Mike Figgis:<\/strong> I was in Hollywood working on post-production. I\u2019d done Mr. Jones [1993], then an HBO film with Juliette Binoche [Women and Men 2, 1991]. I was in the process of doing The Browning Version [1994], produced by Ridley Scott. Those projects started off from best intentions and had all gone pear-shaped for me. I\u2019d been in a terrible clash with the studios, with HBO, ultimately, also with The Browning Version. One of the contentious issues was the music. I wrote the score for \u2013 and they fired me off \u2013 all of those films. I was having big issues with scripts, trying to make them better. I was at an all-time low and not acknowledging the fact that things were pretty\u00a0grim.<\/p>\n I had decided to get out of the film business. I was very unhappy in Los Angeles, feeling creative but totally blocked. I had a small group of loyal, good friends, one called Stuart Regen. Stuart came from New York and ran an art gallery in Santa Monica. His mother [Barbara Gladstone] was a big deal in the New York art world and he had represented Robert Mapplethorpe. He also represented director Matthew Barney. Stuart had optioned the rights, and he gave me the book, but I didn\u2019t read it for quite a long time because I was preoccupied with my life. But because he was a dear friend, I got really guilty, and the third time he said, \u201cHave you had a chance?\u201d I sat down and started reading\u00a0it.<\/p>\n What were your first\u00a0impressions?<\/strong><\/p>\n I remember very quickly being drawn in. The subject matter was very close to what I\u2019d been trying to do with Mr. Jones but had been utterly thwarted by the inane suggestions: \u201cYou\u2019ve got to make it more cheerful,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s got to have a happy ending but make it funnier.\u201d It started to coalesce in my mind. I\u2019d been dreaming of shooting on Super 16 and going back to a version of what I had before I was a filmmaker, which was very minimalistic performance art, where you invented things and\u00a0improvised.\u00a0<\/p>\n I always wanted to try and create a cinema environment for myself where I could continue doing that. I didn\u2019t have the highest expectation of being able to raise the money, because my credit rating had gone down quite a lot. I was known as a troublemaker, someone who, my agent informed me, didn\u2019t understand the social contract. It\u2019s definitely not a book you read and think \u201cThis is a film.\u201d It\u2019s all very, very dark and done with [lots of ] dialogue. I thought, \u201cThis is fascinating. I wonder if I can convert this.\u201d That was the genesis of writing a\u00a0script.<\/p>\n Did the author\u2019s death have any bearing on the making of the film?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n No. I knew Stuart had met John, because he bought the film rights. We talked about what an interesting guy he is. My guess is that John was totally preoccupied with his own demons at that point. We had started pre-production, then Stuart called me and said, \u201cIt\u2019s very sad news, he\u2019s committed suicide.\u201d Later on, when I got to know his family, they weren\u2019t surprised, and they said the novel is a suicide note. A very articulate\u00a0one.<\/p>\n How was Nicolas Cage\u00a0cast?<\/strong><\/p>\n There was a fabulous agent \u2013 the last of the great, romantic agents \u2013 called Ed Limato. He was larger than life and had a mansion up in Hollywood Hills. His Oscar parties were always the best. He\u2019d represented Richard Gere, Michelle Pfeiffer, everybody. He was the top agent, until Mike Ovitz was taking over that world. He represented Nicolas briefly. Nicolas has never held on to an agent or a manager for longer than 10 minutes. In that period, Ed was representing him, and we were friends. He hadn\u2019t given it to anybody else. The next thing, boom, Ed said, \u201cHe wants to send you a fax.\u201d He called himself Spooky Blue \u2019cause he was in some hotel under the false name of Spooky Blue. I kept the fax, but unfortunately faxes fade, so I have a blank sheet of paper on which this message was written saying, \u201cI love this so much. I beg you, don\u2019t give it to anybody\u00a0else.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He rented a suite at the Chateau Marmont for two weeks before the shoot, where we rehearsed, ate and he comped everything. He and I halved our fee in order to OK the budget. Neither of us ever got paid, but we both got paid quite handsomely for our next films. In the case of Nicolas, 20\u00a0million.