Word of Mouth: Paramount makes 'Crazy' bet [video]
Drake Doremus' low-budget, largely improvised, semi-autobiographical love story "Like Crazy" sparked an intense bidding war at this year's Sundance Film Festival. But the winning bidder was not a specialized film company that typically ends up handling such art-house fare. Rather, Paramount Pictures--the distributor of the "Transformers" and "Iron Man" movies--beat out Fox Searchlight, Focus Features and the Weinstein Co. for "Like Crazy's" worldwide rights.
Having paid (it split the deal with independent producer Indian Paintbrush) some $4 million to acquire "LIke Crazy," Paramount now has to sell the movie to two different audiences. Young moviegoers should relate to the long-distance love affair between a Los Angeles furniture designer (Anton Yelchin) and London-based journalist (Felicity Jones), while older patrons could be motivated by the film's glowing reviews and film festival credentials.
Times film reporter John Horn, who wrote about Paramount's marketing challenges in this week's Word of Mouth column, talks about the film in this video:
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-- John Horn
Photo: Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones in "Like Crazy." Credit: Fred Hayes
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