Mike Mills Honors His Mother in ’20th Century Women’ (VIDEO)

Upcoming film “20th Century Women” offers a honest slice of feminist life with its profile of a woman based on director Mike Mills’ mother, Dorothea.

Dorothea is a 55-year-old single woman who lived in Santa Barbara around 1979 while raising 15-year-old son Jamie.

Mike Mills crafted the movie around his own personal experience. His relationship with his mother inspired the screenplay and influenced his decisions during the project, he said in an interview with NPR.

Dorothea is a fictional character but Mills admits that much of his mother’s biography and personality shines through the script. Born in the 1920s, Dorothea was older than other mothers and didn’t quite fit the mold. The movie follows her relationship with her son while also exploring the intricacies of her personality.

Mills wrote the script 12 years after his mother’s death but never kept her far from his mind. “I tried to write a woman that my mom would like to see in the movie,” he told NPR.

READ MORE: Kristen Stewart Stars in Sundance Film ‘Certain Women’

Mills describes her as a mix between Amelia Earhart and Humphrey Bogart who exhibits more masculine traits and hobbies. In addition to wanting to be a World War II pilot, Mills told NPR that she was “steeped in ‘30s and ‘40s film language [of] film heroines” with a overwhelming air of sarcasm that was “funny as hell.”

In addition to his mother, the film had “lots of feminine inspiration.” Mills paid homage to other women of his childhood with characters loosely based on his sister, first girlfriend and other female friends.

Mills encouraged Annette Benning, the actress playing Dorothea, to speak up about the role and shape the character based on her own experience as a female. He admitted that Benning was always challenging his perception of Dorothea and that her interpretation influenced the film.

While some critics have referred to the movie as a coming of age film, he insists that women were the focal point, stating in the interview that “the son is a vehicle to see the mother and the other women … I was just much more interested in the women.”

This is not the first time Mills has used his family life as inspiration for this work. The indie film “Beginners” (2010) was inspired by his family dynamic with his father, which changed after Mills came out as gay as an adult.

While “20th Century Women” focuses on the female perspective, fatherhood also played an important role in the film, especially because Mills welcomed a child during the production of the project. Mills shares that his father played an important role in his upbringing. Yet the writer and director emphasized the importance of his mother in shaping who he is today.

“The real person in my life, the real person who shaped me is my mom, and she’s equally as ‘filmic’ as a soul,” Mills told NPR.

READ MORE: How Your Relationship With Your Mother Can Shape Your Life