This love story is ‘Like Crazy’

Ashley Smith

The Signal

Two young lovers form a bond, becoming inseparable while in college, then pulled apart by fate and circumstance. Will their relationship survive or will the long-distance romance ultimately become their undoing?

This situation has been seen countless times before since the beginning of cinema, most recently in “Going The Distance” and “Dear John,” but what sets “Like Crazy” apart from the pack is how writer and director Drake Doremus created the film and his unique method of developing the story.

“Well, the writing process mostly entails trying to come up with scene objectives, emotional plot points, subtext, things like that and then the dialogue kind of comes later,” Doremus said.

Doremus, whose mother Cherie Kerr is a founding member of famous improv group The Groundlings has himself been directing and performing improv since the age of 12. He uses his improv roots to create his films, giving his actors an extensive outline as well as scene objectives and subtext, but allowing them to organically come up with the dialogue.

The two actors, Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin, who portray the young couple in “Like Crazy,” which opened in Houston Nov. 18, experienced first hand Doremus’ unique method.

“I think it was a little bit nerve-wracking, but that was kind of what was exciting about it because it felt like it’s challenging,” Jones said.

“I think it was the process really that’s kind of a blessing for an actor to deal with, to make a film and have such freedom with your character,” Yelchin said.

Unlike other films that deal with long-distance relationships, Doremus wanted to give his film a more raw and honest feel to it.

“I think we find moments that are surprising and that feel really organic, and what’s exciting is when the actors listen to each other and they let things happen organically, amazing real true moments will sort of happen,” Doremus said. “That’s what I really wanted to do. I was really inspired to try to do something that didn’t feel staged or homogenized, that just really resonated with audiences.”

Doremus’ way of telling the story is what initially drew Jones to the film.

“The tone is so different than anything that I’ve ever read, and it was so intimate and very, very naturalistic,” Jones said. “I wanted to do something a little more serious and intimate.”

“Like Crazy” tells the story of Jacob, played by Yelchin, and Anna, played by Jones, who meet while both attending college in Los Angeles. They fall in love, but Anna, who is originally from England, overstays her visa and is sent back to London. The couple then becomes involved in a long-distance relationship and the perils that come with it.

“For Jacob, going to London, he just feels that he’s not part of her life there,” Yelchin said. “When he comes to London it’s just not – it’s not home for him and it’s not home for their relationship. It is her place but without him.”

Throughout the film Jacob and Anna, even at the lowest points in their relationship, never can fully let go.

“I guess that love is gray and relationships are gray and long-distance relationships especially are difficult to sustain and stay connected with somebody,” Doremus said. “Just because you’re not fully with somebody, it doesn’t mean you’re not sort of half with that person. This film ultimately covers what it feels like to try to fight to get over somebody and to sort of not be able to.”