30 Years After Leaving Las Vegas, Still Daring with Megadoc

In a film industry that often chases the safe and familiar, British filmmaker Mike Figgis stands out for his artistic audacity and refusal to compromise. From his Oscar-winning film Leaving Las Vegas to radical real-time experiments like Timecode, Figgis has consistently reshaped what cinema can be.

Now, three decades after his defining work stunned audiences, Figgis returns to the spotlight with two landmark events: the 4K restoration of Leaving Las Vegas and the world premiere of his latest film, Megadoc—a documentary chronicling the turbulent making of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic Megalopolis. Let’s revisit the career of a filmmaker who refuses to stop pushing boundaries.

Leaving Las Vegas — 30 Years Later, Still Raw and Resonant

Released in 1995, Leaving Las Vegas was Figgis’s breakout triumph—a harrowing love story between a suicidal alcoholic (Nicolas Cage) and a compassionate sex worker (Elisabeth Shue). The film earned four Academy Award nominations, with Cage winning Best Actor and Figgis himself nominated for both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

In 2025, the film celebrates its 30th anniversary with a newly remastered 4K restoration, overseen by Figgis. This version restores the raw, grainy beauty of the original Super-16 footage and reignites the emotional punch that made the film a modern classic. Figgis will join for a Q&A after the world premiere of the 4K restoration at Roxy Cinema!

One Night Stand(1997): A Misunderstood Mid-Career Gem

Figgis followed up Leaving Las Vegas with the romantic drama One Night Stand, starring Wesley Snipes and Nastassja Kinski. While the film was met with mixed reviews in the U.S., it showcased Figgis’s ability to take emotional risks, especially in its unsentimental treatment of infidelity and race. Interestingly, the original screenplay by Joe Eszterhas was rewritten so extensively by Figgis that Eszterhas requested his name be removed from the final credits. Though it lacked commercial success, One Night Stand has aged into a moody, introspective gem—worthy of reassessment in today’s more nuanced storytelling climate.

Timecode (2000): Real-Time Innovation Before Its Time

With Timecode, Figgis took one of the boldest swings in early digital cinema. The film was shot in a single take using four digital cameras, with all four stories playing out simultaneously on-screen in a split-screen format. There were no cuts, no edits, and no second takes—just pure improvisation and raw performance. “Timecode was my way of saying, ‘Let’s break film open and see what’s inside.’” — Mike Figgis_. In an era long before TikTok, Figgis was already playing with multi-window storytelling and viewer agency—asking the audience to choose which part of the story to follow. Visionary then, prescient now.

Megadoc (2025): Figgis Captures Coppola’s Creative Chaos

Megadoc is Figgis’s newest and perhaps most revealing project to date. It’s a behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s $120M passion project, Megalopolis.

Premiering at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the film has already generated buzz for its unflinching look at artistic process under pressure. As a “fly-on-the-wall” observer, Figgis captures not just the chaos of a massive film production, but the fragile, volatile energy of true creative ambition.

Mike Figgis has never played it safe. His films are emotional, innovative, and structurally radical. Whether telling stories of doomed love or revolutionizing how stories are told, Figgis remains a filmmaker who is never content with the ordinary. 2025 is a year of full-circle moments—Leaving Las Vegas re-emerges in stunning new form, while Megadoc introduces Figgis to a new generation of cinephiles. For audiences who crave more than just spectacle, Mike Figgis offers something rare: emotional honesty and formal innovation in equal measure.