Pretty Cool People Interviews: Mike Mills

See the full interview in high quality here:
that. Bumping into Mike Mills in a town called Eindhoven in the South of Holland. It happened to our crew who were there to shoot a Pretty Cool People Interview with Miranda July. Mike was accompanying Miranda to Holland for her show at art space MU. While Miranda was busy taking care of her show, we took Mike to the local skate park for a chat.
Mike's eyes twinkle as he gazes on down on the skating kids in the indoor wooden park. A perfect location to get him to talk about his work. Mike Mills is now an accomplished graphic designer and director. Besides making music videos, he directed his first feature fiction (Thumbsucker) in 2005, followed by a feature documentary in 2007 (Does Your Soul Have A Cold?). But his creative roots are in the subcultures of punk rock and skateboarding. It's the attitude of punk rock that he loves, which is all about changing the rules constantly, about switching your style and about breaking down people's expectations, explains Mike. He still tries to do those things in his work today.

Mike is part of a generation of directors that emerged in the ninetees including Spike Jonze, Roman and Sophia Coppola, Michel Gondry and their peers. They are now regarded as important innovators, who re-invented the music video and later went on to score successes in Hollywood directing feature films.
Mike exploded onto the international scene with his original music promos for the French band AIR's first album. His promos for "Kelly", "All I Need" and "Sexy Boy" are legendary and it's hard to separate the music from the visuals now. After the success of the AIR videos, Mike could have been directing for major bands and artists, but instead he chose freedom and independence -- only directing and designing for products and people that he can relate to, which is a very fortunate position to be in for any designer.

As a graphic designer, music video and film director, Mike continues to innovate himself, churning out new and inspired stuff all the time, no matter what medium he works in. So enjoy the interview in which Mike reveals his 'recipe' for creating an interesting music video.

See the full interview in high quality here: