Desire

Filmmaker Mike Figgis on desire: the disruptive force behind every great story, why we’re drawn to the forbidden, and learning to enjoy it without acting on it. Figgis Unfiltered S2 E4. Season 2 of Figgis Unfiltered examines the human emotions, one at a time. In Episode 4, director Mike Figgis (Leaving Las Vegas) takes on his favourite subject for drama — desire. Starting with Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire, he argues that desire is fundamentally disruptive: the thing that arrives from left field and threatens all the stability we’ve built, from marriage to the modern dream of controlling even death. Drawing on the philosopher Georges Bataille, he explores why desire feeds on prohibition, why we’re pulled toward the forbidden, and how possession and destruction are never far apart. He tells the story of casting Richard Gere in Internal Affairs — the complex Hollywood outsider nobody wanted — then takes your questions: on desire left deliberately unresolved, how to tell a desire that’s truly yours from one shaped by others, and how desire becomes the engine of great drama. He closes on how desire changes with age — not as something to act on, but as a creative wellspring that “happens between your two ears.” ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Desire — Figgis’s favourite subject for drama 00:19 Buñuel’s That Obscure Object of Desire 01:13 Why desire is a disruptive force 01:55 Marriage, and the vow no one can really make 02:59 Bataille: desire needs a taboo to break 04:42 The fear of death and the urge to control everything 06:35 Internal Affairs — desire, power & Richard Gere 07:57 Casting Richard Gere, Hollywood’s outsider 10:37 Temptation, and the signal that someone’s “up for it” 12:19 The lure of the forbidden 14:09 Possession, and “if I can’t have it, no one can” 15:18 Listener questions — Dave (Toronto): desire left unresolved 19:56 Jada (Toronto): is a desire truly your own? 23:53 Eric (Seattle): desire as the engine of drama 26:17 Desire tempered by age — a creative wellspring 28:46 “You don’t have to act on it” — a final word 🎬 Mentioned in this episode Films — That Obscure Object of Desire (Luis Buñuel) · Internal Affairs · Fatal Attraction · Looking for Mr. Goodbar · Days of Heaven · and Mike’s own Leaving Las Vegas People — Richard Gere · Andy Garcia · Laurie Metcalf · writer Henry Bean · Georges Bataille · Jerry Bruckheimer Book — Diary of a Mad Old Man by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki 📸 Daniel Raczynski 🎙️ 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 #MikeFiggis #FiggisUnfiltered #Desire Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.