Brits lash Hollywood

Jeremy Irons, Mike Leigh, Stephen Frears, Peter Greenaway and Mike Radford were made Officers of the Order of Arts and Letters yesterday, and took the opportunity to assert their independence. Whilst celebrating the renaissance of British filmmaking, Leigh, who really hit big for Secrets and Lies (1996) commented, "We all have to struggle with the long arm of Hollywood, its shadow, its interference. Our job is not to genuflect." Irons reckoned, "We have realized it is a failure to copy Hollywood. Tell a good story and you are going to get backing." So all we need now are a few more good stories...