chrismillis.com: March 2012

By Matt Shiverdecker in Arts & Entertainment

Swedish director Jonas Akerlund is probably still best known for his iconic 90's music videos like Madonna's "Ray Of Light" and The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up." Over the years, he's brought his unique visual style to the big screen with cult favorite Spun and 2009's little-seen Horsemen.

His latest film, Small Apartments, is making its World Premiere at SXSW this year and it stars Matt Lucas (from the hit UK comedy series Little Britain) along with a bizarrely fantastic cast of characters that includes Peter Stomare (Fargo), Dolph Lundgren, and Billy Crystal. There isn't even a trailer online for this one yet, but it's high on our list of must-see films at the festival.

You'll have four chances to catch it at SXSW, including Saturday, March 10 at the Alamo South Lamar and Saturday, March 17 at the Alamo Ritz. Visit autinist.com here.

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Chris Millis is a prize-winning novelist, screenwriter, producer, cartoonist, and best-selling celebrity collaborator. His first novel, Small Apartments (Anvil Press, 2001), won the 23rd Annual International 3-Day Novel Contest, which Playboy Magazine called "a coffee-fueled, plot-weaving, literary juggernaut." Canada's prestigious Globe and Mail said of Small Apartments: "brisk and compact ... surprisingly expansive thematic breadth, a thoughtful, silly yet serious study in goofy pathos."

Purchase the prize-winning Small Apartments Kindle ebook here, or the Barnes & Noble Nook ebook here.

Millis adapted the screenplay and is Executive Producer on the film directed by Jonas Akerlund and starring Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, Johnny Knoxville, James Caan, Dolph Lundgren, Juno Temple, Peter Stormare, James Marsden, Amanda Plummer, Saffron Burrows, David Koechner, David Warshofsky, Rebel Wilson, Rosie Perez, and many more. The film made its World Premiere in March 2012 at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin and was a huge hit with audiences and (some) critics. Read The Hollywood Reporter review here.

Millis's second novel, God & California was optioned in manuscript format by Lionsgate Films. Chris also adapted that screenplay and "Small Apartments" director, Jonas Akerlund, is attached to direct. God & California, a deeply philosophical, dark comic tale about a wounded army veteran and a priapic, defrocked Catholic priest on a road trip across America in a pink, Cadillac Eldorado convertible -- breaking all 10 Commandments in a quest to speak with God was released in Summer 2014 by The Vermont Press.

Millis has published thousands of his drawings and ideas in books, magazines, newspapers, greeting cards, and on toys. His illustrated books include An American Bestiary, by former senator, presidential candidate, and poet-statesman, Eugene McCarthy (1916 - 2005), and the children's book, A Clam Named Sam, by New England author and conservationist Lee DeVitt. The Washington Post has lauded Millis's illustration style as "zany."

Since 1995, Millis has co-created John McPherson's syndicated cartoon feature “Close To Home”, which is distributed to over 700 publications worldwide by Universal Press Syndicate.

Millis holds a M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College, Vermont (click here for Chris’s interview on the Goddard web site) and a B.A. in Studio Art from S.U.N.Y Buffalo State College. Along the way, Millis has worked as an art director, daily editorial cartoonist, editor, sportswriter, and hot dog vendor on the hardscrabble streets of Buffalo, NY.

With several original screenplays in development and a steady schedule of rewrite projects, Millis has kept a foot in the book world by doing celebrity book collaborations. Some have his name on them, some don't. Bottom line is: he wishes he was writing his third novel right now. Even though he's confident very few people would read it.

Chris is represented by Objective Entertainment (NYC) for Literature, Film and Television. Contact his manager, Ian Kleinert, at ik@objectiveent.com or call 212-431-5454.

SMALL APARTMENTS Ebook Now Available for Kindle and Nook!

Small Apartments SXSW Film Preview in the Austinist

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