<\/p>\n It\u2019s probably the best thing Elisabeth Shue has done. Could you tell me about her\u00a0casting?<\/strong><\/p>\n I met Elisabeth casting a film called The Hot Spot, which fell apart before Dennis Hopper took it over and directed his version of it. When I was casting that, I met Elisabeth. I\u2019d seen Adventures in Babysitting [1987], which I loved. She shone out of that. When I met her, we did a two-hour reading and she was amazing. Ultimately, I didn\u2019t direct the film. I also had provisionally cast Uma Thurman in that role, and apparently that devastated\u00a0Elisabeth.<\/p>\n Then Elisabeth had some family tragedies, so went through a very dark period, and I bumped into her a couple of years later developing Leaving Las Vegas. We got nicely drunk together and I apologised. I said I have this other thing, I haven\u2019t shown it to anybody else, but I want you to do it. It was always in my mind, I always wanted to work with her again. So the two lead parts were not cast in any conventional way. They were one-stop shopping. Most of the casting was done through your mates. Danny Huston was like my kid brother at that point and Julian Lennon, Laurie Metcalf, all those people, came for a day, had\u00a0fun.<\/p>\n Apparently Nic went binge-drinking in Dublin and Elisabeth went and interviewed some Las Vegas prostitutes. To what extent did you encourage that\u00a0research?<\/strong><\/p>\n I didn\u2019t, no. Elisabeth, I got these great clothes from Vivienne Westwood. I\u2019d become friends with Vivienne. I told her, I\u2019m doing this low-budget movie. \u201cOh, I\u2019ll give you some clothes.\u201d She gave me all Elisabeth\u2019s costumes. Elisabeth would go out on Sunset [Boulevard], on the darker part, with her future husband watching from a car, and she would walk up and down, like a hooker. Nicolas got a driver, a Rolls Royce, and the suite at the Chateau. I did a couple of nights drinking with him and it was too much. He got very drunk every night. They both did whatever it\u00a0took.<\/p>\n There are many varied depictions of alcoholism on film from In a Lonely Place to Harvey [both 1950], even things like Arthur [1981]. Did you look at any films about alcoholism before you made the film or were there any that had any impact on\u00a0it?<\/strong><\/p>\n The only one I happened to see \u2013 I\u2019d become friends with Albert Finney \u2013 was Under the Volcano [1984], which is my favourite drunk film. There are similarities between Albert\u2019s character and Under the Volcano, and there\u2019s a very focused intelligence in the alcoholism and the suicidal vibe to it. I did talk to Albert about it, made no bones about this big influence on me, and projected that on to\u00a0Nic.<\/p>\n We talked about the possibility of doing the film drunk, and I said no. I didn\u2019t have time or the budget for that. It would have been terrible. Albert said, \u201cAdvise him not to.\u201d He had some nice little hints: \u201cHave some scotch, dip your finger in it, make your mouth wet with scotch, then do your take.\u201d That gives you the memory of alcohol. That\u2019s what you need. Don\u2019t be\u00a0drunk.<\/p>\n Albert did a really nice thing. He said, for him, being a drunk was when you put a glass down on the table, it\u2019s like a moon landing. You don\u2019t crush it down. Your hand is not shaking. When you sit down, you\u2019re demonstrating that you\u2019re not drunk, even though you\u2019re drunk; that reverse psychology. Nic\u2019s a great actor, so I shared as much of it as possible, then he brought his own version to\u00a0it.<\/p>\n Was the reasoning behind shooting it on Super 16 \u2013 financial, artistic or a bit of\u00a0both?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was a totally aesthetic choice which happened to fit in with the idea that it was cheapest; also because it would imply smaller and less equipment, vans not trucks. Along with that came my whole idea to not use cranes and not do all that fucking boring bullshit. Just handheld or stick it on a\u00a0tripod.