Director Mike Leigh says that his latest drama, Tender Loving Care, will “very likely” be his final film due to health issues. Meantime. Life Is Sweet. Secrets & Lies. Topsy Turvy. British director Mike Leigh has made some extraordinary films over the decades. But this year’s Tender Loving Care will, it seems, serve as a ... Tender Loving Care will be Mike Leigh’s final film
Director Mike Leigh says that his latest drama, Tender Loving Care, will “very likely” be his final film due to health issues.
Meantime. Life Is Sweet. Secrets & Lies. Topsy Turvy. British director Mike Leigh has made some extraordinary films over the decades. But this year’s Tender Loving Care will, it seems, serve as a capstone for the filmmaker’s long career.
Another semi-improvised drama from a director prized for his collaborative approach to making his films, Tender Loving Care stars Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn and Marion Bailey, whose work stretches back to the late 1970s; their first film togethe was the above-mentioned Meantime, released in 1983.
The production of Leigh’s latest film was made more challenging by his ongoing struggle with myositis – an autoimmune disease which affects the muscles. It’s an illness that has affected his mobility and, in turn, made directing more difficult.
“I was lucky in making this last film,” Leigh recently told IndieWire; “people were very helpful. You’ll see when I get up that my two friends all helped me to stand up. So I probably can’t do much more. And doing a play is even more physically demanding, strangely enough, than making a film, because on a film you can be moved around.”
When the outlet asked whether Tender Loving Care would be Leigh’s final film, he said, “Absolutely. I think very likely, yes.”
To date, there’s little clue as to what his final film will be about – not least because his improvisational approach means there isn’t a script or a plot treatment to work from. It’s an approach that has left Leigh struggling to find investors in his films – which says a lot about the sorry state of independent filmmaking, if even a director of his repute can’t readily find the funding he needs.
Filming wrapped on Tender Loving Care in 2026, and it’s due to make its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Like 2024’s Hard Truths, it’ll be distributed by StudioCanal in the UK; assuming it arrives later this year, the drama will almost certainly be in contention for all kinds of awards in 2027.
We’ll bring you more as we hear it. In the meantime, do have a listen to this Film Stories podcast from 2025, in which Simon had a lengthy conversation with Mike Leigh about his career and filmmaking approach.
