A man forms a bond with his sister’s son in Director Mike Mills’ drama, C’mon C’mon.
In a moving portrait of family and the connections between adults and children, Mills’ film tells the story of Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix), a radio journalist who has to forge a relationship with his young nephew Jesse (Woody Norman), when they are unexpectedly thrown together on a cross-country trip.
On November 27, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Mills discussed the making of C’mon C’mon during a Q&A moderated by Director Spike Jonze (Her).
During the conversation, Jonze recalled a quote that “the one thing the director does is create the tone of the movie,” and asked Mills how he goes about that process.
“I think my movies live and die by the performances and the ‘aliveness’ of the actors in them,” said Mills. “That’s really weird and gossamer and strange and hard to put your finger on. I’ve heard my movies described as being ‘gentle’ a lot. I think my sets are a little like that that, playful... I’m always trying to disguise it as play. I'm always playing music, tail slating and doing everything I can to make it feel like nothing crazy and intense is happening. I feel like that kind of helps everyone relax. Joaquin just knows exactly everything you’re doing behind his head. He knows when the camera’s rolling and just starts. I love that. The crew got really attuned to like, ‘We just need to be ready.’ We can kind of feel it when he's getting ready and the camera better be on.’ Then everyone just knows at the end of the day you tail slate everything and we will kind of neaten it up.”
Mills’ other directorial credits include the feature films, 20th Century Women, Beginners and Thumbsucker; and the documentary Does Your Soul Have a Cold? Mills has been a DGA member since 1999 and currently serves as a member of the Independent Directors Committee.
You can listen to Mills' Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.