Director: Mike Figgis

When Oscar®-nominated Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) was invited to film the Gumball Rally, the famous high-speed race in Istanbul, he decided instead to craft a raw and intimate film that exposes the effects of an unexpected sexual encounter and the high stakes of the race on two strangers. For seven days, Figgis shot in his signature run-and-gun style—the result is a courageous new work that blurs fact and fiction and probes the unsettling consequences of infidelity, loneliness, and life in the fast lane.

Mike Figgis has helmed such “mainstream” movies as Internal Affairs and also displayed his more eclectic personal style in such films as Stormy Monday and Liebestraum. Born in Carlisle, England, Figgis lived in Nairobi, Kenya until returning to England at age eight. As a teenager, he started playing with various rock-and-roll bands and later studied music in London. In the early 1970s, Figgis joined England’s foremost avant-garde theater group, The People Show. He later formed The Mike Figgis Group and began creating multi-media productions. Some of his earliest projects won awards for their innovative blend of live action with music and film and led to the financing of his first film, The House. In 1996, Figgis achieved international acclaim for Leaving Las Vegas, which netted him Academy Award® nominations for writing and directing (he also scored the film). Other films include Mr. Jones, The Browning Version, Mara, the documentaries On Liberty and Flamenco Women, One Night Stand, The Loss of Sexual Innocence, Miss Julie, Timecode, and Hotel.

Live Long Love was shot in 7 days.  Mike Figgis was invited by the Gumball Rally organisers to make a film.  Having rejected the idea of filming the actual rally, Mike suggested a film that was about the effect of the rally.  Choosing Istanbul as the primary location, Figgis wrote a one-page treatment, which framed the basis for the film.  Casting took place days before filming began.

A million people rally took place in Istanbul on the first day there.  Figgis and his team (2 actors, 4 crew) were warned to avoid the event.  It seemed too good to miss and so, ignoring the advice, a major scene was written and filmed.  That scene forms a crucial part of the film.  Each day more practical problems had to be dealt with and incorporated into the film.  That year’s Gumball Rally was beset with problems, which ultimately meant that Figgis and the team had to switch their second location from Berlin to Bratislava.

At one point the team was asked to leave the hotel (Istanbul) because the management suspected a porno was being filmed.

As the filming progressed reality and fiction began to blur together.  The two actors were often filmed in the context of actual Gumball events.  So many cameras were in evidence that it was assumed that the Figgis crew were documentarians.

By the end of the week an entire film had been shot, but Figgis felt that a more conclusive ending could be achieved by one extra day of filming in London.

The entire post-production was done in Figgis’s London studio using Final Cut and Pro Tools. Figgis’s Mike and Arlen, father and son, have collaborated on score and edit.