Love, Antosha, a documentary about the life of Anton Yelchin, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this week. Produced by Yelchin’s Like Crazy director Drake Doremus and directed by Garrett Price, most of Yelchin’s A-list costars and collaborators talk about him.
There are interviews with Jennifer Lawrence, Kristen Stewart, Chris Pine, J.J. Abrams and many more. There are only a few notable absences, but if you’re looking for Like Crazy costar Felicity Jones, the reason she’s not included is quite touching.
“It was too emotional for Felicity to participate in the film so she just couldn’t do it,” Doremus said. “She wanted to do it. There were moments where she was going to do it and then eventually just at the end of the day, I think it was just too hard for her.”
In fact, even watching Love, Antosha will be too hard for Jones.
“She’ll never even watch it,” Doremus said. “She can’t even watch it. I spoke to her about it and she’s like, ‘I’m not there yet in my life.’ Maybe one day she will and that’ll be something for her but that’s just where she’s at.”
Some of Yelchin’s directors were also still too raw since the actor died accidentally in 2016.
“Same thing for Jeremy Saulnier and a few other people as well that we would have loved to have included,” Doremus said. “That’s totally fine. Everyone’s got a different process.”
For Doremus, producing Love, Antosha was healing.
“My grieving process to pour my heart and soul into trying to do anything I could to participate in helping tell the story,” Doremus said. “Everyone did it differently and we totally respect that so we’re just proud of what the film is and it’s all good.”
Unless it was for emotional reasons, no one turned down an interview for Love, Antosha.
“Absolutely, 100%,” Price said. “Everyone wanted to be involved and help out whatever way possible, whether being interviewed or just giving us materials or footage or photos they had of Anton. Everybody wanted to be a part of this and help tell his story.”
Price also interviewed Yelchin’s parents Victor and Irina, and many of his childhood friends. It wasn’t just a Hollywood retrospective.
“What I love about this film is all our interviews, whether it’s friends of Anton through his professional life or his personal life, they’re all treated on the same level,” Price said. “We weren’t just milking the famous people or celebrity interviews.
“I think Anton saw everybody in his life like that. That’s what I think really sticks out to me in watching it over and over again.”
While Yelchin may have been famous for the Star Trek movies, and indies like Like Crazy and Green Room, Price featured all of his films in Love, Antosha. He hopes people leave the theater and watch more Anton Yelchin movies.
“Yeah, explore his catalog,” Price said. “He’s such an amazing actor. He did so much and I hope people feel inspired. I didn’t want to make a sad movie. It’s inherently emotional but I think people do feel inspired after they sit with it for a moment. And go home and call your own parents and tell them you love them.”