Mike Mills
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Speed of Life: The Worst Person in the World Director Joachim Trier Interviewed by Mike Mills
“With the passing of the years, each neighborhood, each street in a city evokes a memory, a meeting, a regret, a moment of happiness for those who were born there and have lived there. Often the same street is tied up with successive memories, to the extent that the topography of a city becomes your whole life,” said French novelist Patrick Modiano in his 2014 Nobel Prize speech. Modiano was speaking of Paris, the setting of most of his novels, but his words resonate with the work of Norwegian director Joachim Trier—specifically, his loose “Oslo trilogy,” which culminates with the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 18, 2022 -
Trailer Watch: Mike Mills’s C’mon, C’mon
After winning an Oscar for portraying a sociopathic villain, Joaquin Phoenix now essays a (seemingly gentle) radio journalist in the new picture from Mike Mills, his follow-up to 2016’s 20th Century Women. Gabby Hoffman co-stars in the road trip film, which finds Phoenix’s character traveling cross country to interview children and teens about the state of the world. Wrote Rodrigo Perez in his Playlist review, “Vaguely reminiscent of Wim Wenders’ Alice In The Cities—a journalist is saddled with a young girl and lets her tag along on his road trip—the filmmaker’s dynamic work shares little else with the film and […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 8, 2021 -
20th Century Women: Mike Mills on Bringing a Personal Story to Life
After exploring a teenager’s odd obsession in Thumbsucker and helming the semi-autographical Beginners about his father coming out of the closet late in laugh, in his third narrative, Mike Mills returns to deeply personal material from his own life. 20th Century Women has been hailed as his best work yet and earned him an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. The film is a coming of age tale about a teenage boy raised by three women from different generations in 1979 Santa Barbara. It’s a portrait of the city in a quieter, simpler time, as well as an ode to his steadfast mother […]
by Ariston Anderson on Feb 1, 2017 -
RECAPPING THE 2012 CINEMA EYE HONORS
The backlash against the Academy’s recent changes to its nomination policies for documentary films contrasted with the casual atmosphere of last night’s Cinema Eye Honors. In an intimate theater at the Museum of the Moving Image, the pillars of the documentary community gathered to celebrate the breadth and diversity of their craft. In attendance were Frederick Wiseman, Al Maysles, Steve James, Alex Gibney, Michael Moore, Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky and many more. Founder and co-host AJ Schnack spoke of the Cinema Eyes evolution prior to the awards: “Some things about Cinema Eye are the same as they were that first time that we gathered […]
by Daniel James Scott on Jan 12, 2012 -
IFP GOTHAM AWARDS: “BEGINNERS” DIRECTOR MIKE MILLS RECAPS HIS TWO WIN NIGHT
That was quite surreal. I’ve been to just two events like that before, so the red carpet shenanigans, seeing so many “movie stars” and directors you’ve listened to on DVD commentaries, and being in a room with so many people you’ve tried to get financing from – is really a strange experience. The kind that makes you all wild eyed and sweaty palmed. But mostly I was really truly just very happy to be there and felt very safe that we weren’t going to win anything and that I was just lucky to be included, to be in the group, to […]
by Mike Mills on Dec 1, 2011 -
IFP GOTHAM AWARDS: REFLECTIONS FROM AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER JUSTIN LERNER
In early 2009 I took my childhood friend Evan Sneider, a 31 year-old with Down Syndrome, out to lunch to see whether he’d be interested in letting me write a feature length film for him to star in, Girlfriend. “It’s going to be a little dark, Evan,” I said to him. “There’s going to be violence, and maybe even a little sex.” “That’s fine with me,” Evan said with a smile while finishing a steak and cheese pizza. “Sounds like fun.” Five months after that lunch we were casting the other roles and had found three willing actors – Shannon […]
by Justin Lerner on Dec 1, 2011 -
“TAKE SHELTER” & “THE ARTIST” LEADS SPIRIT AWARDS NOMS
With last night’s Gothams Awards ceremony in New York, awards season is now in full swing. Adding to the momentum, Film Independent just announced the nominees for its 27th annual Independent Spirit Awards. Leading the pack with five nominations each is Jeff Nichols’ apocalyptic southern gothic, Take Shelter and Michel Hazanavicius’ silent romance, The Artist. Next in line, receiving four nominations, were Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive and Mike Mills’ Beginners (which split Best Picture with The Tree of Life at the Gothams last night). J.C. Chandor’s Margin Call will receive the annual Robert Altman Award, given each year to one […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Nov 29, 2011 -
IFP GOTHAM AWARDS: “BEGINNERS” IN GOOD COMPANY
I was very very lucky. First, because I was blissfully unaware that the Gothams would announce the nominations on that day. In fact I was trying to get used to the idea my film — Beginners— had run its course and now it was time to put it to bed, move on, stop worrying about that project. Which isn’t easy. I started this in 2005, I’m used to putting everything I have into it, and the film contains so many people and places and things I truly love (both the real people who inspired the story and the filmmaking family […]
by Mike Mills on Nov 28, 2011 -
GOTHAM AWARDS TO STREAM LIVE MONDAY NIGHT
IFP has announced that the21st annual Gotham Independent Film Awards, taking place Monday, November 28th at Cipriani’s Wall Street will be streaming live on their website. Hosted by Oliver Platt and Edie Falco, the show is widely considered to be the first honors of the award’s season. Up for Best Picture this year are Mike Mills’ Beginners, Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff, Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter, and Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. Director David Cronenberg, actors Charlize Theron and Gary Oldman, and Fox Filmed Entertainment CEO and Chairman Tom Rothman will receive career tributes. Presenters at […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Nov 25, 2011 -
GUS VAN SANT CHATS WITH MIKE MILLS ABOUT “BEGINNERS”
Originally published in the Spring 2011 issue. Beginners is nominated for Best Feature and Best Ensemble. “There are no classes in life for beginners; right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.”–Rainer Maria Rilke About the three characters in Mike Mills’s altogether winning second feature — Oliver, a sensitive yet romantically challenged graphic designer in his mid-30s (Ewan McGregor); Anna, a beautiful, single French actress (Melanie Laurent); and the designer’s father, Hal, a retired museum director and widower in his 70s, who has just come out of the closet (Christopher Plummer) — the film’s title, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Nov 21, 2011
