articles/How Mike Leigh took on Turner — theartnewspaper.com

Director Mike Leigh. Photo: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images The film director Mike Leigh’s latest work is a biopic of the painter J.M.W. Turner. “Mr Turner” stars the British actor Timothy Spall as the artist and was, like all Leigh’s films and TV plays, developed through workshops and improvisations with the actors, as well as historical research. It tells the story of the last 25 years of Turner’s life (he died in 1851). At the Cannes Film Festival in May, Spall won the award for best actor and cinematographer Dick Pope won the Vulcan Award for technical achievement. Leigh has been nominated for seven Oscars and has won numerous other awards.

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