Market Research Biz News: Read the Joaquin Phoenix Movie Mike Mills Script

Editor’s Note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the screenplay of the film that will be the element of this year’s film award race.

“There are always interesting round trips to and from children we rarely talk to.” Come on Writer / Director Mike Mills To tell. “It may be as light as playing, but then it can be as deep as any adult relationship you have ever had.”

Its wide spectrum, among the loose, playful and terribly serious ones, A24 Two leads in the movie. In the midst of a cross-country trip for an ambitious mission to document the youth’s vision for the future, Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix), A driven, independent, unrooted middle-aged radio journalist is unexpectedly thrown into Johnny’s system to take care of his bright and perceptual 10-year-old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman). Prove both the shock and the balm for his soul.

“When Come on, I wanted to play on the opposite scale, “says Mills. “On the other hand, this movie is just a few moments. Give the kids a bath and talk before bedtime. Meanwhile, you are traveling to a big city and young people yell about their future and the future of the world. Intimate stories are happening in the context of much bigger things because I’m listening to think. I often feel the same spectrum as my son. Our time is very private, but the biggest concern in life is It’s all there. “

Mills was inspired by his own middle-aged advance into paternity: “Johnny has to learn everything his parents learn, but very, very fast,” he says. “As a father, I found that you always feel like you’re a beginner and trying to keep up with things changing. This is a way to recreate that mess and it’s always happening. Not fully prepared for that.

“Of course, you don’t have to be a biological parent to experience it,” he adds. “You can be an uncle, aunt, teacher, or caretaker.”

Mills used the established structure of the road movie genre as a story map – Wim Wenders’ Urban Alice Proved a particularly strong impact. “Like Wender, I wanted to explore a child character as a creature with the same will, concern, desire, and fear as any other adult,” he says.

After writing the script, while filming, Mills creates real, deeper textures, such as recording future perspectives from real-world schoolchildren and deepening the real-life bond between Phoenix and Norman during filming. It was open to discovering improvisational moments to add.

“What started when I tried to record and think about my life with my child was also a portrait of the relationship that was built between Hoakin and Woody,” says Mills. “I really accepted it and tried to get the camera to capture it. And that’s when I’m most excited as a filmmaker. Things are alive, unpredictable and amazing. It’s time to feel. “

Click below to read the Mills script Come onPremiered at the Tellride Film Festival, was named one of the Top 10 Films of the Year by the National Board of Review and was nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, including Screenplay, Director, and Best Features.