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Filmmaker Mike Figgis on rage: the violence that shaped him, the fury he learned to turn into film, and why anger still needs an outlet. Figgis Unfiltered S2 E2.
Season 2 of Figgis Unfiltered examines the human emotions, one at a time. In Episode 2, director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) takes on anger and rage — beginning with a man who insists he isn't angry, then tracing where that belief cracks. From a childhood thrown from colonial East Africa into a violent Newcastle school, to the friend who taught him to stand his ground, to the "psychedelic rage" of an out-of-body fantasy in a Hollywood studio meeting, he examines how a lifetime of watching for danger became both a survival instinct and a filmmaker's eye.
He tells the story behind his near-fight with Ridley Scott in an edit suite — and how that exact moment became a scene in Leaving Las Vegas — then opens out into rage on screen (Taxi Driver, Network), the difference between anger and rage, and how punk turned fury into something a whole generation could use. Then he takes your questions: what he does with his own rage, when we shouldn't trust our instincts, and what Muhammad Ali might have made of the age of outrage.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 "I don't think of myself as an angry man"
00:20 From colonial Africa to a brutal Newcastle school
02:53 Reg Easton, and learning to fight back
04:07 A radar for violence — "always watch the room"
04:52 Hollywood, and a fantasy of "psychedelic rage"
08:02 Ridley Scott, The Browning Version & a near-fight
12:09 Turning that rage into a scene in Leaving Las Vegas
13:56 Repressed rage on screen — Taxi Driver & Network
14:54 Rage vs anger — and "creative anger"
16:35 Bad rage vs productive rage — punk and "mad as hell"
18:02 A digression: Network and Faye Dunaway
20:31 Listener questions — Mark (Ontario): what do you do with rage?
24:24 Annie (Mumbai): when should we not trust our instincts?
26:37 Bob (London): Muhammad Ali, Trump & the age of outrage
29:43 "Bring on the rage" — a closing note
🎬 Mentioned in this episode
Films — Taxi Driver · Network · The Browning Version · Internal Affairs · Thelma & Louise · and Mike's own Leaving Las Vegas
People — Ridley Scott · Albert Finney · Anthony Hopkins · Julian Sands · Elisabeth Shue · Faye Dunaway · David Lynch · Muhammad Ali · the Coen brothers · Powell & Pressburger
Music — the rage of punk: the Sex Pistols and The Clash
🎙️ Got a question for Mike? Send it as a voice note and it could feature in a future episode — DM us on Instagram: @figgisunfiltered
🔔 Subscribe and hit the bell for new Season 2 episodes across all podcast platforms and here on YouTube.
Follow: Instagram → https://instagram.com/figgisunfiltered
Note: this episode includes frank discussion of childhood violence and abuse.
#MikeFiggis #FiggisUnfiltered #Rage
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