Filmmaker Mike Figgis on fear: from a violent childhood to the age of AI, why the media sells it, and how love and connection keep it at bay. Figgis Unfiltered S2 E6.
Season 2 of Figgis Unfiltered examines the human emotions, one at a time. In Episode 6, director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) takes on fear — starting with a drunken speech to a room full of artists, a 9/11 theory that made him a pariah, and today’s dread of AI and drones. He traces fear through his own life: a colonial childhood among terrified adults in Kenya, the first real, physical fear of a violent Newcastle school, and why a great horror film can disturb us more than reality itself.
He gets into fear of dying, flying and failure, the choice he made after Leaving Las Vegas to chase fun over a safe studio career, and a quiet moment on the London Underground that captures everything. Then he takes your questions: on whether we get wiser with age, whether the media is weaponising fear, and whether “perfect love casts out fear” — closing on connection, and the courage it takes to ask for help.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 A story to start — fear on stage
00:20 A drunken speech, and the fear of being judged
02:23 The 9/11 theory that made him a pariah
04:34 AI, drones and the fear of losing all control
05:53 Colonial Kenya, the Mau Mau and inherited fear
08:14 First real fear — a violent Newcastle school
10:02 Why horror films frighten him more than reality
11:12 The power of cinema to scare — The Spiral Staircase
12:36 What fear does to us, and how it shifts with age
14:17 Hollywood, with yourself at the centre of the universe
15:43 Fear of dying, flying & failure — the choice after Leaving Las Vegas
17:05 Choosing fun over the safe studio career
18:46 Courage, and the fear of being powerless
19:37 “Can I hold your hand” — a moment on the Tube
20:46 Listener questions — DPK (Toronto): do we get wiser with age?
26:02 James (Mississauga): is the media weaponising fear?
28:46 Don (Trenton): does perfect love cast out fear?
31:11 Closing — connection, and the courage to ask for help
🎬 Mentioned in this episode
Films — Repulsion (Polanski) · Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (Lynch) · The Spiral Staircase · On the Waterfront · Timecode · Hotel · The Loss of Sexual Innocence · and Mike’s own Leaving Las Vegas
People — Roman Polanski · David Lynch · Elia Kazan (his autobiography “A Life”) · Francis Ford Coppola · historian A.J.P. Taylor
Idea — the line “perfect love casts out fear”
🎙️ Got a question for Mike? Send it as a voice note and it could feature in a future episode — DM us on Instagram: @figgisunfiltered
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Note: this episode discusses fear, violence and mental health, including references to war.
#MikeFiggis #FiggisUnfiltered #Fear
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