‘You Can’t Do That on Television’ actor at TIFF with debut feature

By Andrea Baillie, The Canadian Press

TORONTO – When Toronto filmmaker Pat Mills was casting new movie “Guidance,” he ultimately hired the person who knew the lead character better than anyone: himself.

After all, Mills — who appeared on the 1979 kids’ sketch show “You Can’t Do That On Television” — had based the film’s leading man on his own experiences.

“I basically created the character as an alter ego of myself,” Mills said recently as he put the finishing touches on his film ahead of its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. “It was really easy for me to write just because I kind of knew the character emotionally. And I thought, the back-up (plans) will be me playing it, because it’s based on a guy who used to be a child actor and I used to be a child actor. And he gets along with teenagers really well and I get along really well with teenagers really well. “

“Guidance” tells the story of a heavy-drinking, down-on-his-luck former child star who fast-talks his way into a job as a high school guidance counsellor and forges some unlikely bonds with his students.

Mills — an Ottawa native who attended Toronto’s Ryerson University — has had two short film screen at the fest. “Guidance” is his feature-length debut.

The only drawback to starring in his own film? The cost.

“I hadn’t acted professionally since 1991. So to be in it I had to pay all my ACTRA dues,” Mills said, referring to the actors’ union. “I was suspended in 1994 and I had to pay my dues for every year since 1994.

“I actually had to pay money to be in my own movie, so it was a big bummer, but it was actually the right thing to do.”

The Toronto International Film Festival wraps Sunday.

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