I’m a bit behind on my TCFF write-up but yesterday was quite a whirlwind. I saw three movies from Noon until 9:30pm, starting with Like Crazy screening at Edina Landmark theater, followed by a family comedy indie Ordinary Family and Machine Gun Preacher practically back to back. Reviews of those two coming next week.
Right after the screening, I went to Cosmos Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis for a roundtable interview with director Drake Doremus and lead actor Anton Yelchin. I was feeling a bit nervous as it’s the first time I was invited as an ‘official’ media to interview Hollywood celebrities. Yelchin might not be a household name yet but he’s been involved in quite a few memorable projects of late (Star Trek, The Beaver, Fright Night). At only 22, he’s one of the brightest young stars today as he continues to seek out diverse and challenging roles.
Like Crazy Interview – 9/23 4 pm
There were only a couple of other interviewers with me (one from TheMovieMash.com and the other from Buzzbo Mpls) so it was quite nice to be able to ask both Drake and Anton more than just one question. I was even able to pose with Anton after the interview 😀
Take a listen of the interview below [Drake is the first one being interviewed]:
Like Crazy is a heart-wrenching and realistic portrayal of young love, which is a love story I don’t see depicted in the movies very often. It’s romantic yes, but it’s not saccharine-sweet or overly bleak, but the whole affair felt almost too real. I like the honesty aspect of it and the two leads did a nice job. Apparently it’s semi-autobiographical as Drake experienced a similar long-distance love struggles when he was in college, even though he claimed the characters are mostly fictional.
Like Crazy Panel 9/24 – Noon
The panel actually takes place on Day 5 which was earlier today. It was fun to see Drake explained how the casting and film-making process went. Anton also reiterated again how the intensive rehearsal process between him and Felicity Jones were crucial. It only took them about less than a month to shoot with a mere $250,000 budget – which is amazing considering they were filmed in California and London. Drake joked that it all went to Anton’s salary… “… and my huge trailer!” Anton added.
Drake and Anton seemed to have become good friends since filming this, which makes sense since the two lead actors and the director all spend a huge amount of time together during filming. It’s also interesting to learn the journey of their teeny-tiny film finding a distributor. Drake explained that he showed his film at noon at Sundance and by 6 AM the very next day, Paramount Studios already owned the film! That was before winning Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize which was a real breakthrough for the 28-year-old director.
So what’s next for both?
- Drake Doremus just wrapped up another drama Breathe In (now screening at MSPIFF, see trailer here) which also stars Felicity Jones with Guy Pearce, Amy Ryan and Kyle MacLachlan. This time, Jones’ love interest is a much older man than in Like Crazy as Guy Pearce is 22 yrs older than Anton! The description on IMDb says it’s a film about love, fidelity, marriage and music. The director said he’s always fascinated by relationships and the dynamic between two people, so I’m looking forward to this!
- As for Anton Yelchin, he’s just wrapped a mystery thriller based on Dean Koontz’s novel called Odd Thomas due out next year. He’s apparently very excited to be working with Willem Dafoe, he said that he hasn’t been going to a film set with utter giddiness like this in a long time, ahah.
I will post the YouTube video of the panel as it becomes available. Again, I highly recommend Like Crazy, an intimate & sincere look at long distance love story. Those of you who are tired of romantic comedies but aren’t too jaded to watch a film about love, this is your film.
Any fans of Drake or Anton out there? Will you be checking out this film when it comes out near you?
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Another great post Ruth. Thanks for sharing the press conference discussion, very interesting and some well-thought questions posed to the participants. I think Like Crazy will be a film me and my wife will be able to enjoy together. I’m looking forward to it coming out in the UK.
Thanks Dan. I think you’d enjoy this one if you’ve been married for a long time, makes me feel young again 🙂
When I saw the trailer for Like Crazy I must admit I wasn’t that interested. However, after reading this post, you have now got me interested! It’s not out in the UK until February so I have plenty of time to make my mind up on whether I want to see it 🙂
I think it’s worth a rent at least, you might identify with Felicity’s character as she’s from the UK. I love the London scenes in the movie.
I might give Like Crazy a rent, not really that interested in seeing it on the big screen. I saw Anton Yelchin at the after hour party last night, he’s not that tall of a person. I thought he must be 6 ft tall but he’s only a couple of inches taller than me.
