Mike Mills speech at Ewan McGregor's Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony

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https://www.maximotv.com  Filmmaker Mike Mills speech at Ewan McGregor's Hollywood Walk of Fame star unveiling ceremony on Thursday, September 12, 2024, at 6840 Hollywood Boulevard next to the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA. This video is only available for editorial use in all media and worldwide. To ensure compliance and proper licensing of this video, please contact us. ©MaximoTV

Transcript

00:00Please welcome filmmaker Mike Mills to the stage.

00:16Hi. This is so weird to talk to these few people when all of you guys are out there.

00:21So I might come around here a fair amount.

00:26Ewan and I, about 15 years ago, we made a little film called Beginners,

00:31which is much bigger than Star Wars and Moulin Rouge.

00:34I'm sure you've all seen it, and that's why you're here today.

00:38And looking at that list of people you work with,

00:41I'm so honored, my friend, that you asked me to come talk today.

00:44I cried when I got the word because working with Ewan,

00:49he played sort of a version of me in this film,

00:52and Christopher Plummer played a version of my dad.

00:54He wore this jacket of mine in the film.

00:57And it was just, all you all, it was the funnest thing in the world

01:02and one of the deeper things in the world,

01:04and I had so much film camaraderie with you, and I'll never ever forget it.

01:09First day I worked with Ewan, Ewan, Christopher Plummer in a hotel room.

01:14I'm coming up with some really questionable rehearsal ideas,

01:18really woo-woo, improvisatory, just way too weird for Christopher Plummer.

01:23He's giving me a look, and he says to me, looks me in the eye,

01:26and he says, Michael, not all directors need to do this.

01:29And that's really scary.

01:31I don't know if you guys have met Christopher Plummer.

01:33He could be terrifying.

01:35Luckily, to his left, ten feet behind him, is Ewan McGregor.

01:38And he's looking at me with this little smile, just like right now,

01:42a little mischievous smile,

01:44and it's like one of the great moments in Ewan's film.

01:46It's like a little subtle moment where he's letting the camera come to him,

01:49but it says everything, and he said to me,

01:51go on, Mike, keep going.

01:53And with this little look, he said, I am a very curious person,

01:58and I am freaking game,

02:00and I want to do what I've never done before, and I'm up for it.

02:04And I feel like that's in all of his performances.

02:07You get this sense of someone who loves it and is up for it.

02:11And it was so inspiring to me, and I'll forever be grateful to Ewan

02:15for saving my ass in that moment and saving my film's ass in that moment.

02:20Let's go to the end of that film.

02:22I'm sorry I have to bring up Christopher Plummer,

02:24because we were in this very intimate thing together,

02:26and trying to think of what to say today, Christopher kept coming to me.

02:29He's passed away now. He kept coming.

02:31And I was like, either Christopher wants to steal the scene from you again,

02:34or he just wants to be here and congratulate you.

02:37I really felt that.

02:39Last day working, Christopher is going to,

02:41his character is going to pass away in this day.

02:43He's loving it. He's a king about to die. He loves it.

02:46Ewan comes up to me, and he has this look on his face

02:49which he never really had. It's like, let's go now.

02:52So I scurry the crew away. I turn on the camera.

02:54I tell Christopher to die. He dies.

02:57I don't know what Ewan's going to do.

02:59He runs up to Christopher, throws his arms around him,

03:02and starts crying in such a real, deep, authentic way.

03:06The whole crew just froze.

03:08Tears started hitting the camera that I was standing by.

03:12And something so real, authentic, painful, and just unknown

03:17was pouring out of Ewan.

03:19And I was like, this is another moment to share with you all.

03:21Because not everyone who gets a Hollywood star,

03:24who's a big Hollywood actor,

03:27is going to make themselves that vulnerable and that real

03:30and go to such an authentic place.

03:32And not everyone has the talent and the skill and the experience

03:36to know how to give it to us, to show it to the camera.

03:39And he does it in such a light way.

03:41He was in such a raw place, but he just knew the camera would find him,

03:44the story would find him, and all of us would find this place he's in.

03:48And he's carrying these unbearable feelings so that we can bear them.

03:52And back to the set, he's still crying on Christopher.

03:56And I don't know how to say cut,

03:58because he's just falling through the air in a real moment.

04:01And finally he yells out to me,

04:03Mike!

04:05And I've never felt so close to anyone in my life on set.

04:08Because he was crying for me,

04:10but he was just giving so much to the film and to all of us.

04:13I went and I hugged you.

04:16And you went off to repair.

04:18I went to Christopher, and he had, to be honest,

04:20just like snot and tears all over his chest.

04:23And he looked kind of like perturbed.

04:26And I said, are you okay?

04:28And he goes, oh, I'm just jealous as hell.

04:31Because Christopher kind of couldn't do that in some ways.

04:34Christopher couldn't let himself fully go

04:37and yet give something that the camera could see and take in.

04:42So when I come back and see this Hollywood star

04:46walking down the street in my hometown,

04:48or when I come show my kid your star,

04:50I'm going to get to say, I know him.

04:53Which is pretty rad, right?

04:56And it's so weird that I'm here, let's be honest.

05:01And that is not just a star, that's a real man.

05:05That is a really good-looking Scottish man

05:09who really loves his job.

05:14He would say this all the time on the film we're working on.

05:16It's just a little film, right?

05:17Almost every day you want to go like, I can't cuss,

05:20but I freaking love my job.

05:22I love this.

05:23I'm so lucky.

05:25And he truly felt that.

05:27The crew couldn't wait for him to show up in the morning.

05:29We filmed with a dog.

05:30The dog couldn't wait for him to show up in the morning.

05:34And I feel like he sensed that gratitude,

05:37this little fire flame energy of gratitude

05:40in so many of Ewan's performances.

05:42He's lucky to be there.

05:43He knows it, and he's eating it up.

05:46So I'm lucky I got to work with you.

05:48Thank you so much for making that film with me.

05:51Thank you so much.

05:53Beautiful.

05:54I was lucky.

05:56Great.

05:59That was very nice.

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