Like Crazy

A love story is both a physical and emotional tale, one that can be deeply personal and heartbreaking for an audience to experience. Director Drake Doremus’ film Like Crazy beautifully illustrates how your first real love is as thrilling and blissful as it is devastating. When a British college student (Felicity Jones) falls for her American classmate (Anton Yelchin) they embark on a passionate and life-changing journey only to be separated when she violates the terms of her visa. Like Crazy explores how a couple faces the real challenges of being together and of being apart. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Picture at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and of the Special Jury Prize for Best Actress for Felicity Jones, Like Crazy depicts both the hopefulness and the heartbreak of love.

Opens Friday, October 28th.

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Anton Yelchin

Seems to me if you’re looking for a young actor to play an iconic character in a remake, Anton Yelchin is your huckleberry. In the summer of 2009 alone Anton was in two blockbuster franchise reboots. But as accustomed as Anton seemingly is in these types of movies, he says he’s more at home in the edgy, independent projects that make up the majority of his already impressive resume. You won’t be able to hide your light under a bushel much longer, Anton. Some Hollywood heavy hitters have seen your work and there are more interesting roles in your bright future.

Anton Viktorovich Yelchin was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1989 to World Class pair figure skaters Irina Korina and Viktor Yelchin. In 1972 Irina and Viktor were ranked third in the nation, which did qualify them to participate in the Winter Olympics that year. But the government prevented their competing for what can only be supposed as prejudicial reasons. (The Yelchins are Jewish.) Even in 1989 the Soviet Union was still an intolerant place, so after being stars of the Leningrad Ice Ballet for 15 years, the family immigrated to the US for the safety and well-being of their newest member, six-month old Anton. When labeled a “Russian” actor, Anton bristles. Sure he was born there but the rest of his life, minus those first 6 months, was spent in the US. Honestly, how much national identity can you acquire at that age?

You’d think with all that athletic talent in his genes Anton would be a skater as well. But that was not to be the case. Anton’s quick imagination and intelligence made him a natural actor. He acted in his first film at the tender age of nine and hasn’t stopped. He attended regular school intermittently, between jobs, and even enrolled at USC to study film. But the concept of organized education is lost on Yelchin. He prefers self-study and concentrated observation, as in the case of some of his co-stars like Robert Downey Jr. Instead, his classroom was on the set of many popular TV shows like “ER”, “The Practice”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Law and Order: Criminal Intent”.

When he wasn’t making guest appearances on TV he was establishing a solid reputation for his work in smaller films. His first big break came when he played the younger version of the character Bobby Garfield opposite heavy-hitter Anthony Hopkins in 2001’s Hearts in Atlantis. Anton won a Young Artist Award for that performance. In 2004 actor David Duchovny wrote and directed a film called House of D, casting Anton in the lead as young Tommy alongside Robin Williams and Téa Leone. Then in 2005 a different actor cum director Griffin Dunne chose Anton for another coming of age story, this time co-starring Kristen Stewart and O2W4 Chris Evans called Fierce People. But it was 2006’s Alpha Dog – the fictionalized story of Jesse James Hollywood, a southern California drug dealer who kidnaps the brother of a rival that owes him money, which put Anton front and center for a lot of people.

With a firm foothold in the acting community Anton scored the lead in yet another coming of age story with slight overtones of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off called Charlie Bartlett. Charlie is a likable misfit – a rich kid who is too smart for his own good, been kicked out of every private school he’s ever attended and ends up in the local public school doling out psychiatric advice and medication to the troubled student body. Robert Downey Jr. played the school principal and father of the girl Charlie is in love with. Now here is when it starts to get weird for Yelchin. No sooner does he finish Charlie Bartlett when he gets hired to play Chekov in J.J. Abrams’s reimagining of the classic Star Trek series. Then add into the mix being cast as young Kyle Reese in Mc G’s prequel for the Terminator series, starring Christian Bale as John Connor. To put it into perspective, you could probably take the combined budgets of most of the films Anton had done up until this point, add them together and they probably wouldn’t have paid the catering bill on Star Trek. So these were big changes for our guy.

Gigantic productions aside, the idea of stepping into the shoes of established characters must have been a daunting prospect. Anton was a huge fan the first two Terminator movies but completely ignorant of Star Trek. That problem was solved with a crash course in all things Trek including watching the entire TV and movie series. What made things a little easier was that the way both stories were constructed, we were meeting Chekov and Kyle before we knew who they were in their respective universes. That gave the actor freedom to create the roles the way it felt right to him. Though he had to keep the whole turning “v’s” to “w’s” the way Walter Koenig Chekov’s did. Anton wasn’t too sure why he spoke like that but maybe the fact that Walter was from Chicago had something to do with it.

Anton’s foray into big-budget movies seemed to be over, at least for the moment. He returned to the familiar world of independent films, making The Beaver, directed by and starring Jodie Foster and the beleaguered Mel Gibson. As in Terminator: Salvation, now more famous for star Christian Bale’s on-camera meltdown than anything else, experts theorize that The Beaver’s poor showing at the box office had to do with its star’s recent personal woes. A brighter star for Anton was the indie film Like Crazy, the story of a British student who falls in love with an American boy, only to be separated when her visa expires. Screened at Sundance in 2011, Like Crazy won The Grand Jury Prize and proved that Anton had romantic leading man chops.

