AGED only 28, Drake Doremus has written and directed four feature films, at a rate of one per year. The third of these, the highly acclaimed " Like Crazy ", is a romantic comedy-drama about a pair of students who are separated by visa problems and the Atlantic Ocean when they graduate. Anna (Felicity Jones) ends up embarking on a journalism career in London, while Jacob (Anton Yelchin) starts a furniture-design company in Los Angeles.

The winner of the Grand Jury prize at last year's Sundance Festival, "Like Crazy" is a painfully authentic depiction of 20-something life and love, partly because its dialogue is improvised by the two leads and the supporting cast, which includes Jennifer Lawrence (nominated for an Oscar last year for her performance in the remarkable film "Winter's Bone") and Alex Kingston. The film is released in Britain today. Mr Doremus and Ms Jones have since teamed up again for his forthcoming fourth film, which co-stars Guy Pearce and Amy Ryan.



How do you shoot a film without a screenplay?

We started with a very specific 50-page outline, which had scene objectives, plot, themes—everything. In fact, I think it's even more specific than a normal script because it's got back-story and things that a normal script doesn't have. The other thing that it has is actual lines of dialogue—but not that much, so it kind of reads like a short story, and it feels a little more story-oriented than, “Stand here and say this.” I'm forcing the actors not to think about remembering the dialogue and where they're standing. I want them to be thinking about what's happening emotionally, and what their objective is in the scene. The dialogue comes as a product of that. People think, oh, improvisation is an actor coming up with their own dialogue, but it's not, it's about being in a moment and letting the truth happen. A huge part of the rehearsals was getting the actors to trust that process and go with it.



Is it harder to attract actors to a project when you don't have a screenplay to show them?

I think it's the opposite, actually. Actors I've met with—and I've met with a tonne in the last year—are really excited about doing a project like this. Any brave, exciting actor wants to take a chance and do something unusual. On “Like Crazy”, all the actors took to improvisation, but I don't think anyone had any training in it. It's funny, but if you're an actor, it's just in you, innately. It's a bizarre process for them, but then slowly they find the liberation of it—and then they don't want to do it any other way! Right after our movie, Anton made “Fright Night”, and I remember him calling me and saying, “Man, they're using marks and lights, we don't need any of that stuff! That's not how you make a movie!”





I grew up in the improv world. My mother's a founding member of the Groundlings, which is an improv sketch-comedy troupe in Los Angeles, so I've been performing and learning the technique since I was six. Then I learnt traditional film-making at film school between 2003 and 2005, so when I graduated I started experimenting with this hybrid of those two techniques. Hopefully I'm learning a little more every time, but it's constantly changing, constantly evolving. With every new movie I feel like I'm starting from scratch.



That sounds stressful.

It's so stressful! It's awful! Halfway through my new movie, I was like, “Oh my God, what are we doing? Why are we doing this again?” But I'm having so much fun, and it's such a challenge to do it this way. At the same time, I'd be totally interested in directing someone else's script. I'm reading scripts now, and if I find the right project, with the right story at the right time, then I'd be interested.



What would you look for in someone else's screenplay?

A really original love story. I think all my films are love stories, whether they're between two brothers who are reconnecting, or between young naïve lovers, or between an older man and a younger woman finding love at the wrong time. Each year I feel like I'm exploring my feelings about love and relationships and where I am in my life. They're really personal films. Every film is like a time capsule of what I'm thinking about and where my heart is that year. At the end of the day, the films I love and respond to are films which are really honest and genuine, so I want to be that kind of film-maker.



So if the producers of the new "Superman" film rang to say that Zak Snyder had dropped out and they wanted you to direct it instead, what would you say?

I would say, “How can we beef up the love story? And let's make that movie!”



One unusual facet of the love story in “Like Crazy” is that its heroine and hero don't drop their budding careers to be together.

One of the things I wanted to explore in the film was the balance of career, personal endeavour and connection with another person. That's something I've never been able to figure out in my own life, so I'm still fascinated by it: how do you be an artist and have a crazy hectic life while still maintaining a personal life that has meaning and balance? Do you give up your life to be with somebody? But would they still love you if you stopped being that same passionate person? The answer's no. One of the things that attracts the characters to each other is that they have really specific passions that drive them. If she wasn't a really talented and thoughtful writer, and if he wasn't a craftsman with an eye, I don't necessarily feel that they would find each other as fascinating as they do. The thing that keeps them apart is the thing that attracts them. That's a truth which I've felt in my life which I wanted to explore in the film.



So far you've made one film a year. Can you keep up that pace?

We'll see! The ideas seem to be coming, so as long as I'm hungry and I need to make a film, then I'll make a film. But I wouldn't make a film unless I needed to make it. The only reason why I have for the last couple of years is that I had to tell those stories, or else I wouldn't have been able to wake up in the morning. And if that feeling stops, then great. I don't want to put the pressure on myself to have to do it.