Story of movie Like Crazy 2011 Film :
Like Crazy is a 2011 American romantic drama film directed by Drake Doremus and starring Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones and Jennifer Lawrence. Written by Doremus and Ben York Jones, the film tells the story of Anna (Felicity Jones), a British exchange student who falls in love with an American student, Jacob (Anton Yelchin), only to be separated from him when she is denied re-entry into the United States after staying in the country longer than her student visa allows.
| Like Crazy | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Drake Doremus |
| Produced by |
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| Written by |
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| Starring |
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| Music by | Dustin O'Halloran |
| Cinematography | John Guleserian |
| Edited by | Jonathan Alberts |
Production company | Indian Paintbrush Super Crispy Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Paramount Vantage |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $250,000 |
| Box office | $3.7 million |
Doremus based the storyline of the film partly on his own long-distance relationship with a woman living in London while he lived in Los Angeles. Rather than writing a traditional screenplay, he and Ben York Jones compiled a 50-page outline of the film from which the actors improvised almost all of the dialogue. Filming took place over four weeks in Los Angeles and London with a budget of $250,000.
Like Crazy premiered on January 22, 2011 at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the festival's Grand Jury Prize. It was released in theaters on October 28, 2011 and grossed over $3.7 million at the box office. Most reviews of the film were positive, with reviewers giving particular praise to the performances of Yelchin and Jones, although some found the plot unrealistic and contrived.
Screenplay
Anna Gardner (Felicity Jones), a British exchange student attending college in Los Angeles, meets and falls in love with Jacob Helm (Anton Yelchin), an American student who returns her affections. After graduation, Anna decides to spend the summer with Jacob rather than return to the United Kingdom, unaware of the consequences of overstaying her student visa, which expired upon her graduation. After returning to London for a family engagement, Anna flies back to Los Angeles, where she is detained, denied entry, and deported to the United Kingdom by immigration officials.
The couple's love for each other grows strained by their separation and long-distance relationship. Despite her efforts at appealing the immigration decision, Anna is told she is banned from entering the United States. Meanwhile, Jacob leaves behind his successful design business and visits Anna in London for a few weeks. There, he learns that Anna's parents, Bernard (Oliver Muirhead) and Jackie (Alex Kingston), have hired an immigration lawyer to try to get the ban lifted. Bernard suggests that marrying may help their efforts. Jacob is uncomfortable with the suggestion, and the couple struggle with their feelings.
After Jacob returns to the United States, he and Anna grow apart, and Jacob begins a relationship with his colleague, Samantha (Jennifer Lawrence). Anna also tries to find a new life for herself, beginning work as a secretary for a magazine, but she is unable to abandon her feelings for Jacob. She eventually phones him from London and says that they will never find in others what they found in each other, and that they should marry. Soon after, Jacob breaks up with Samantha, returns to London and marries Anna in a small registry office ceremony with her parents as witnesses—both affirming that they will "never allow anything to destroy the feelings we share for each other". With a tearful parting, Jacob returns to his business in Los Angeles while the couple wait six months before they appeal the ban on Anna's visa.
Six months later, Jacob flies back to the United Kingdom for the appeal, but it is rejected. With their relationship compromised and no hope of resolving the visa issue, Anna and Jacob begin to fight with each other out of jealousy and frustration. Jacob goes back to the US, and continues his relationship with Samantha. Anna eventually gets promoted at work to the position of editor—something she wanted very much. Her love life, however, is not as positive or fulfilling—her new boyfriend Simon (Charlie Bewley) does not evoke the same feelings in her as Jacob, whom she still misses.
Sometime later, Anna is finally offered a new visa. She gives up her job, her current boyfriend and her apartment, and flies to Los Angeles to Jacob, who greets her with flowers at the airport where they have an awkward reunion. Jacob brings Anna to his house where he joins her in the shower, and as the water falls over them, they remember happier memories they had together at the beginning of their relationship, which has now become strained due to their indiscretions during the time spent apart.
