How director Mike Leigh and actor Timothy Spall brought a great artist to life in 'Mr. Turner'

Biographical films often gloss over their subjects. They turn complicated historical figures into easily digested characters whose rough edges and unsavory episodes have been rounded and sweetened. Not so "Mr. Turner." The latest film from Mike Leigh offers an earthy, warts-and-all depiction of the Romantic master J.M.W. Turner, shaped by the British director's dogged realism and actor Timothy Spall's visceral (and viscous) performance of a low-born man possessed of the highest artistic vision.