likely to be hanging up his filmmaking boots.
Speaking at a Golden Globes-hosted event in London, the 83-year-old said that “Tender Loving Care,” his latest feature, would probably the last he directs.
“Absolutely. I think very likely, yes,” he told Variety‘s sister publication Indiewire when asked whether the film — recently added to the lineup at Toronto — would be his final feature. “I mean, I know the girls don’t like to hear me say that, but I think that is the case.”
Leigh has spoken previously about his struggles with myositis, a disease where the immune system attacks the muscles and has severly impacted his mobility.
“I was lucky in making this last film — people were very helpful,” he added at the roundtable. “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. And doing a play is even more physically demanding, strangely enough, than making a film, because on a film you can be moved around.”
