ANOTHER WAY TO DEAL WITH SADNESS IS TO TURN IT INTO ART. Yeah. Even in writing the script it took on its own life. By the time you distill something down to a scene and make it work in a script, it's a fiction. It's not a documentary. It's got documentary objects in it, but it's a collage, it's my version. First thing I said to the actors, "This is yours now. Do not feel precious or bound to any concept of me or my dad. The worst thing this could be is narcissistic, navel-gazing, self-pitying memoir. The more you can invest in it, the more you can internalize it the better." When Christopher [Plummer] said I should do this, I would do this. I'm like, "Great, that's not what my dad would do, but all the better — this is a story now."
I READ THAT THIS ALL STARTED WITH SKATEBOARDING? Yes. When I was 13, I started competing in skateboard contests, so that took me out of Santa Barbara and into LA, and LA was much more intense with diverse kinds of people. And punk was happening; this was like '79. That is really where my creative life began and the sort of freedom and the breaking out of conformity; and all those kids were just so much more stylish and interesting and charismatic — the LA punk kids that I met.
In an interview I described Christopher as a punk. It sounded like an insult. But what that means to me is someone who's trying to break out of the rut, trying to get free. Thoreau's a punk, Emerson's a punk. And Jesus is a big punk. I'm still chasing the carrot that the punk scene gave me.
Related:
Review: Beginners, Jodie Foster sticks up for Mel, In Bridesmaids, Kristen's women act like women, More 
- Review: Beginners
Beginners adds a dash of New Wave style and a dose of genuine pathos to a decidedly Allenish romp.
- Jodie Foster sticks up for Mel
This week sees the premiere of The Beaver, Jodie Foster's third directorial effort and Mel Gibson's first role since we were all apprised of his peculiar phone demeanor. I spoke with Foster about the film at the Ritz Carlton.
- In Bridesmaids, Kristen's women act like women
Diehard fans of Saturday Night Live took heart when Kristen Wiig appeared in the cast in 2005.
- Steve James goes back to Chicago
It would be wrong to say that Steve James produced the best documentary of all time and didn't look back.
- Interview: Gary Ross at the helm of Hollywood's next box-office darling
Gary Ross has not directed a lot of movies.
- Interview: Coolidge Award winner Viggo Mortensen gets analytical
Unlike the Oscars, the Coolidge Awards never disappoint. Meryl Streep, Robert Altman , Jonathan Demme: each in his or her own way has shaped what's best in the movies.
- Interview: Seth Grahame-Smith emerges from the Shadows
He lingers in the shadows behind Dark Shadows, in the cobwebby abysses of AbrahamLincoln: Vampire Hunter, secretly writing the words that summon the horror — and spark the comedy.
- Interview: Richard Linklater messes with Texas in Bernie
No matter how far he strays, Richard Linklater's heart remains in Texas.
- Review: The Other Dream Team
American audiences will be delighted to see how the Grateful Dead helped pay for the 1992 Lithuanian Olympic team, including supplying tie-dyed T-shirts. But only Lithuanians will thrill to the movie's climax...
- Heart keeps beating
Storytelling is largely about character, and writer Thomas Cobb came up with a doozy when he conceived Bad Blake.
- Interview: Julie Delpy explores her neuroses in New York
Actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter Julie Delpy excels at many things, but what she really wants to do is direct.
- Less
Topics:
Features
, Movies, Mike Mills, Interviews, More
, Movies, Mike Mills, Interviews, Beginners, Less
