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Mike Mills (director)

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This article is about the film and music video director. For the rock musician, see Mike Mills. For other people, see Michael Mills (disambiguation).

Mike Mills
Born
Michael Chadbourne Mills

(1966-03-20) March 20, 1966 (age 58)
Berkeley, California
Occupations
  • Director
  • writer
  • designer
Years active1999–present
Spouse
​
(m. 2009)​
Children1

Michael Chadbourne Mills (born March 20, 1966)[1][2] is an American film and music video director, writer and graphic designer. He is best known for his independent films Thumbsucker, Beginners, and 20th Century Women. For the latter, Mills was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Early life

Mills was born in Berkeley, California, the son of Janet L. 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.[citation needed]

Career

Mike Mills has created music videos for musical acts including 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, They Might Be Giants, and Ol' Dirty Bastard. In addition he has created graphics for X-Girl, Marc Jacobs, and 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. In 2007, Mills filmed the feature-length documentary Does Your Soul Have A Cold?, which explored 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.[10] He followed this up with Beginners in 2010.[11] Mills next directed 20th Century Women, starring Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning and Billy Crudup.[12][13][14] The film had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival, and was released on December 28, 2016, by A24.[15][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 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]

In 2019, he directed the short film I Am Easy to Find starring Alicia Vikander, which accompanied the album of the same name by The National.[18]

Personal life

Mills is married to fellow artist and film director Miranda July,[19] with whom he has a son, born in February 2012.[20][21]

Filmography

Films

Year Title Notes
2005 Thumbsucker
2010 Beginners
2016 20th Century Women
2020 C'mon C'mon post-production

Documentary Film

  • (Air): Eating Sleeping Waiting & Playing (1999)
  • Does Your Soul Have A Cold? (2007)

Short Films

Year Title Notes
1995 An Introduction to Harmolodics short
1995 Skating with Dave and Jared short
1998 Hair Shoes Love and Honesty short
1999 The Architecture of Reassurance Short film
2000 Not How Or When Or Why But Yes Short film
2000 Deformer Short film
2001 Paperboys Documentary short
2019 I Am Easy to Find short

Music videos

Year Title Artist(s)
1995 "Men in Black" Frank Black
1996 "2 Kindsa Love" Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
1997 "Le soleil est près de moi" Air
"Hey Hey You Say" Papas Fritas
"Spokes" Pond
1998 "Afrodiziak" Bran Van 3000
"All I Need" Air
"Kelly Watch the Stars" Air
"Sexy Boy" Air
"Party Hard" Pulp
"Legacy" Mansun
1999 "Temperamental" Everything but the Girl
"Sometimes" Les Rhythmes Digitales
"Run On" Moby
"1, 2, 3, 4" Titán
2001 "Bad Ambassador" The Divine Comedy
"It's Automatic" Zoot Woman
2002 "Concrete Sky" Beth Orton
2003 "Stardust" Martin Gore
"Walking on Thin Ice" Yoko Ono
2007 "The Dress" Blonde Redhead
"My Impure Hair" Blonde Redhead
"Silently" Blonde Redhead
"Top Ranking" Blonde Redhead
2019 "Light Years" The National
"Hairpin Turns" The National

Other Works

Record sleeves

Commercials

Bibliography

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

Awards & Nominations

Year Award Category Nominated work Result
2001 Santa Fe Film Festival Best Documentary Paperboys Won
2005 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize Thumbsucker Nominated
2005 Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Nominated
2006 Independent Spirit Awards Best First Feature Nominated
2011 SXSW Film Festival Audience Awards Beginners Nominated
2011 Independent Spirit Awards Best Director Nominated
Best Screenplay Nominated
2011 Gotham Awards Best Feature Won
2011 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2011 Detroit Film Critics Society Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2011 Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Original Screenplay Won
2011 Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2011 San Diego Film Critics Society Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2011 Utah Film Critics Association Awards Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2016 Academy Awards Best Original Screenplay 20th Century Women Nominated
2016 Independent Spirit Award Best Screenplay Nominated
2016 Alliance of Women Film Journalists Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2016 Austin Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2016 Florida Film Critics Circle Best Screenplay Nominated
2016 Dorian Awards Screenplay of the Year Nominated
2016 Hawaii Film Critics Society Best Original Screenplay Nominated
2016 North Carolina Film Critics Association Best Original Screenplay Nominated

References

  1. ^ July, Miranda (January 13, 2015). "The First Bad Man". Simon and Schuster – via Google Books.
  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. Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
  4. ^ "Thomas Reynolds Gallery - San Francisco". www.thomasreynolds.com.
  5. ^ "Mike Mills' tribute to women who made him a man". Jewish Journal. December 21, 2016.
  6. ^ LLC, Marquis Who's Who (May 17, 1982). "Who's Who in the West, 1982-1983". Marquis Who's Who – via Google Books.
  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. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  9. ^ Hillis, Aaron (July 30, 2010). "Interview: Mike Mills on Beautiful Losers". IFC. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  10. ^ "Mike Mills". mikemillsmikemills.com. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  11. ^ Olsen, Mark (September 5, 2010). "'Beginners' has a piece of Mike Mills' soul". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 13, 2010.
  12. ^ Sneider, Jeff (January 16, 2015). "Megan Ellison's Annapurna to Produce Mike Mills' '20th Century Women'". thewrap.com. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  13. ^ McNary, Dave (May 14, 2015). "Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning Join '20th Century Women'". variety.com. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  14. ^ Fleming Jr, Mike (August 3, 2015). "Billy Crudup Lands Lead In '20th Century Women'". deadline.com. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  15. ^ Society, Film (July 27, 2016). "Mike Mills's 20th Century Women is NYFF54 Centerpiece". New York Film Festival. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  16. ^ "Director Mike Mills' New Film Is '20th Century Women'". NPR. December 19, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  17. ^ Currie, Nick, Getting Through the New Depression. 032c issue #17 (Summer, 2009). Archived May 26, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ^ Sodomsky, Sam. "The National Break Down Every Song on Their New Album, I Am Easy to Find". Pitchfork. Retrieved May 20, 2019.
  19. ^ "Miranda July Makes Art That Requires People". June 2, 2010.
  20. ^ "Judd Apatow vs. Miranda July". Huck Magazine. January 5, 2013. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  21. ^ Hiebert, Paul (June 2, 2010). "Miranda July Makes Art That Requires People". Flavorwire. Retrieved December 5, 2011.
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