Mike Mills enters the Den of Geek

As Beginners opens in the UK, writer/director Mike Mills has been busy talking to the British press. For the entertainment website Den of Geek, Mills spoke to Michael Leader about the film, working with Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer as well as his art and design influences. It's a lively Q&A that covers a lot of ground. At one points, Mills enthuses about his love of actors, especially Mr. McGregor. He remembers watching McGregor at tribute for him in Seattle and thinking how great it is for writer/directors "when they're watching great actors do their lines. It's like, "Oh my God, I wrote that!" So I adore it."

For Mills:

I think a writer-director's a pig in shit when they're watching great actors do their lines. It's like, I think so, because it's not indigenous to me. I'm not an actor, I'm not hot-blooded like that. So I love it, and I adore them. It's exhilarating. And it's so fun as a writer-director to have people doing your own lines. Actors, I think, like seeing a montage of their work.