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Mike Mills (director)

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For other people named Michael Mills, see Michael Mills (disambiguation).
Mike Mills
Born
Michael Chadbourne Mills[1]

(1966-03-20) March 20, 1966 (age 58)[2]
Berkeley, California
Occupations
  • Director
  • writer
Years active1999–present
SpouseMiranda July
Children1

Michael Chadbourne "Mike" Mills (born March 20, 1966) is an U.S. film and music video director and graphic designer. He is perhaps best known for his independent films Thumbsucker, Beginners, and 20th Century Women. For the latter film, Mills was nominated for an Academy Award for his original screenplay.

Early life

Mills was born in Berkeley, California, the son of Janet L. "Jan" Dowd, a draftsperson, and Paul Chadbourne Mills, an art historian and museum director.[3][4][5][6] He graduated from Cooper Union in Lower Manhattan, New York City. His mother died of brain cancer in 1999. Six months after she died, his father Paul came out as gay at the age of 75 and after 44 years of marriage. Five years later, his father died of lung cancer.

Career

Mike Mills has created music videos for such musical acts as Moby, Yoko Ono and Air. Air named the fifth song on their album Talkie Walkie after Mills.[7]

He has also worked as a graphic designer on promotional material and album covers for such acts as Beastie Boys, Beck, Sonic Youth, and Ol' Dirty Bastard. In addition he has created graphics for X-Girl, Marc Jacobs, and currently produces his own line of posters and fabrics called Humans by Mike Mills.[8]

Mills played guitar and performed background vocals with the short-lived indie rock band Butter 08 along with Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto, Russell Simins of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and Rick Lee of Skeleton Key. The band released one self-titled album in 1996 on the now defunct Grand Royal record label.[9]

Thumbsucker (2005) was his feature-film directorial debut, for which he also created the film posters. He followed this up with Beginners in 2010.[10] Mills next directed 20th Century Women, starring Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning and Billy Crudup.[11][12][13] The film had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival, and was released on December 28, 2016, by A24.[14][15] In 2007, Mike made the feature length documentary, “Does Your Soul Have A Cold?” exploring the issues around the introduction of anti-depressants to Japanese culture. The film premiered at SXSW Festival and was part of IFC’s documentary film series.[16]

He has released some of his art/documentary photography works with the two books, Gas Book 11 (2003) and Humans (2006). In 2009, the popular Berlin-based culture magazine 032c devoted an issue to Mills. For the occasion Mills was interviewed by Nick Currie, best known for his work as Momus, in a piece called "Getting Through the New Depression."[17]

Personal life

Mills is married to fellow artist and film director Miranda July,[18] with whom he has a son, Hopper, who was born in February 2012.[19][20]

Works by Mike Mills

Films

  • 20th Century Women (2016)
  • Beginners (2010)
  • Does Your Soul Have A Cold? (2007, 82 min)
  • Thumbsucker (2005, 96 min)
  • Not How Or When Or Why But Yes (2004, 24 min)
  • Paperboys (2001, 42 min)
  • Deformer (Ed Templeton) (2000, 17 min)
  • The Architecture of Reassurance (1999, 24 min)
  • AIR: Eating Sleeping Waiting & Playing (Air) (1999, 96 min)
  • Hair Shoes Love and Honesty (1998, 40 min)
  • "Richard June's Backyard" (Kate Spade) (1998, 3 min)
  • "Skating with Dave and Jared" (1995, 3 min)
  • "An Introduction to Harmolodics" (Ornette Coleman) (1995, 11 min)
  • Lost Episode III-Cheese (Frank Black)
  • Lost Episode I-Los Angeles (Frank Black)
  • Men in Black (Frank Black)
  • 1997 CDFA Awards (Kate Spade)
  • Birthday (Kate Spade)
  • Rock Star (Lauren Hoffman)
  • Banking (Marc Jacobs)
  • Entertainment (Marc Jacobs)
  • Look Presents: Qui est-vous New York (Marc Jacobs)
  • VH-1 Fashion Awards 2001 (Marc Jacobs)
  • Bummer

Music videos

Record sleeves

Books

  • Gas Book 11 (2003)
  • Thumbsucker (2005)
  • Humans (2006)
  • Fireworks (2008)
  • Graphics Films (2009)
  • Drawings From the Film Beginners (2011)

Commercials

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ Family Tree Legends Michael C. Mills, Alameda County
  3. ^ Bradshaw, James (September 10, 2011). "Beginners: A late dash out of the closet". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
  4. ^ http://www.thomasreynolds.com/mills_sb.html
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ [3]
  7. ^ Apfelbaum, Sue (June 10, 2011). "The Designer as Filmmaker: An Interview with Mike Mills". Aiga.org. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  8. ^ "Mike Mills, Graphic Artist". Focus Features. May 26, 2011. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  9. ^ Hillis, Aaron (July 30, 2010). "Interview: Mike Mills on Beautiful Losers". IFC. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  10. ^ Olsen, Mark (September 5, 2010). "'Beginners' has a piece of Mike Mills' soul". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
  11. ^ Sneider, Jeff (January 16, 2015). "Megan Ellison's Annapurna to Produce Mike Mills' '20th Century Women'". thewrap.com. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  12. ^ McNary, Dave (May 14, 2015). "Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning Join '20th Century Women'". variety.com. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  13. ^ Fleming Jr, Mike (August 3, 2015). "Billy Crudup Lands Lead In '20th Century Women'". deadline.com. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  14. ^ Society, Film (July 27, 2016). "Mike Mills's 20th Century Women is NYFF54 Centerpiece". New York Film Festival. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  15. ^ "Director Mike Mills' New Film Is '20th Century Women'". NPR. December 19, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  16. ^ "Mike Mills". mikemillsmikemills.com. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
  17. ^ http://032c.com/2009/getting-through-the-new-depression/ Currie, Nick, Getting Through the New Depression. 032c issue #17 (Summer, 2009). Archived February 9, 2011, at WebCite
  18. ^ Flavorwire » Miranda July Makes Art That Requires People
  19. ^ "Judd Apatow vs. Miranda July". Huck Magazine. January 5, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  20. ^ Hiebert, Paul (June 2, 2010). "Miranda July Makes Art That Requires People". Flavorwire. Retrieved December 5, 2011.

External links

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