Happy-Go-Lucky: Mike Leigh's Characters (2008 Video) is a short documentary about the director and actors of the movie Happy-Go-Lucky.
Sally Hawkins is one of the great actors of our time. She, her co-star Eddie Marsan, and director Mike Leigh talk about the film. However, they do more than that. They talk about Leigh's approach to filmmaking. Basically, he works with the actor until the actor becomes the character being portrayed.
Then, he brings the actors together, and gives them freedom to interact in the way they might interact if they were those people. For example, Eddie Marsan, in the movie, plays a dour character named Scott. Initially, he thought he was going to be in a serious movie about a troubled man. When he met Hawkins as Poppy, he realized that this was--mostly--an upbeat movie. Here was this cheerful character, as fully immersed in her role as he was in his.
Leigh makes the magic happen, but he realizes that when he has Sally Hawkins in his cast, the magic will come much more easily.
This movie hasn't been rated, and I'm the first reviewer. That's too bad. It's a truly interesting film, which gives an insight into how directors and actors think. I rated it 10.
