"By the time an actor gets to the point of improvisation in a Mike Leigh process, they've got a whole person that they're working with," Marianne Jean-Baptiste tells Newsweek.

Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) is one of the best-known early evolutionists. Unlike Darwin, Lamarck believed that living things evolved in a continuously upward direction, from dead matter ...

She reteams with her "Secret and Lies" director, Mike Leigh, for this brutally funny drama about a British woman consumed ...

Though it would seem like Leigh is trying to get his actors to become their characters, Jean-Baptiste believes he has no interest in working with whoever she’s supposed to be playing.

Actors on a Mike Leigh film set don’t talk about motivation, and that’s fine by “Hard Truths” star Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who relishes the rehearsal process on his movies. In the latest ...