Michael Winterbottom On Why The UK Isn't Making More Indie Films

Michael Winterbottom is one of Britain’s most prolific film directors, but in his new book he lifts the lid on why it’s so hard to get films made in the UK. Having used the first covid lockdown to interview a who’s who of the country’s auteurs, winterbottom tells total film why the industry often fails to nurture its most promising talent.

- Matt Maytum

If you scan Michael Winterbottom’s filmography, it’s clear he’s no slouch. He’s racked up 45 film and TV credits in his 32-year career thus far, dabbling in broad and varied genres, often with an experimental angle. He’s tackled the classic literary adap (Jude), an era-spanning musical biopic (24 Hour Party People), sci-fi (Code 46), docudrama (The Road To Guantanamo) and head-scratching meta-fiction (A Cock And Bull Story).

Steve Coogan is a regular collaborator; together the pair have made four films, and four series of The Trip (edited down and released internationally as films). Winterbottom’s films are often grounded in reality on one level or another, from the thinly fictionalised versions of Coogan and Brydon’s travelling dining companions, to In This World’s non-professional cast of Afghan refugees, to 9 Songs’ unsimulated sex.

His most recent project is not a film at all, but is still seeking a certain truth. During the first Covid lockdown in spring 2020, Winterbottom used the lull to interview an incredible array of British directors, including Danny Boyle, Steve McQueen, Edgar Wright, Lynne Ramsay, Ben Wheatley and Mike Leigh; the Q&As are collected in his new book, Dark Matter: Independent Filmmaking In The 21st Century.