Sundance may be located in the middle-of-nowhere Utah, be a pain the ass to get to and be ridiculous expensive but there is a reason every budding filmmaker dreams of taking the journey — it can make (or break) your career. For Drake Doremus, he saw everything change with his low key long-distance romance tale “Like Crazy.” After directing three little seen features, Doremus soon found himself as the center of attention with the picture earning strong reviews, great buzz for the performances by Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones and walked away from the festival with a distribution deal with Paramount. And oh yeah, he also took home a Grand Jury Prize for his film as well. Not bad. Well, he’s riding that wave into his next effort and he’s lined up a solid cast to work with.
Jones will return to work with Doremus along Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan also signing on for his next, and currently untitled film. You see? That’s the awesome kind of casting Sundance buzz gets you. Penned by Doremus and Ben York, his collaborator on “Like Crazy,” details are being kept under wraps but the film will center on love and marriage. So maybe a spiritual sequel of sorts to “Like Crazy”? At any rate, Doremus is sticking with thematic material that has served him well already.
Indian Paintbrush, who partnered with Paramount in acquiring “Like Crazy,” are financing the film and it’s moving fast — it will start shooting next month. It looks like Doremus is too reveling in the good word surrounding his Sundance hit and is getting right back to work. No release date yet but we presume this will find its way to theaters sometimes next year.
As for “Like Crazy,” you can see if it deserved the hype when it opens on October 28th.
