Little is known about Mike Mills’s next film, which was originally eyeing a 2023 shoot. However, in January of this year, an update revealed that Mills had secured around $4M in California tax credits for the project, suggesting it will likely be another small-scale film from the filmmaker.
Now, speaking with The Playlist, ahead of the Criterion box set release of all his films, Mills confirms that he plans to begin shooting his still-unannounced feature this fall and that it will exist in the same creative territory as his last three films.
“I’m going to start a film in the fall, and it’s in the same planet [as “Beginners,” “20th Century Women,” and “C’mon C’mon,”]” Mills said.
“The next film is—it has a very different…I can’t really talk about it because it’s not been announced and all that—but it has a very different quality to it in one way,” Mills said. “And in another way, it’s very much the same thing of how we impact and discover each other in relationship, you know?”
Mills also confirmed that his next film will continue exploring the parent-child dynamics that have been central to much of his previous work, but “a little rougher,” and “more feral.”
As for who the cinematographer will be, Mills—who worked with a different DP on each of his last three films (Kasper Tuxen, Sean Porter, and Robbie Ryan)—confirmed that he will once again collaborate with a new cinematographer, although he did not disclose the person’s name.
There has been no casting news or plot details, and the project has yet to be officially announced. It remains a mystery at this point. If any of our readers have additional information about the film, don’t hesitate to share 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 feature, 2021’s well-reviewed “C’mon C’mon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Woody Norman, was an ode to midlife anxieties and parenting.
So there's a script. That's something. It looks as though “The Movie Critic” really is dead and buried, and that this is a brand-new project, and title, but the premise is unknown.