<\/p>\n We were shooting two cameras. Declan Quinn was the DP; he would light it. We discussed how minimal the lighting would be. He\u2019d do the master, and while he was doing that, I just found a second angle, so I was second camera. I had my own too. That was a consideration. I owned a 16 millimetre, so I\u2019d find all the close-ups. I also knew the script better than Declan. I could anticipate what was gonna happen because I\u2019d written\u00a0it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s always a challenge with DPs, because they want lots of rehearsals and then they work out and move. Whereas if you wrote it, you don\u2019t have to rehearse it. I could say to Elisabeth or Nic, \u201cThat was really good with what you did with your hands,\u201d because I was close on the hands. All of those things become possible on Super 16, virtually impossible on 35. Or today, would be on an Alexa [digital camera]. Saying that, Alexa is even more complicated than\u00a035.<\/p>\n Nicolas once said that he felt less intimidated by the smaller camera. Did any other actors mention\u00a0that?\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Everybody. We could extend that now to making a film like MegaDoc [2025] with basically a DSLR. At that point, you\u2019ve reduced your advertising \u2013\u00a0the \u201cI\u2019m making a film\u201d stuff, too. Also, your eyeline is now free. It was the beginning of that process of reductive filmmaking, approaching what I would call the style of intimate filmmaking. Nic was fascinated, to the extent that he was going to go and buy one, but then he did Con Air [1997] and probably changed his\u00a0mind.<\/p>\n Is it true you shot some scenes in Vegas without\u00a0permits?<\/strong><\/p>\n To an extent. They wouldn\u2019t give us permits, and the casinos didn\u2019t want us to be in there. They didn\u2019t like the script because of suicide, alcohol, those things. At that point, Vegas was trying to become this family venue, so we were fairly restricted, but we\u2019d already made the realistic adjustment to go to another town called Laughlin, which is a geriatric version of Vegas just down the Colorado river. It\u2019s not very far. It\u2019s just much older people but looks the\u00a0same.<\/p>\n While we were in Vegas, the minute you got out of the car, put the tripod on the sidewalk, some security guy would say, \u201cYou have no permission.\u201d \u201cNo permission? It\u2019s a public sidewalk.\u201d \u201cBut it\u2019s in front of our casino, we own the sidewalk,\u201d and I went, \u201cYou own the sidewalk? Do you own the road? If I\u2019m in my car, do you own me there?\u201d They went, \u201cNo.\u201d I said, \u201cIf I\u2019m filming out of the window of my car on the road in front of your sidewalk, is that okay?\u201d They go, \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0fine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A lot of the shots were like that, driving around, using free electricity. Any indie filmmaker could do that. The scenes where he\u2019s sitting, she comes up to him and says, \u201cWhat are you doing? \u201cI sold my car\u201d \u2013 we didn\u2019t control the traffic, but we must have had permission to shoot on that bit of pavement \u2019cause we had lights. It\u2019s tempting to do a romantic lie and say we shot everything without permits, but that\u2019s not strictly\u00a0true.<\/p>\n Vegas has long had a reputation as a wild, dissolute place. What was the atmosphere like shooting\u00a0there?<\/strong><\/p>\n It was grim. The most depressing place I\u2019ve ever been. A lot of overweight people wandering around like lost sheep. Nothing romantic about it. We stayed in the cheapest hotel we could find, and my room had that stucco, plaster effect on the wall. There were bloodstains on the ceiling of my bedroom. Someone had committed suicide two weeks\u00a0earlier.<\/p>\n Did you have any difficulties with any of the locals or anyone\u00a0else?<\/strong><\/p>\n We almost had an accident in a helicopter. The pilot had been a Vietnam vet, not necessarily the best thing you should be hearing, having seen Apocalypse Now [1979]. They had just built the pyramid [Luxor Las Vegas hotel and casino]. I\u2019d love a shot flying around it, because it also has a laser coming out of the top. Declan and I were strapped in, but the doors were open, they\u2019re not proper camera pods. We\u2019re just hanging on. I\u2019m feeling really nauseous flying and suddenly he just swoops down the entire side of the of the pyramid, really close. Afterwards I went, \u201cThat was amazing.\u201d He said, \u201cWhoops, sorry. I got caught in a downdraft, that wasn\u2019t supposed to happen.\u201d Luckily, I just thought he was a brilliant\u00a0pilot.<\/p>\n The film was a big critical and commercial success. Nic got the best actor Oscar. Elisabeth got nominated. To what extent did you expect the plaudits the film\u00a0received?