Collected Screenplays 1: Stormy Monday / Liebestraum / Leaving Las Vegas

by Mike Figgis

Mike Figgis is known for his iconoclastic portrayals of outsiders. Stormy Monday (1988) depicts a janitor turned jazz club partner while in Liebestraum (1991) two affairs shed light on a 30-year old murder-suicide. But it was with Leaving Las Vegas (1995) that Figgis became a household name. The heartbreaking story of the friendship between a prostitute and a man drinking himself to death, the film garnered numerous accolades and awards including Oscar nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Director, and has since become a contemporary classic.

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2002

About the author

With his roots in experimental theater and music, it is perhaps surprising that Kenyan-born writer-director Mike Figgis started out as such a conventional filmmaker, but his dissatisfaction with the Hollywood studio system eventually led to his true calling as one of the most innovative auteurs working in contemporary cinema. After studying music in London, he became a member of Gas Board, an English rhythm-and-blues band (which also featured a pre-fame Bryan Ferry), and later went on tour for nearly a decade with an experimental theater group The People Show first as a musician, then also as an actor. Undaunted by his unsuccessful application to London's National Film School, Figgis began writing and directing his own stage productions, visually striking works like "Redheugh", "Slow Fade" and "Animals of the City", which combined music with filmed segments and live performance. He developed "Slow Fade" into a one-hour piece ("The House") for Britain's Channel 4, capturing the attention of producer David Puttnam, for whom he wrote a treatment that would become his feature writing-directing debut, "Stormy Monday" (1988)". Although Puttnam would pass on the project, Figgis did finally get backing for his tale set in the seamy world of Newcastle jazz clubs. The atmospheric homage to Hollywood film noir featured a score by the director, who also persuaded B.B. King to record the title track, a career first for the great bluesman. His impressive American debut, "Internal Affairs" (1990), was a striking portrait of police corruption featuring powerhouse performances by a creepy silver-haired Richard Gere and a seething Andy Garcia. The studio demanded control over the music and chose two composers to help execute Figgis' vision, even though he had already done a temporary track to accompany the film. His follow up, "Liebestraum" (1991), made precious little sense--something about a 40-year-old sex scandal, corruption, and family madness--but had style to spare, and with Brit backing, he was able to write his own score, a more or less "wall-to-wall" affair, often almost inaudible but always a presence. Figgis then tangled with the studio and producers who insisted that "Mr. Jones" (1993), a change-of-pace romance with Gere as a manic depressive charmer who gets involved with his psychiatrist (Lena Olin), be more upbeat. "I thought it was a ludicrous idea," he told The New York Times (November 1, 1995). "Manic-depression isn't something to dismiss lightly." Once again a hired gun on the well-mounted, though stodgy remake of "The Browning Version" (1994), Figgis was at the creative center of his next project, "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995), and acquired foreign financing to protect the integrity of his noirish character study of an alcoholic, suicidal screenwriter (Nicolas Cage in an Oscar-winning turn) and his relationship with an abused prostitute (Elisabeth Shue). The actors and director took virtually no money, and Figgis began his love affair with the cheaper, grittier, "more impressionistic" Super 16 film (later blown up to 35 mm) normally used in documentaries, perfectly capturing the seamy trappings of the powerful love story. He also composed the score, and Sting, who had starred in "Stormy Monday", volunteered to sing on the soundtrack. When the movie opened, he had no expectations for commercial success, but "Leaving Las Vegas" became a critical darling, earning him the best reviews of his career as well as two Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. After serving as executive producer of Annette Haywood-Carter's "Foxfire" (1996), Figgis then produced his own "One Night Stand" (1997), which he extensively rewrote from a Joe Eszterhas script (so much so that Eszterhas took no credit). Despite a too pat ending, it continued to show him as a filmmaker firmly in control, expertly matching his moody score to his complex take on relationships and reassessing life choices. His next film, "The Loss of Sexual Inn

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stormy Monday written and directed by Mike Figgis is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made…with this, I have reached the 800 seen mark from this list, which is relative, in that there are some that I will not be able to find, others might not – or definitely – be of interest, so in this space, there may be just another one hundred posts on features from The NYT 1,000, nevertheless, you have thousands of notes on films from there and other sites on my blog https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and/or YouTube channel, if you are curious


7, maybe 6 out of 10

I was not exhilarated, indeed, I even wonder why Stormy Monday made it on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list, for it clearly will not be included on my own, not even if I manage to put together 5,000 titles…or well, maybe then, being left out of names, it has to do with a few elements to consider

Leaving Las Vegas https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Mike Figgis was much better, those were the days when Nicolas Cage was at the peak of his career, he won two Oscars, and one was for Leaving Las Vegas, wherein he has the leading role of a likeable alcoholic who falls in love
Melanie Griffith has a prominent role in Stormy Monday, I must say that she is very sexy from the opening scenes – I can say this because I feel few, if any read these lines, and here we have that Golden Mean, the middle between two extremes, if people read, they insult you, if they do not, then you get to say almost anything

Aristotle https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... wrote about the Golden Mean, the idea that you have to find a balance, courage does not mean taking the motorcycle on ice and drive it with three kilometers per hour, and it is not about staying locked in the house for fear of dangers
Kate aka Melanie Griffith is sitting on this chair, with her legs up, sometime near the start, and I still have that image in my head, she is the mother of Kate Hudson, the superb star of Almost Famous, and acclaimed for her recent performance in Song Sung Blue, I was surprised to see her mature, as I keep Almost Famous in mind

One issue I have with Stormy Monday is Tommy Lee Jones, winner of the Oscar for his role in The Fugitive, that obnoxious (for this cinephile) detective – or was he a sheriff, Marshall? – who chases after the innocent Harrison Ford, Lee Jones may a munificent person, but my view is that he has those ‘negative vibes’
He was good in No Country For Old Men https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... the whole package is mesmerizing, magnificent, and I think Tommy Lee Jones is mellow there, I dislike that abrasive style, the manner in which he plays Cosmo in Stormy Monday, and yes, this is my bad

The thespian might be perfect, Cosmo is a negative character, ergo presenting him as contemptible is the goal…a last word on Sting: the star singer acts in a few excellent motion pictures, one is Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...

[Peter Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love leaving Las Vegas, great screenplay.