Director Mike Mills makes movies by drawing upon his own life and the world around him. His 2011 film “Beginners” was a fictionalized portrait of his own father (played in an Oscar-winning performance by Christopher Plummer), who came out as gay at the age of 75. Five years later, 2016’s “20th Century Women” featured complex characters based on his mother and sister (played by Annette Bening and Greta Gerwig).
Now five years further on, “C’mon C’mon,” his superb black-and-white road movie, offers a panorama of the next generation. Mills was inspired to make the film by his own son (he’s married to fellow filmmaker and author Miranda July). And though the central familial relationship in the film is between Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) and his nephew Jesse (Woody Norman), there’s no denying the parent and child themes at play.
Mills is joined by 12-year-old Norman for this latest episode of TheWrap’s “How I Did It.” In a bright, appealing conversation, the two discuss their approach to an early scene, shot during the first week of filming, in which Johnny and Jesse play a strange thought-experiment game in which the boy pretends to be an orphan, showing up at the doorstep.
The director, as often is the case, pulled the game from something he observed. “I was at [musician] Aaron Dessner’s house, who did the score with [his brother] Bryce,” Mills explained in the video. “Aaron’s daughter Ingrid, who was 10 at the time, does this ‘Orphan Game’ exactly as it is in the movie. I thought it was a great way to talk about how kids aren’t just cute and sweet and charming and funny – they’re also playing with very deep, dark, intense, real ideas and thoughts too.”
Norman, you’ll notice, is a British actor, which is never evident from his flawless American accent in the film. In addition, he certainly seemed to get that his character is occasionally (often, even) quite a handful. “Not many films go into how mums can be so annoyed with their children,” he said, referring to his mother in the movie, played by onetime child actor Gaby Hoffman (“Transparent”). “That’s what made the film like a documentary almost.”
But Norman’s “sweet and charming” side is also on vibrant display, as he begins to talk about his own mother and the sacrifices she’s made for him. Just a few words into speaking of his mother and Norman is reduced to floods of happy tears. “Without her, none of us could have been as comfortable,” he said, getting a hug from Mills. “She really made it possible. And I’m so grateful that she’s so good with me. Can I actually just go to my mum and have a hug?”
For more, check out the entire “How I Did It” video with Mike Mills and Woody Norman (above), and also hear what line of dialogue Norman cleverly improvised during the “Orphan Game” scene in the film.
