You might have been acquainted with the work of Mike Mills in 1998. His design for the beguiling cover of Air‘s Moon Safari was a perfect union of French pop minimalism and California chic that showcased the duo’s downtempo electronic music with distinction. Almost twenty years later, Mills’ contributions to popular culture and film has been significant. As a filmmaker, graphic designer, and artist, Mills holds true to his aesthetic in all that he does. Best known for his independent films like “Thumbsucker” and “Beginners,” which won Christopher Plummer the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Mills is currently making the Q&A rounds to promote his new film, “20th Century Women,” which he wrote and directed. A love letter to his mother and his California roots, “20th Century Women” follows the lives of three women and their combined effects on “the kid” who happens to be coming of age without a father figure in 1979.
READ MORE: Annette Bening Is A Mom Trying To Raise Her Teenage Son In ’20th Century Women’ [Review]
Four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening (for “The Grifters,” “American Beauty,” “Being Julia,” and “The Kids Are All Right“) plays Dorothea, single mother to Jamie (played with subtle earnestness by Lucas Jade Zumann), and both share their lives and house with the manic panic punk photographer Abbie (Greta Gerwig) and smiley and highly sexed Californian everyman William (Billy Crudup).
Mills joined Bening at the 92nd Street Y for a preview screening of the film as part of their Reel Pieces series, hosted by author and educator, Annette Insdorf.
When asked what drew her to the role of Dorothea and her initial reactions to the script, Bening responded, “When I read it, my reaction was to the entire story and the screenplay. I grew up in San Diego. I was 21 in 1979 so I have a lot of associations. I was exhilarated, quite frankly, by it. I fell in love with the entire story and Mike Mill’s sensibility. I had heard him interviewed on NPR for ‘Beginners.’ I had seen ‘Beginners’ which I loved. So I kind of felt like I knew Mike. You know how it is. You listen to NPR and you think, ‘I know Mike!’ He was a very intriguing character to listen to talking about his dad who was gay and making this film about that. I knew that, but I didn’t know him. I had a lot of associations of my own, I found myself wanting to go in and dig through my old boxes of stuff. I knew William. I knew a number of Williams. Great men, the quintessential California guy. I didn’t know who Dorothea was. She, to me, was very opaque on the page in a way that was intriguing to me. In a good way. ”
Elle Fanning plays Julie, a complex and pivotal role in the film. Barely an adult, Julie is clearly already her own woman with all of the damage that comes with understanding the extent of how much your parents have and will let you down. Julie’s desperate need for a friend-and-nothing-more fuels Jamie’s motivations as he pores over his special copy of “Our Bodies Ourselves“ and other feminist books on sex and relationship that Abbie has gifted him. Having previously worked with Elle in Sally Potter’s “Ginger & Rosa,” Annette discussed what it was like working with Fanning again.
“She [Elle] is an extraordinary young actress and I also know her in life. Oddly enough we kind of live near each other. I love the way Mike wrote this character in this film with so much depth and thoughtfulness. We see so many clichéd versions of teenage girls. I love this girl’s character because she has so many layers. Elle is so not that girl. Elle is goofy and funny but she is so good at what she does and I am just knocked out by her. I gave her unsolicited advice which I do,” she said. “Lucas, who plays my son, we were in a Q&A the other day and he was asked what was it like working with Annette when you were first developing your relationship? He said ‘You know, she immediately just started giving me advice.’ I have four children, I can’t help it. I did the same thing with Elle. Go to school. Don’t just do movies. Don’t let them suck you in to doing movies. Anyway she is incredible human being and I think offers this movie something so special with that girl.”
After listening to them, you get the very keen impression that the preparation for the film was intensive, detailed but highly enjoyable. Mills shared, “We talked about old movies. We shared so much. We are both Californians and the characters of my life resonated with Annette. We talked a lot about ‘Stage Door‘ and we talked a lot about Bogart because my mother loved Bogart. She talked about marrying Humphrey Bogart.”
Bening interjected, “She also talked about marrying Humphrey Bogart but she also talked about being Humphrey Bogart.” Mills agreed that his mother both wanted to be and marry the icon.
Mills continued, “I would always be saying to you, it’s yours now. It’s not about mimicking any version of my mom and it’s not about this interpretation of Bogart, just play with it. And there is something so rascally in a delicious way about Annette and she has so much experience and chops, so for me I know she is just going to run with it.”
Music is also a key driver of the film as Abbie and Jamie go to punk shows, dance in mini mosh pits, listen to Black Flag, and explore the artier side of 1979 with bands like the Talking Heads.
After hearing that there was a lot of dancing in rehearsals, Insdorf asked Mills if he had the actors bring in their own music to dance to in those gatherings. Sheepishly, Mills admitted, “Sadly I am more controlling than that. I brought music. Every character has music that sort of put their history. For Annette’s character, my mom loved Glenn Miller and that period. For Greta’s character and the kid its punk music, for Elle’s character it was Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Rhiannon.’ Billy did bring in something, a Lou Rawls song but then his song shifted to “No Expectations” by The Rolling Stones and we danced a lot. It was really beautiful to watch them dance and I danced with them to make a full of myself.”
“20th Century Women” opens in theaters on December 25th.
