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Happy-Go-Lucky’s Mike Leigh and Sally Hawkins: thecheappop.com interviews

October 8th, 2008 MikeJohnson Leave a comment Go to comments

The Movie is Happy-Go-Lucky, the director is not
By Mike Johnson

We are constantly asking ourselves various versions of the question “what will make me happy?” It seems like everyday on Msn.com there’s a new article titled “10 things to make you happy today,” which always convinces me I should stop what I’m doing to go have sex and eat some avocados. Thanks, Doc! Biologists and psychologists designate hundreds of hours of research on the subject. If you ask me, it’s a bullshit question because it varies not just person to person, but day to day. If my fantasy football team wins I’m happy from at least Monday to Thursday no matter what else happens. I feel happy a high percentage of the time but is that because I’m putting myself in certain situations I know I enjoy and surrounding myself with people I want to spend time with? Does that mean I’m truly happy? The much more important question to ask, the question that writer and director Mike Leigh asks in his new film Happy-Go-Lucky, is “Is happiness a choice?” Can I choose to be happy in the midst of so much crap?Leigh’s obvious answer is “yes,” and that answer takes human form in the movie’s main character, Poppy, the most bubbly, optimistic character I’ve ever seen. His new film Happy-Go-Lucky, which opens Friday, doesn’t have a conventional plot where there’s some intro stuff and a main conflict that builds towards a resolution. It’s basically a scene-to-scene exploration of people and relationships, and to me felt more like interesting case study than a movie. The meat of the movie is in the examination of how Poppy impacts the people she meets, and how she chooses to cope with some of life’s downers. Mix in some cheeky British dialogue and you have an enjoyable enough movie that can get you thinking about how perspective effects reality.

I had a chance to chat with Sally Hawkins (Poppy) and Mike Leigh at a NYC press junket last week. Forgetting about the movie for a second, Mike Leigh is a hilarious individual. Usually I have no tolerance for arrogant people but Leigh was so over-the-top arrogant that I found it charming, similar to the way I feel about Simon Cowell. I was laughing at statements he made which he didn’t intend to be funny at all, and when he told me that my question about his improvisational tactics made no sense, I wanted to give him a hug and nuzzle up to his filthy beard.

Personality issues aside, his directing style merits praise. He has his actors go through six weeks of rigorous improv work where they collaborate on building their characters before any film enters the camera. He’ll have a basic framework for who he wants in a scene and how he wants it to go, but he allows the scenes to manifest organically through improvisation and by the time he’s ready to shoot, the film has scripted itself with genuine, realistic dialogue. It makes sense when you see the movie because every actor seemed so comfortable and ideal for the role they play. Don’t tell this to Mike Leigh, he already knows. When told in a complimentary tone that Hawkins was perfect casting for the role of Poppy, he responded (Simon voice) “Well in a way that is a ridiculous observation because she created the role herself. Of course she’s perfect for the role. Every actor you’ve ever seen in any of my films is perfect for their role and each of those actors has collaborated in creating the role.”

This isn’t Hawkins’ first time working with Leigh. She played a supporting role in his 2004 film Vera Drake but he knew the girl had some skills and wanted to give her a shot as a lead. Hawkins has been receiving deserved praise since the movie started screening and she’s an infectious little number in person, too. She spoke fondly of Leigh, who is that grumpy, difficult teacher who made you want to quit a bunch of times but who you ultimately respect for making you better. Standoffish on the exterior, he only wants to make a perfect film. “We’ve known each other for a few years and we get along quite well. All the actors he uses again and again are like his family. The time that we’re working is very intense so we become quite close. You really get to know someone,” Hawkins continued, “You go through it all for Mike with the rehearsal period. It’s very hard work, you need to commit, it’s very demanding, but the best things are and you wouldn’t want it to be any other way.” And he’s good… “It was terrifying. He has all these actors in their worlds like plates spinning and he finds a way to pull it all together.”

A major motif throughout the movie is the role of teachers in society. Poppy is a teacher herself who must find a way to reach a damaged kid, and some of the Happy-Go-Lucky’s most emotionally charged and funny moments take place when she’s either in her flamenco class with a wildy passionate teacher, or in driving class with her pessimistic, cynical nemesis, Scott. Bring it all home for us, Mike? “We are making a mess of the world, we are in times that are infinitely worse than people of my generation are used to. While there’s a great deal to be gloomy about, the fact is that there are people out there rolling up there sleeves and getting on with it, particularly people who are teachers, the Poppy’s of this world who are cherishing and nurturing the future.” Ya big softy.

See this movie because I like when people see movie’s I’ve seen. We can talk about it after.

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