The studios siren’s song called out to Anton again. This time it was director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, 2007) and he had in his hands the remake of the 80’s cult classic Fright Night. Anton won the role of hero Charlie Brewster who does battle with the neighbor from Hell, Jerry, this time played by Colin Farrell, with the help of O2W4 David Tennant (doing his very best Chris Angel) as Peter Vincent. In interviews for the film Anton laughed off concerns that Fright Night’s vampire may not be as well received as the emo, vegetarian vampires so popular with the kids today. Be afraid, be very afraid of Jerry folks. He’s a good, old-fashioned vampire out to with either “f*cking f*ck you or kill you or both.”

(I hesitate mentioning the other summer of 2011 blockbuster that Anton worked on, for fear it may tarnish his indie cred. That movie was The Smurfs. To be fair – Anton only provided a voice and that was for the smurfiest of Smurfs, Clumsy. Don’t judge too harshly.)

As of press time Anton had two projects in various stages of production. The first, Odd Thomas, is based on a novel by Dean Koontz and directed by The Mummy helmer Stephen Sommers. Yelchin is the title character – a fry-cook who is in touch with the spirit world and sees looming danger surrounding a mysterious stranger. The second is a film called Winter Queen co-starring Mila Jovovich. Taken from the international bestseller of the same name, Yelchin will play a young detective on the Moscow police force out to solve a crime in Czarist Russian, just prior to the Revolution. And of course there will eventually be the big sequel to Star Trek – should the elements all come together.

Clearly toggling between big blockbuster movies and passion indies is the way to create and maintain a long career. Our man Anton is a shining example of that. Having come through the child actor into awkward teen stages and out the other side, the world is open to him in terms of what future roles will come his way. And if the whole acting thing doesn’t pan out – there’s always the family business or that now defunct punk band, The Hammerheads to fall back on. Yeah, right. I don’t see that happening. Do you?

Official Sites:
Like Crazy
Star Trek
Fright Night

Fan Sites:
Anton Yelchin Online
Yelchin Fans on Live Journal

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Fright Night (2011)

Senior Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all—he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the hottest girl in high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). But trouble arrives when an intriguing stranger Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right—and everyone, including Charlie’s mom (Toni Collette), doesn’t notice. After witnessing some very unusual activity, Charlie comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on his neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone that he’s telling the truth, Charlie has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself in this Craig Gillespie-helmed revamp of the comedy-horror classic.

Opens Friday, August 19th.

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The Beaver

Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster directs and co-stars with two-time Academy Award winner Mel Gibson in THE BEAVER – an emotional story about a man on a journey to re-discover his family and re-start his life. Plagued by his own demons, Walter Black was once a successful toy executive and family man who now suffers from depression. No matter what he tries, Walter can’t seem to get his life back on track…until a beaver hand-puppet enters his life.

Opens in select cities Friday, May 6.

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New York, I Love You

From Trailer Addict – In the city that never sleeps, love is always on the mind. Those passions come to life in New York, I Love You – a collaboration of storytelling from some of today’s most imaginative filmmakers and featuring an all-star cast. Together they create a kaleidoscope of the spontaneous, surprising, electrifying human connections that pump the city’s heartbeat. Sexy, funny, haunting and revealing encounters unfold beneath the Manhattan skyline. From Tribeca to Central Park to Brooklyn the story weaves a tale of love as diverse as the very fabric of New York itself.

Opens October 16th in select US Cities.

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Terminator Salvation

So far it’s been the Summer of *Meh*. None of the four “blockbuster” movies released in May have totally rocked my socks. McG’s vision of post Judgment Day out on Thursday (May 21st) may disappoint Terminator purists but I think most audiences will find Terminator Salvation a fairly enjoyable holiday weekend distraction. Read more

Star Trek

I had forgotten how much I loved Star Trek.  This movie brought it all back and it’s back with heart, soul and gusto!  I had forgotten an old friend, but now we have connected once again.

Far from a true Trekkie, I nonetheless would watch the show religiously and saw every movie.  I loved the humor, the action, the mind bending dilemmas and the camaraderie among the characters.  For the last two hours, that love was rekindled.

Not only did the actors embrace the personalities of those who created the characters, they honored the spirit of the entire series.  You couldn’t help but smile as all the little details we remembered came back with new faces on old characters.  Something very new, but comfortably the same.

Never once did you feel insulted about the way they carried on the tradition of  the series we grew up on and loved.  Certainly not like that horrendous Land of the Lost farce that previewed before the film — I’m just heartbroken about what they have done to that, but that’s a story for another day.

Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto(Spock), John Cho (Sulu), Simon Pegg(Scotty), Anton Yelchin (Chekov), Zoe Saldana (Uhura) and my absolute favorite Karl Urban (Bones) brought to life, and heart,  a fun, exciting ride along memory lane with the promise of new adventures as we get to know the characters all over again.  Throw in some Eric Bana being all bad, Leonard Nimoy connecting to days of old and I couldn’t have asked for a better night out with the hubby (not that I even noticed him sitting next to me).

Yes, I am in love with Star Trek again. I left the theater with a tear in my eye and a smile on my face.

I want more and I want it now!

Alas, for now, I will just have to be first in line for the DVD and maybe find some old epiodes on cable.  Live long and prosper and GO SEE THIS MOVIE!