BOP Interview: Like Crazy's Drake Doremus and Felicity Jones
By Ryan Mazie
October 26, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
On another level, the title can stand for the “like crazy” amount of buzz the film received after premiering in Sundance last year. It can represent the “like crazy” chances a major studio (Paramount) would distribute the film; starting this Friday before expanding.
For British starlet Felicity Jones, “like crazy” could describe her feeling of elation after discovering she was nominated for a 2011 “Breakthrough Actress” Gotham Award minutes before our roundtable interview in Boston.
Where did the story come from?
Drake Doremus: It came from thinking about the past more than anything. Trying to do something truthful and honest. I really wanted to do a contemporary love story and do it honest from my perspective. So just really reflecting on a lot of things that happened in my life and Ben [York Jones’] life – my co-writer who put a lot into the scriptment.
Felicity, I was curious on what sold you to do this picture. Since it was a scriptment, I am assuming that there wasn’t a lot of dialogue written. What made you think, “This is a character that I can handle and can create with a lot of improv?”
Felicity Jones: It was from reading the scriptment. Sitting down and reading it really quickly in one-go, which is always a good sign. I didn’t get distracted once.
DD: It’s so short you can’t (laughs). It was 50 pages.
FJ: And it already had such a strong tone; many of the songs that are in the film were in that initial scriptment. By the time it came to the actors, it was fully realized. There is a truthfulness in telling the story, there is no gimmick, there are no car chases or anything like that. It’s a story about a relationship. And when I was reading it, it felt absolutely honest and an extraordinary thing to do through improvisation.
What was the improv like for you?
FJ: There is a lot of information already given to you so that you don’t feel like you are coming in totally unprepared. We discussed the objectives and broke down the scenes to know exactly what was going to happen. Then we shoot the rehearsal and you just let the dialogue come. So the dialogue is the least important element in making this type of film. But once you are into it and feel like you can trust the people around you, then it becomes a lot less intimidating.
Was it difficult finding a level of trust with Anton?
FJ: It was important that we had a week together before we started shooting and the three of us spent long nights at In-N-Out Burger, drinking tequila, discussing relationships in general, rehearsing the scenes, and just trying to get to know each other as well as possible. Obviously we knew that this would be a situation where we’d have to take risks and be vulnerable around each other. I think we were fortunate, because Anton, Drake, and I get along very, very well. Once we got over that initial meeting where you are nervous and shy, it just felt very easy.
Drake, is doing the scriptment for the sake of the actors or for you as a director?
DD: I think it’s both! I think it is just a way or being, cutting through the bullshit and finding truth. At the end of the day, if it’s not truthful then I don’t want to put it in the film. It’s a shortcut to truth, because when you have a script with dialogue, you are breaking down and adding all of this back-story and all of these objectives to try to give it truth. But here, you are starting with the truth because it is already in the outline, and then we bring it to life.
I was curious about the $250,000 budget. Was this something you wanted to do cheap and quick with a real honest feeling or did you consider that you could make this for a couple million dollars?
DD: I think the less money you have, the more freedom you have. And a story like this, it didn’t need to have a 50-person crew. It didn’t need more money; it needed to have what we had which is what was perfect about it. At the same time, it would have been impossible to do it as quickly as we did it, because I wrote the scriptment in February with Ben and we were shooting in June. So to raise a couple million dollars to do this movie would have taken years. We would have been making it just now, which would have been sick. The goal is to just go as fast as you can, because the idea is fresh and there. It happens so quick, mainly because I am passionate about the idea more and if too much time passes, I won’t be the same filmmaker.
Did that time and money crunch affect your visual style? Were you doing this movie on the run?
DD: I always wanted it to have an alive, free style to it, but at the same time, having it be very cinematic and very composed… We were running around. We were always permitted to be wherever we were, but we also wanted to make it feel stolen. So whether it was Anna and Jacob under the covers, Jacob running around LAX, no matter what, these were also truthful, intimate moments that we were stealing from these characters’ souls and putting them on screen. And that was the aesthetic goal with the camera.
Did you shoot in sequence?
DD: No, we couldn’t shoot in sequence due to budgetary reasons. We couldn’t go back to certain locations, so we had to shoot each location when we had it. But we tried to shoot each location scenes in order that they took place.
FJ: It was interesting how those first scenes [we shot] were 10, 12 takes, and by the end I think we did the scenes in nearly one take.
DD: It’s great to see their progression in how they –
FJ: Became so comfortable with one another.
DD: And their knowledge of their characters and the story and the emotions. We could do a scene and it would work pretty quickly towards the end, by virtue of having gone through this love affair.
Did you shoot things that didn’t make it in the film?
DD: There were a few scenes, six or seven, that were in the outline that got cut or trimmed, because they didn’t really push the story forward. Then there were a few scenes that we shot that were just scenes we found on set. We saw a cemetery so we went to shoot in it. But there will be some great moments on the DVD that just really didn’t fit into the 90 minutes.
How close to Sundance did you complete the film?
DD: A week before (laughs). We found out about Sundance the beginning of December and we rushed to get the sound and movie done in January. So we were doing sound until about a week and a half before.
And Sundance was the first time you saw the film, Felicity?
DD: She saw it in the editing room.
FF: I saw it with the editor Jonathan [Alberts] and with Drake.
DD: When I showed her the film, she hated it at first.
FF: It’s so horrible watching yourself.
DD: Plus watching yourself do and say things you don’t remember doing or saying.
FF: But I think it’s always horrific, because you are so critical of yourself and you can’t get perspective on it. It takes a bit of time to see it as a whole. I was just worried that Anna would seem very spoiled and self-indulgent. … I just feared that people would hate her.
Is it easier to watch the film now when you see yourself?
FJ: Yeah, I mean it took a year (both laugh). Just having that perspective is much better, seeing it as a whole. It is something that I am deeply, deeply proud of.