<\/strong><\/p>\n Zero. I don\u2019t think Nic did either. I remember going to LA to show Nic the film on a crappy tape. We\u2019d made plans to have dinner afterwards. He fed me all these cocktails. I just got off the plane, had jetlag, was getting really smashed. We watch the film, smoke cigars. When it finished, he went, \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019ll happen to the movie, but it\u2019s been a great ride, Mike. You take care, good luck.\u201d I said, \u201cAren\u2019t we going to dinner?\u201d He said, \u201cI\u2019ve got to go meet some models at this club.\u201d He pushed me to my car. It\u2019s getting dark on a Friday night in Los Angeles, I\u2019m completely drunk. I get lost on the way home, end up in the wrong side of the Valley. I\u2019m petrified I am gonna get stopped by the police and go to jail. For 25 years, I kept thinking, \u201cHe said we were going to have dinner.\u201d He thought it was gonna bomb. So, his expectation was like\u00a0mine.<\/p>\n We were struggling trying to sell it. Nobody wanted it. The usual suspects: Miramax, Fox Searchlight, everybody turned it down. Until MGM and [executive] John Calley showed interest and started pushing it a little bit. There\u2019s a guy in Vegas who had predicted who\u2019s gonna get an Oscar, and he was always right: he mentioned Leaving Las Vegas. It started to change quite quickly. The Oscar nominations came out and there\u2019s a fucking camera crew outside my very small little house. You go through customs, they check your passport: \u201cGood luck next week, sir.\u201d Bonkers. I know it\u2019s not permanent, because I\u2019m not a 21-year-old. I\u2019ve been through so much performance art bullshit, I not only understand failure, I quite relish it. Success is very strange, but it ain\u2019t\u00a0permanent.<\/p>\n How do you feel about the film now you look back at\u00a0it?<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m grateful, because what happened next was entirely set up by the success of the film. I was critically out and financially. I suddenly get very good paydays for the next couple of movies. I knew that it wouldn\u2019t last forever, because I had two choices. I could either make a lot of money and join the Ridley Scott Club and get a very nice house. Or this is my green light to go back into funky filmmaking, which I knew had a limited economic possibility. But I did milk it for a bit. Timecode [2000] was made possible by the combination of the critical moment, but also the economic\u00a0moment.<\/p>\n I saw Leaving Las Vegas six weeks ago in Berlin and I hadn\u2019t seen it for a long time. The new print looked pretty good. Sounded great. It\u2019s nice to be able to have that much time to acknowledge. In the present everything\u2019s bullshit. You make a film, somebody says, \u201cI think it\u2019s a work of genius.\u201d Let\u2019s see in 20 years time if it\u2019s got any legs, that\u2019s the only test. The films I watch now tend to have survived at least 30 years. I don\u2019t mind watching them again, I\u2019ll always see something new. Whereas next year\u2019s Oscar nominations have zero appeal to me because the process is so\u00a0suspect.<\/p>\n Leaving Las Vegas is out on 4K UHD and Blu-ray in a new 4K restoration from 18\u00a0May.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An empathetic, unflinching drama about a screenwriter determined to drink himself to death, Leaving Las Vegas was an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":943608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[263537,77,3943,16,15,263538],"class_list":{"0":"post-943607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-labelamerican-cinema","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-movies","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-urlhttps-www-bfi-org-uk-articles-subject-american-cinema"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116532889969557909","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/leaving-las-vegas-1995-mike-figgis-nicolas-cage-on-set.jpg\")
Mike Figgis and Nicolas Cage on the set of Leaving Las Vegas (1995)Courtesy Studiocanal <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/leaving-las-vegas-1995-nicolas-cage-elisabeth-shue-walking-vegas-strip.jpg\")
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)Courtesy Studiocanal <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/leaving-las-vegas-1995-nicolas-cage-elisabeth-shue-swimming-pool.jpg\")
Leaving Las Vegas (1995)Courtesy Studiocanal <\/p>\n