Mike Mills Quotes

I am intrigued by inanimate objects. They're a piece of history, someone's statement and ideas of life.

The oldest sibling always knows things that the younger ones don't.

To me it's like, every time I'm a director, like today, you're the captain of the ship, so you better dress like it. You're the host of the party.

We never did things as we were supposed to do. That was part of our ethic. We did what felt right to us, not what someone told us we should do.

Over and over again, I'm trying to express or communicate these big and small struggles to the world, and really to myself.

Grief and memory go together. After someone dies, that's what you're left with. And the memories are so slippery yet so rich.

I guess I watch movies to make myself happier a lot.

I'm not a craftsman of graphics or art or film. I'm more of an idea generator and manufacturer.

I don't really believe that documentary is objective reality and fiction is all illusion.

My graffiti really comes more from a May '68, sort of Situationist vibe than the hip-hop world. I think a real graffiti artist would find me a poser.

There is a drunkenness to grief, which is good.

Film is endlessly just beyond your reach. I think that's what I love so much about it.

L.A. is so isolated and unhip in a way; it gives you room to figure out who you are and explore more personal stuff.

I pretty much believe that a film is a film and when an audience watches a film, they finish it.

I was so happy with my bow ties from the last kickstarted project that I'm back for more.

Life is too short for a half-rack.

To me, sadness and humor aren't disrelated and humor is the best tool I've had against the sadness in my life.

The littlest thing can have the strongest connection when you're grieving. Your Proustian, poetic nerve is turned up to ten.

I definitely believe in the energy of the set and the energy of the actor, way more than your written word.

Humans are vulnerable, messy little animals and that's normal. And all I want to do is make a space for that in my films.

I'm into people's emotional lives and relationships and the complications of living. That's my turf.