Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor
Pat Mills
|
---|
Mills in 2015
|
Born
| Kevin Patrick Mills
|
---|
Nationality
| Canadian
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| Film director, screenwriter, actor
|
---|
Known for
| Guidance
,
Don't Talk to Irene
|
---|
Kevin Patrick Mills
is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and actor, whose feature film debut
Guidance
was released in 2015.
[1]
Early life and education
[
edit
]
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
[
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]
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]
Mills, who is gay,
[2]
wrote
Guidance
as a satirical spin on his own history as a child actor,
[2]
centering 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 to act in his own film.
[5]
His performance was nominated for a 2015
ACTRA Award
.
[6]
Guidance
was reviewed as a
New York Times
Critics' Pick upon its release.
[7]
Don't Talk to Irene
went into production in 2016 as Mills' second film,
[8]
premiered at the
2017 Toronto International Film Festival
and was theatrically released in Canada and the USA. It went on to win both the Comedy Vanguard Award and Audience Award at the
Austin Film Festival
,
[9]
the Audience Choice at the
Kingston Canadian Film Festival
[10]
and the Galet d'Or at the 5th Canadian film festival of Dieppe, France.
[11]
Mills was also listed as one of
MovieMaker Magazine
's 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2018.
[12]
In June 2018,
Don't Talk to Irene
won two
Canadian Comedy Awards
: Best Feature and Best Writing in a Feature.
[13]
In 2020 Mills directed the digital series
Queens
for
CBC Gem
, and was nominated for a
Writers Guild of Canada
Screenwriting Award for the episode "Minnie and Sharron".
[14]
Queens
went on to be named Best Canadian Web Series of 2020 by
Now
.
[15]
In October 2020, he directed
Lifetime
's first LGBTQ+ Christmas movie,
The Christmas Setup
.
[16]
The Christmas Setup
was nominated for a
GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Movie
,
[17]
a
Directors Guild of Canada
Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television and Mini-Series,
[18]
and the
Canadian Screen Award
for
Best TV Movie
at the
10th Canadian Screen Awards
.
[19]
In 2023, Pat was nominated for a Director's Guild of Canada Award for Outstanding Direction in a Comedy Series for
Run the Burbs
.
[20]
He collaborated with
Noel S. Baker
and
Zoe Whittall
on the screenplay for the 2024 film
We Forgot to Break Up
, which was directed by
Karen Knox
.
[21]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Actor
[
edit
]
Director
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
"Search Engine takes Canadian rights to Guidance"
.
Playback
, September 8, 2014.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"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
Archived
September 15, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine
.
Austin Film Festival
.
- ^
"Starring in own film costly for director"
.
Brampton Guardian
, September 9, 2014.
- ^
"Alumnus Pat Mills Nominated for a 2015 ACTRA Award"
Archived
February 23, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
.
Canadian Film Centre
, January 8, 2015.
- ^
Catsoulis, Jeannette (August 20, 2015).
"Review: In 'Guidance,' a High School Counselor as a Rotten Role Model"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
September 29,
2015
.
- ^
"Geena Davis to Star in Indie Comedy 'Don't Talk to Irene'"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
, June 23, 2016.
- ^
"2017 Winners"
Austin Film Festival
, December 18, 2017
- ^
"KCFF'18 Award Winners"
Kingston Canadian Film Festival
, March 8, 2018
- ^
"Les laureats du 5e festival du film canadien de Dieppe..."
.
Paris-Normandie
[
fr
]
, March 26, 2018.
- ^
"Austin Film Festival 25 Screenwriter's to Watch"
.
Moviemaker Magazine
, April 30, 2018.
- ^
"Recipients of the 2018 Canadian Comedy Awards"
.
Canadian Comedy Awards
, June 3, 2018.
- ^
"2021 WGC Screenwriting Awards Nominees Announced"
, March 4, 2021.
- ^
"Readers' Choice 2020"
Archived
November 19, 2020, at the
Wayback Machine
.
Now
, November 19, 2020.
- ^
"Lifetime Sets Cast For Holiday Movies 'The Christmas Setup' & 'Sugar & Spice Holiday': Fran Drescher, Ben Lewis, Jackie Lai, More"
.
Deadline
, September 14, 2020.
- ^
"GLAAD Media Awards Nominees"
GLAAD Media Awards
, January 28, 2021
- ^
"DGC Awards Winners and Nominees"
.
Directors Guild of Canada
, July 7, 2021.
- ^
Brent Furdyk,
"2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, 'Sort Of' & 'Scarborough' Lead The Pack"
.
ET Canada
, February 15, 2022.
- ^
"DGC Awards Winners and Nominees"
.
Directors Guild of Canada
, September 23, 2023.
- ^
Victoria Ahearn,
"Motel Pictures filming queer indie music film We Forgot to Break Up"
.
Playback
, November 14, 2022.
External links
[
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]