FILM · 2004 · UK
Vera Drake
12 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (12)
- #001
Apart from Dame Imelda Staunton, none of the actors knew the film was about abortion until they learned their characters.
- #002
Mike Leigh asked the actors to hum in the film. Because they could not afford to buy the rights to songs, the actors had to hum something generic.
- #003
During filming, all the actors were even forbidden from telling their families what the film was about.
- #004
The film was submitted to the 2004 Cannes Film Festival but was rejected. Dame Imelda Staunton thought that at the end of the day the film would be released in the United Kingdom and would have very little impact. However, it achieved great success at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for many Oscars.
- #005
The first rehearsal of the scene in which the family gathers and the police arrive lasted about 7 hours. It was mostly improvised: none of the actors playing the family, including Dame Imelda Staunton, knew that anyone, let alone the police, would burst in. And the actors playing the police did not know what kind of reaction to expect from the family: hostile, cooperative, surprised, indifferent, etc. In the film, this results in an incredibly intense scene.
- #006
The film's process took about a year. All the actors met with Mike Leigh one by one to discuss their characters' lives from birth up to the moment the film begins. Once the characters met each other, they began rehearsing together.
- #007
The lead actors rehearsed the film with Mike Leigh about six months before filming began. This included: discussions about the script and the characters — each character's biography was drawn up from birth; period documents — the actors read, watched and listened to period archives their characters would have been exposed to; books, newspapers, films, TV programmes and radio programmes; and finally, improvisation of scenes, whether or not they were used in the film. This amount of effort explains the film's "real life" feel.
- #008
Despite Mike Leigh's fame, the film's budget was so limited that the money ran out towards the end of filming. Leigh and the actors rehearsed for another week before filming resumed.
- #009
While developing his character, Daniel Mays initially used a lot of obscenity in his speech because he thought a young working-class man like Sid would talk that way. Mike Leigh told him that in 1950 a boy like Sid would not use obscenity, especially in front of women and his family.
- #010
It contains Dame Imelda Staunton's only Oscar-nominated performance to date.
- #011
It is the only film that year to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar but not for Best Picture.
- #012
The film's cast includes one Oscar winner, Jim Broadbent, and three Oscar nominees: Imelda Staunton, Lesley Manville and Sally Hawkins.
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