Leigh talks about both his work style and the emotional and intellectual toughness that characterises his approach to filmmaking.

Mike Leigh: Interviews collects published conversations from the past seven years. This close-up encounter with Leigh expresses both his unusual work style and the emotional and intellectual toughness that characterizes his distinct approach to filmmaking. As Leigh speaks in these interviews, he reveals what is unique in his work, particularly that his films do not begin with a script. Explaining this approach, he discusses how he begins by assembling a few actors who talk, improvise, create characters, and gradually develop a story that contains their actions. Before the camera rolls, a tentative script is set, but many months may pass before the script is finished and the shooting begins. Among those he talks with in these interviews are Jay Carr of the Boston Globe, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, and Judy Stone, the longtime critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. Leigh is asked to discuss politics, social attitudes, and religion-all of which give his films a unique signature.