How Annette Bening Morphed Into Director Mike Mills’ Own Mother On ’20th Century Women’ – The Contenders Video

Writer/director Mike Mills got personal when he came to last month’s big  Deadline awards season event, The Contenders Presented By Deadline, as part of A24’s presentation to talk about his latest film 20th Century Women. 

In front of a packed crowd of Oscar and key Guild voters Mills spoke of the familial connections not only about this film, but his previous movie, Beginners, for which Christopher Plummer won an Oscar playing a version of Mills’ dad.  In this case it is the director’s mom’s turn in the spotlight, as Annette Bening essentially portrays a fictional version of her. Mills talks about making that personal connection in his films and how he cast Bening in the role. He praises the actress to the skies in talking about her ability to put so much into just one line, and talks about his need to write about things he knows and people he knows such as his parents. He also talks about shooting the film in his hometown of Santa Barbara.  To watch our contenders conversation just click on the link above.