The soft-spoken, frizzy-haired 47-year-old Englishman first made his mark with the stylish thriller “Stormy Monday” (1988), then made a successful leap to Hollywood with the sexually charged tale of police corruption, “Internal Affairs.” But when he re-teamed with Richard Gere to make “Mr. Jones,” his worst nightmares came true. TriStar turned on his dark vision and brought in another director to reshoot scenes, recut the film and throw out Figgis’s score. “It was two years fighting a battle you knew you were losing.” He vowed never to work under those conditions again.
Raised in Kenya before he was transplanted to working-class Newcastle at the age of 11, Figgis first fell in love with jazz. “In my heart I always wanted to be Louis Armstrong.” In London, he segued into theater, touring for 10 years as an actor and trumpet player with an improve group. His belief in ensemble work, born of that experience, colors his view of cinema. “I’m interested in texture and how, when you get a lot of talented people together, you get a weave, rather than a superstar, or one idea that has accompaniment.” The uncompromising “Leaving Las Vegas,” financed with French money, is Figgis’s hand-woven rebuke to corporate Hollywood.
