2011 was a big year for breakout female actresses, and especially so for British actress Felicity Jones.
Jones won the Special Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival for her role as Anna in Drake Doremus’, Like Crazy, which follows the ups and downs of a relationship between a British student (Jones) and her American college sweetheart Jacob, played by Anton Yelchin, who are torn apart after Anna overstays her visa.
In this new still from Like Crazy (courtesy of MTV), we see the two lovers on a beach, before deportation and the complications of a long distance relationship.
In an exclusive interview with MTV, director Doremus explains how Jones, who was previously best known in Hollywood for her supporting role in Ricky Gervias’ Cemetary Junction, landed the role:
Felicity sent me a tape from London. I had seen about 50 girls in Los Angeles. I’d brought a few of them in with Anton and did the chemistry read, and I was not quite feeling it yet. She sent a tape of herself in her flat in London. She just embodied everything that was this character. I immediately called her and told her to come. It was a total gut call. I had never even seen her with Anton, and I didn’t even know if they’d have chemistry, but something in my gut told me we had to cast Felicity Jones and that she was the right person for this. And man, oh man, that’s probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my career.
And sending that tape was probably one of the best decisions Jones ever made as well!
Like Crazy also stars Jennifer Lawrence and Charlie Bewley and opens in limited theaters on 28th October in the US, and February 3rd 2012 in the UK.
Click below to see the full size still.
Matthew Daddario has replaced Nico Tortorella in director Drake Doremus’ untitled follow-up to his Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning “Like Crazy”, reports 
Mackenzie Davis and Nico Tortorella have joined the cast of Drake Doremus’ sophomore directorial vehicle, reports 
Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones are young and in love in the first trailer for Sundance Grand Jury prize winner “Like Crazy”, set for release on October 28, 2011. In the Drake Doremus directorial debut, Jones is a British college student who falls for her American classmate. When she decides to overstay her student visa in order to spend the summer with him, she’s banned from returning after she leaves for home, thus separating the young lovers indefinitely. 
The biggest winner to come out of Sundance – it took the Grand Jury Prize and a special jury prize for star Felicity Jones’ performance – “Like Crazy” will be released on October 28, 2011, smack dab in the middle of Awards season. It was snapped up after a bidding war upped the price to $4 million by Paramount Vantage, the art house and awards-friendly arm of Paramount that put out past Oscar nominees and winners like “No Country for Old Men”, “Babel”, “Into the Wild” and “Revolutionary Road”.
After a huge 2009 and a quiet year off in 2010, Anton Yelchin is poised to make a splash once again as he starts off 2011 with the biggest hit of Sundance – indeed, its Grand Jury Prize Winner – “Like Crazy”, the remake of “Fright Night” and Jodie Foster’s highly anticipated “The Beaver” set for release around the corner and most likely preparing to shoot JJ Abrams’ sequel to one of his monster hits of 2009, “Star Trek” sometime soon. Today he adds one more potential franchise to his resume as 
