For Variety‘s Writers on Writers, Seth Rogen pens a tribute to “C’mon C’mon” (screenplay by Mike Mills).
I’m gonna try to write about the amazing film “C’mon C’mon” without really saying anything specific about it, as I wouldn’t want to diminish the viewing by planting my specific thoughts in your head going in. So I’ll say these things:
Every movie Mike Mills makes feels like that one, incredibly personal movie that someone is somehow able to squeeze out before they return to safer material. I’m not sure how he’s able to keep doing it, over and over again. But somehow, he does.
They say in a dream, you, the dreamer, are everyone in the dream. I’ve decided, with no real evidence, in Mr. Mills’ films, he is every character. It’s the only way I can reconcile how someone can paint such honest, compassionate, relatable portraits. They’re all self portraits. It’s the only way I can imagine he knows and sympathizes with these people as well as he seems to. They must be him.
They say good artists borrow, and great artists steal, which is probably more prevalent in filmmaking than most forms. But Mike has made me rethink that. He made me realize the best artists include. Mike is the first filmmaker I’ve seen to actually credit other artists for their work in the body of his. He’s neither borrowing nor stealing. He’s inviting them in.
Seth Rogen is an actor, writer, producer, director, entrepreneur and philanthropist whose films and TV projects have had an impressive impact on popular culture and box office returns. Recently, Rogen became a New York Times best-selling author for his first book, “Yearbook.”