- Anton Yelchin as Jacob Helm
- Felicity Jones as Anna Gardner
- Jennifer Lawrence as Samantha
- Charlie Bewley as Simon
- Finola Hughes as Liz
- Oliver Muirhead as Bernard Gardner
- Alex Kingston as Jackie Gardner
- Keeley Hazell as Sabrina
- Chris Messina as Mike Appletree
- Ben York Jones as Ross
- Jamie Thomas King as Elliot
Development
Drake Doremus was inspired to make Like Crazy by the end of his eight-year long-distance relationship with Desiree Pappenscheller, who lived in London while Doremus lived in Los Angeles. Many elements of the film resemble their real-life relationship, such as frequent travelling between Los Angeles and London, trouble with American immigration laws, a brief marriage, a trip to Santa Catalina Island (where Jacob takes Anna in the early stages of their relationship), and the gift of a bracelet (in the film, a bracelet is given to Anna by Jacob). The story was co-written by Ben York Jones, who had also been involved in long-distance relationships. Together, they assembled a 50-page outline of the film which read more like a short story than a traditional screenplay. The outline included backstory, plot points, specific scene objectives, themes and emotional moments, but had minimal dialogue.
Anton Yelchin was Doremus's first choice to play Jacob, based on Yelchin's previous work, and was cast almost immediately after meeting Doremus to discuss the role. After auditioning a number of actresses from Los Angeles and London to play Anna, Doremus talked to English actress Felicity Jones over the phone and asked her to tape rough versions of two scenes from the film. He was so impressed with her rendition of the film's final scene—in which Anna and Jacob stand silently in a shower—that he decided to cast her. After Jones arrived in Los Angeles, she and Yelchin began an intensive week-long rehearsal before filming began. Yelchin and Jones met in a Mexican restaurant to get to know one another and, during the week prior to shooting, spent "all day and often all night" discussing Anna and Jacob's relationship with each other and Doremus.
Filming
Like Crazy was filmed over four weeks—the first three in Los Angeles and the last in London. The production budget was $250,000, which included the cost of airfares for the cast and crew. The film was shot on a Canon EOS 7D still camera with cinema lenses, mounted on a rig constructed by cinematographer John Guleserian. He chose the 7D for its portability and the ease it provided for shooting improvised scenes, where he found other cameras too cumbersome. Guleserian said that many of the film's scenes were shot "really far away from our characters really tight close ups" due to the technological limitations of the camera, but he noted that this added to the tone of the film.
Only a small number of crew members were employed to maintain the sense of intimacy that Doremus wanted on set. At its largest, the crew consisted of around 20 people, while some scenes were shot with as few as three crew members, such as a scene on a Santa Monica beach where only Doremus, Guleserian and "a sound guy" were present in addition to the actors. Doremus would often ask members of the crew to leave when filming intimate scenes between Jones and Yelchin so that the two actors would feel more comfortable. These scenes would be shot in improvised takes of up to 30 minutes in length, with Doremus providing only occasional direction. The film's dialogue was almost entirely improvised by the actors, whose lines Doremus believed would come about "by virtue of being fully involved in the character and the moment".
Music
| Like Crazy: Music from the Motion Picture | |
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| Soundtrack album by various artists | |
| Released | October 24, 2011 |
| Length | 49:50 |
| Label | Relativity Music Group |
The film's original score was composed by pianist Dustin O'Halloran. Other music used in the film included songs by Paul Simon, M83, Stars, The Mary Onettes and Figurine. Doremus listened to several of these artists as he developed the story; he said that their songs "became the fabric of the film". He assembled a similar set of songs on a CD which he gave to the cast and crew to listen to throughout production.
An official soundtrack, titled Like Crazy: Music from the Motion Picture, was released on CD and in digital format in conjunction with the film's release. The track listing is as follows:
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