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"Love, Antosha" coming to Downtown West theatre

"Love, Antosha", a documentary about the extraordinary life and career of actor Anton Yelchin, will open in Knoxville on September 13th at the Regal Downtown West theater.

Anton Yelchin; love antosha
Anton Yelchin; image submitted

From a prolific career in film and television, Anton Yelchin left an indelible legacy as an actor. Through his journals and other writings, his photography, the original music he wrote, and interviews with his family, friends, and colleagues, this film looks not just at Anton’s impressive career, but at a broader portrait of the man. Born in the former Soviet Union to a family of artists, Anton and his parents came to the U.S. when he was six months old. He started acting at nine. He had a genuine curiosity and love for people, for art, and for family. And a willingness to explore, and be open with, the darker parts of himself. Love, Antosha explores his successes and his struggles, and let’s viewers get to know this extraordinary person the world was cheated from seeing grow old.

The movie is directed by Directed by Garret Price.

Price's Comments:
Last year I was approached by my friend and filmmaker Drake Doremus about directing a film on the life and career of Anton Yelchin. Since his death his parents began archiving home movies, interviews, his personal journals and letters with the hopes of one day handing the material off to a filmmaker to tell Anton’s story. After meeting his parents and hearing about their son’s incredible life, I immediately knew it was a story that needed to be told.

Through my initial research, including lengthy conversations with his parents I was struck by what a complex and multifaceted person Anton was. What especially captivated me was this incredible bond he had with them, specifically his mother Irina. It was an aspect I really wanted to explore and ultimately framed the film around this relationship. I was fascinated by this appreciation and gratitude he had for them and was something I really connected with being a parent myself. I was also mesmerized by the profound effect he had on anyone that crossed his path. Whether you knew Anton for five minutes or five years, he left a deep impression on your life and this was reflected in all of our interviews.

At the time I came onto the project I was really only familiar with Anton through a handful of his films like the Star Treks, Alpha Dog and Like Crazy. I think that worked to my advantage when finding the story I wanted to tell. I could truly do it through an objective eye, which was essential. However, as I was making Love, Antosha I found myself wanting to absorb Anton’s full catalog of work and I’m hoping that will have the same effect on an audience.

There were 2 specific themes that I wanted to explore in the film and those were family and perseverance. On top of that it’s also a film about the love of cinema.

When making a film like this, which is essentially a portrait of someone, you have a huge responsibility to tell the whole story. With that comes a delicate balance especially when a family is involved. While Anton’s parents gave me complete autonomy and trust to tell the story I wanted to tell, there is this challenge of cementing the subject’s extraordinary life, but also exploring some of his personal struggles. This is what humanizes and makes Anton relatable. There is also the responsibility to Anton himself. He aspired to honesty in his art and that had to be reflected in this film.

The emotion of this story was always going to be there because of the tragedy, but I think the amazing takeaway is that audiences are going to leave feeling inspired. Anton was the definition of living life to the fullest. He accomplished so much in such a short amount of time, it’s unimaginable what the future would have held for him. What I love hearing after people watch is they just want to go home and call their own parents or tell their own children how much they love them which I found myself doing everyday while making Love, Antosha.

ANTON YELCHIN (Subject)
Anton Yelchin’s acclaimed work in projects such as Hearts in Atlantis, Charlie Bartlett, Alpha Dog, Like Crazy, The Beaver, Green Room, Star Trek and many other memorable roles throughout a prolific career, proved him to be one of the best actors of his generation. A talented and successful actor from a young age, the legacy of Anton extends far beyond his best known characters. Those close to Anton also know him as a photographer and songwriter, and for his proudest roles: son and friend.

Anton’s latest work can be seen in the dark comedy, Thoroughbreds alongside Anya Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke for director Cory Finley; Rememory opposite Peter Dinklage; and with his voicework as Jim Lake Jr. in Guillermo del Toro’s animated Netflix series, Trollhunters.

