UPDATE: There was a grave mistake in Deadline’s reporting. They have now corrected it. The figure was actually $3.9M. That makes much more sense.
EARLIER: Is Mike Mills about to make a big-budget film?
With today’s announcement of California’s state tax incentives, the largest allocation from this year’s film credit program wasn’t for Michael Mann’s “Heat 2,” but rather — who’d have thought — a new, untitled film from Mills.
Little is known about Mills’s latest project, but it has already made headlines by securing California’s biggest tax credit: a $39M allocation. By comparison, “Heat 2” was awarded a $37M incentive.
Mills was reportedly set to shoot a mysterious project in 2023, but that never materialized. There’s been no casting news or plot details — it’s all a mystery at this point. If any of our readers have additional info about this one, don’t be shy about sharing it.
If you’ve seen “20th Century Women” or “Beginners,” you know Mills tends to make intimate, small-scale films about angst and familial dysfunction. His last effort, 2021’s well-reviewed “C’mon C’mon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Norman, was an ode to midlife anxieties and parenting.
This new project, however, seems to be a whole different beast — and a far more expensive one. What could it be? I’ll dig deeper and try to find out.