"Like Crazy" Sells To Paramount For $4 Million

"Like Crazy" Paramount Vantage

Definitely the biggest deal of Sundance so far, Drake Doremus' "Like Crazy" sold to Paramount this morning for a reported $4 million. The Weinstein Company and Summit Entertainment were apparently both involved in bidding wars for the film, but Paramount ended up nabbing worldwide rights.

Co-financed by Indian Paintbrush, "Crazy" follows Jacob (Anton Yelchin) and Anna (Felicity Jones), who meet at college in Los Angeles and quickly, madly fall in love, only to be forced into a long-distance relationship when Anna must return to London for visa issues. Very well received at its Saturday premiere, "Crazy" works in large part due to the affecting performances of Jones and Yelchin (not to mention a great supporting cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Charlie Bewley, Alex Kingston, and Oliver Muirhead). Credit also goes to Doremus and co-writer Ben York Jones's script, although Doremus said that, like "Douchebag," which premiered at Sundance last year, "Like Crazy" owed much to improvisation.

"The movie is mostly improvised from a 50-page outline that Ben and I wrote together," he said at the Q&A. "We were very specific in the outline and then these wonderful actors brought it to life. We rehearsed it a lot to sort of find the beats to the story. Felicity and Anton especially really trusted me and just delved into it. They did an amazing job improvising."

Watch the full Q&A here.