Pat Mills (director)
| Pat Mills | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mills (right) at the 2014 CFC Annual BBQ Fundraiser | |
| Born |
Kevin Patrick Mills Ottawa, Ontario |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | film director, screenwriter, actor |
| Known for | Guidance |
Patrick "Pat" Mills is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor, whose feature film debut Guidance was released in 2015.[1]
Early life and education
A former child actor who appeared on the television series You Can't Do That on Television,[2] Mills later studied filmmaking at Ryerson University and studied at the Canadian Film Centre.[2]
Career
Mills has directed several short films, including 5 Dysfunctional People in a Car, Marjorie, Pat's First Kiss, Babysitting Andy, The Affected Turtleneck Trio and I'm Not Martin!, and won the Toronto International Film Festival's annual Pitch This! competition for emerging film directors in 2008 for his pitch for Don't Talk to Irene.[3] Don't Talk to Irene later won the award for Best Comedy Screenplay at the 2013 Austin Film Festival.[4] He also has a teen drama television series, Amnesia Girl, in development.[5]
Mills, who is gay,[2] wrote Guidance as a satirical spin on his own history as a child actor,[2] centring the screenplay on a character whose backstory is similar to his own but who has much more dysfunctional ways of dealing with his insecurities.[2] Having not taken an acting role since 1994, he had to pay almost ten years worth of back ACTRA dues in order to act in his own film.[6] His performance was nominated for a 2015 ACTRA Award.[7]
Guidance has received critical acclaim from critics upon its release. Indiewire called it “a must see and a moving laugh-out-loud romp from start to finish".[8] Variety gave the film a positive review, stating that it was a “delightful debut” and “The modest pic’s laughs get bigger as it goes along, and so does its surprising warmth.”[9] The Los Angeles Times called it “a creative hat-trick of wildly amusing proportions.”[10] Allmovie wrote “the writer-director's premiere effort announces him as a major new onscreen talent and a fresh and welcome comedic voice.”[11] It was hailed a New York Times Critics’ Pick upon its release.[12] Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 87% based on 15 reviews.
References
- ↑ "Search Engine takes Canadian rights to Guidance". Playback, September 8, 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "High school confidential". Xtra!, September 4, 2014.
- ↑ "Offbeat coming-of-age tale wins $10K movie-pitch competition". CBC News, September 9, 2008.
- ↑ Screenplay and Teleplay Competition Winners. Austin Film Festival.
- ↑ "The Mark of Cain and Amnesia Girl in development at CTV". Playback, February 23, 2012
- ↑ "Starring in own film costly for director". Brampton Guardian, September 9, 2014.
- ↑ "Alumnus Pat Mills Nominated for a 2015 ACTRA Award". Canadian Film Centre, January 8, 2015.
- ↑ Grover, Erin. "A Vodka Shot Toast to the Outrageous Comedy & TIFF Selection "Guidance"". Retrieved 2015-09-29.
- ↑ "Toronto Film Review: ‘Guidance’". Variety, September 5, 2014.
- ↑ Goldstein, Gary. "'Guidance' gets an A for its subversive silliness". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
- ↑ "Guidance (2014) - Pat Mills | Review | AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
- ↑ Catsoulis, Jeannette (2015-08-20). "Review: In ‘Guidance,’ a High School Counselor as a Rotten Role Model". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
External links
- Pat Mills at the Internet Movie Database