Anton captivated audiences with his portrayal of the young Chekov in the Star Trek film series. He most recently reprised this role in the 2016 film, Star Trek: Beyond.

In 2015, Anton starred alongside Ethan Hawke and Ed Harris in Cymbeline, the modern day telling of the William Shakespeare story, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival; the thriller Green Room alongside Patrick Stewart, in which Anton starred as the head of a punk band who witnesses a murder; The Driftless Area opposite John Hawkes; Broken Horses with Vincent D’Onofrio and Chris Marquette; the romantic comedy 5 to 7 with Glenn Close and Frank Langella which premiered to rave reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival; Rise alongside Sarah Dumont & Guy Wilson for director David Karlak; We Don’t Belong Here in which he played Catherine Keener’s son who suddenly goes missing; the narrative drama, Porto, for director Gabe Klinger and producer Jim Jarmusch.

In 2014, he co-starred in Burying the Ex for director Joe Dante which premiered at the Venice Film Festival; The Dying of the Light opposite Nicolas Cage for director Paul Schrader; Rudderless for director William H. Macy alongside Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup and Felicity Huffman, for which he won the Chicago International Film Festival Award for Best Actor; The Experimenter alongside Winona Ryder and Peter Sarsgaard; Only Lovers Left Alive for director Jim Jarmusch alongside Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska. He also garnered critical acclaim for his starring role in Stephen Sommer’s Odd Thomas.

In 2013, audiences saw Anton reprise his role as ‘Pavel Chekov’ in Paramount’s Star Trek: Into the Darkness and his role as ‘Clumsy Smurf’ in Sony’s Smurfs 2. Anton also voiced the lead character in the English version of the film From Up on Poppy Hill.

Anton received critical acclaim for his starring role in Drake Doremus’ film Like Crazy, for which he was honored with the “Artist to Watch” Award at 2011 Aspen Film Festival and the “Hollywood Spotlight Award” at the 2011 Hollywood Film Festival.

Anton also garnered praise from critics for his performance as ‘Porter Black’ in The Beaver co-starring with Mel Gibson and Jennifer Lawrence for director Jodie Foster.

Anton’s additional film credits include a starring role opposite Colin Farrell and Toni Collete in Disney/Dreamworks thriller Fright Night; his voicework in the animated feature, The Pirates Band of Misfits, starring Hugh Grant and Salma Hayek; starring as Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation opposite Christian Bale and Sam Worthington; starring in “Charlie Bartlett” as a title character opposite Robert Downey Jr; Alpha Dog opposite Bruce Willis; Hearts in Atlantis opposite Anthony Hopkins; Fierce People opposite Diane Lane; Middle of Nowhere opposite Susan Sarandon; House of D opposite Robin Williams; starring along with an all-star cast in New York, I Love You; and Court of Conscience opposite Jon Voight.

Anton has also appeared on some of television’s most critically acclaimed shows including the Showtime series Huff for two seasons and guest starring roles on Criminal Minds, Law and Order and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

LOVE, ANTOSHA
- DIRECTED BY: Garret Price
- PRODUCED BY: Adam Gibbs, Drake Doremus
- FEATURING INTERVIEWS WITH (in order of appearance): Irina Yelchin, Viktor Yelchin, Paul David, Mary Lester, Dr. Parush Rao M.D., John Cho, Richard Wicklund, Ryan Dean, Avy Kaufman, Frank Langella, Kristen Stewart, Ben Foster, Ian Cripps, Luke Shaft, Jon Poll, Marlon Clark, Nick Jones, J.J. Abrams, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Dave Glowacki, Bryce Dallas Howard, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Lawrence, Gena Tuso, Sophie Simpson, Drake Doremus, Craig Gillespie, Willem Dafoe, Martin Landau, Joe Dante, Jon Voight, Sofia Boutella, Mark Palansky, and Anya Taylor-Joy
- INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED BY: Fred Parnes
- ANTON'S WORDS READ BY: Nicholas Cage
- RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes

Published September 10, 2019








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