BTW, I thought Revenge of the Electric Car was pretty good.
Yeah, I wish I had been at the after party but I was just so exhausted and had cold-like symptom so I made sure I rested before I get really sick. Anton is only about 3 inches taller than me, did you see the pic of me with him I linked in this article?
Yeah I saw that photo of you and him. I was at the party for a little bit, he was surround by people and he looked kind of annoyed to me. Maybe he was expecting to see more pretty girls hang around him, not a bunch of so so looking ladies. This is not Hollywood, ha ha.
I think Like Crazy looks good. I will most definitely give it a rental when it’s available on DVD as it’s not exactly the type of movie I would seek in theater ah 😀 Interesting interview, exciting that there were there only for the three of you Ruth
Yeah, it was a pretty exciting to be able to sit so close to them and ask them lots of questions. Certainly it was the highlight of covering TCFF for me 😀
I’m a big fan of Anton Yelchin, I can’t wait to see it when it come out in theater. Thank you for sharing this and I’m waiting for the video of the interview and the review.
Hi Karina, welcome to FC. You will love this film if you like Yelchin, yeah I will post the video of the panel once it’s available.
I’m even more excited (if that’s even possible) to see “Like Crazy”! And like I told you before, I have no idea if it will comes near me, where I am we only sometimes get indies like a month after their initial release, so fingers crossed it will at least come. But I’m glad to know it a really great film. The interview sounded so much fun and probably surreal. Lots of great questions asked with very full responses by the two. Thanks for sharing this!
I do hope it will be shown in your city. Where do you live btw? It’s really a good film and with the kudos it got from Sundance, I hope it’ll get a wider distribution. It was a wonderful interview, we got a lot of insights on what a great director and actor both of them are.
Thanks for all the inside info and pic of you and Anton. It was fun to see you at the Fest’s Info table on Saturday afternoon. The 7:15 pm film was totally sold out, and a rush line had already started forming at 4 pm with hopefuls trying to catch any stray remaining seats. Like I mentioned, my life was exactly Like Crazy for a long time, not sure I could handle seeing it in deja vu on the big screen ;-D. Hope you and hubby enjoyed the after party!
I’m so glad people came in droves to see this! Thanks for waiting for my friend and sorry they were a bit late. I was so exhausted that we skipped the after party.
‘Like Crazy’ is one of the films I’m looking forward to the most this Fall. It feels like a movie I’d love to make and that’s the greatest compliment I could give it. I’m also looking forward to your review of it and I’m of course jealous you got to see a month early.
Hi Max, yeah it feels like a personal and intimate film. Well-shot and well-acted. I will let you know when I get my review of it out. I’m so blessed to be able to see so many films ahead of their release, hope this one comes out in your city soon!
Excuse me for a moment from being anything remotely professional sounding:
ANTON YELCHIN! YOU GOT A PHOTO WITH ANTON YELCHIN! YOU ASKED QUESTIONS TO ANTON YELCHIN! SO COOL!!!
Alright, back to being normalish. I genuinely will check out LIKE CRAZY, sounds nifty. And I have no friggin’ clue that a ODD THOMAS book was adapted for cinema. What alternate universe was I thrown into where this didn’t happen? Awesome awesomeness of epic awesomeness!
Ahahaha, you’re so cute! Yeah I was so psyched to meet him and have my picture taken with him. I look so dark compared to him though, ahah, he’s like 10 shades lighter than me! 😀
I didn’t know that Odd Thomas was based on a book, well I’m glad you’re excited about that. Cool that you heard about it for the first time here, he..he..
I just can’t get into the film from the trailer.
I think it’s worth a shot, Fitz. It’s not your typical romance film, you might like it.
A $250K budget and a month of filming!! WOW! I am even more intrigued now. Glad to know that this one is good. I was a little concerned after the first trailer, honestly.
an informative post, Ruth! i will be keeping a lookout for the full review.
Yeah I was surprised it was made in such a low budget! It didn’t look cheap to me but it has an intimate feel about it that I think is pretty unique. It’s almost as if you’re witnessing two people you know instead of watching 2 characters in a film.
Made mention of this fantastic post on Friday’s post: http://scarletsp1der.wordpress.com/2011/09/30/a-quick-look-at-like-crazy/
thanks for the wonderful report!
Wow that was strange. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyhow, just wanted to say fantastic blog!
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