Andrew Haigh is an English filmmaker known for his emotionally resonant, quietly radical storytelling that often explores intimacy, memory, and queer identity. His writing process is rooted in emotional subjectivity, spatial intuition, and a deep trust in silence.
He doesn’t begin with plot mechanics or genre scaffolding—instead, he starts with feeling.
Whether crafting the elliptical intimacy of Weekend, the marital reckoning of 45 Years, or the spectral grief of All of Us Strangers, Haigh writes from the inside out, letting character psychology shape structure, rhythm, and even camera movement.
Haunting the Page: Andrew Haigh’s Writing Process for All of Us Strangers
One of Haigh’s most revealing insights is his emphasis on blocking as a writing tool
He’s said that “blocking is everything” to him—that when he imagines a scene, he first envisions how the characters move in space, how they relate to each other physically, and how the camera might respond. This spatial choreography isn’t just a directorial flourish; it’s embedded in the writing. The emotional tension of a scene often emerges from how close or distant characters are, how they hesitate, how they turn away. In Lean on Pete, for example, the protagonist’s isolation is mirrored in long, solitary walks and wide-open landscapes. In Strangers, Adam’s emotional dislocation is reflected in the eerie stillness of his apartment and the ghostly symmetry of his childhood home.
Haigh also writes with a strong sense of subjective immersion
He crafts scenes that unfold through the protagonist’s emotional lens, often using minimal dialogue and ambient sound to evoke inner states. His screenplays are not exposition-heavy; they rely on mood, gesture, and silence. This approach allows him to explore themes like grief, queer identity, and emotional estrangement without overexplaining. In All of Us Strangers, Adam’s interactions with his long-dead parents are written with a kind of suspended grace—dialogue that feels both real and dreamlike, shaped by what was never said in life.
Adaptation, for Haigh, is also a deeply personal process
When he read Lean on Pete, he knew instantly that it spoke to him “on a gut level”. He doesn’t adapt stories unless they resonate emotionally, and even then, he reshapes them to reflect his own thematic concerns. In Strangers, he transformed Taichi Yamada’s heterosexual protagonist into a gay man, allowing the story to explore generational queer trauma and the longing for parental acceptance. This wasn’t just a representational shift—it was a reframing of the entire emotional architecture.
Haigh’s writing is iterative and intuitive
He rewrites scenes multiple times, not to polish dialogue but to find the right emotional tone. He’s less interested in narrative twists than in emotional truth. His scripts often read like quiet elegies—compressed, poetic, and haunted by absence. And yet, they pulse with life. Every gesture, every silence, every glance is calibrated to reveal something deeper.
Born on March 7, 1973 in Harrogate, England, Andrew Haigh grew up in Croydon and studied history at Newcastle University before entering the film industry. His early career included work as an assistant editor on major productions like Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, experiences that shaped his understanding of cinematic rhythm and emotional pacing.
Haigh lives with his husband, Andy Morwood, and they have two children. His filmmaking is marked by emotional vulnerability, poetic restraint, and a commitment to portraying queer lives with nuance and grace.
Haigh’s directorial debut came with Greek Pete (2009), a micro-budget film chronicling the life of a London rent boy, which won the Artistic Achievement Award at Outfest. But it was Weekend (2011) that marked his breakthrough—a tender, two-day romance between two men that premiered at SXSW and won multiple awards, including the Grand Jury Prize at L.A. Outfest. The film’s naturalistic style and emotional depth established Haigh as a distinctive voice in queer cinema.
His next feature, 45 Years (2015), starred Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay as a couple confronting a buried secret days before their anniversary. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, where both leads won Silver Bears, and Rampling later received an Oscar nomination. Haigh’s writing and direction were praised for their subtlety and emotional precision.
In Lean on Pete (2017), Haigh shifted to the American landscape, telling the story of a teenage boy and a racehorse in a tale of survival and belonging. The film premiered at Venice and won the Marcello Mastroianni Award for actor Charlie Plummer.
Haigh also ventured into television, co-creating and directing HBO’s Looking (2014–2016), a series about gay men in San Francisco, and later helming The North Water (2021), a BBC Two limited series set in the Arctic.
His most recent and deeply personal film, All of Us Strangers (2023), stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal in a ghostly, queer romance that excavates familial trauma and emotional absence. The film has been nominated for six BAFTAs and is widely considered Haigh’s most metaphysical and autobiographical work.
Andrew Haigh’s latest film project is titled A Long Winter, the story follows Louise, the troubled mother of Mike (played by Hechinger) and Tommy. After a heated argument with her husband, Lester, Louise heads out on foot with her dog to her brother Frank’s home, miles away. A sudden snowstorm engulfs the region, forcing Lester and Mike to begin a desperate search—a mission that soon expands with the help of neighbours and local authorities.
