Los Angeles Times - 02.08.2019

E8 FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019 LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR

AT THE MOVIES

You feel the love in “Love,
Antosha,” that’s for sure.
But you also feel something
else, a sadness that is close
to overwhelming. How could
it be otherwise?
For the Antosha referred
to in the title of this moving
documentary is Anton
Yelchin, the gifted, char-
ismatic actor who died in a
freak accident three years
ago at only 27 years of age.
Spearheaded by
Yelchin’s parents and pro-
ducer Drake Doremus (who
directed the actor in his
memorable role in the Sun-
dance prize-winning “Like
Crazy”), “Love, Antosha”
gives Yelchin’s co-workers
and the people who knew
him best a chance to de-
scribe what made him so ex-
traordinary.
Though words like “he
was an absolute one-of-a-
kind, nothing about him
wasn’t wonderful” (from
Frank Langella) can sound
standard in print, when you
hear them on the screen you
know they come from the
heart.
That’s even more true
from the people who were
closest to Yelchin, especially
costars like Chris Pine and
Kristen Stewart who be-
came intimate friends and
remain clearly distraught at
his loss.
Also heard is Yelchin
himself, with first-time di-
rector Garret Price not only
making use of numerous in-
terviews the actor gave but
employing Nicolas Cage to
read letters and journals he
wrote.
Yelchin, who was born in
St. Petersburg, Russia,
came by his artistic leanings
through his parents, Irina
and Victor, both top Soviet
figure skaters.
Troubled by the revival of
anti-Semitism, the couple
relocated to the United
States, selling all their pos-
sessions for rock-bottom
prices and not speaking a
word of English.
“It didn’t matter,” they
felt. “We have Antoshka.”

Their son’s career flour-

ished and one thing that as-

tonishes everyone is

Yelchin’s productivity, be-

cause despite his youth the

actor had appeared in a

staggering 69 film and TV

projects, including such big

deal events as the rebooted

“Star Trek,” “Terminator

Salvation” and “Curb Your

Enthusiasm.”

Gripped by a desire to do

everything, to take the low

road as well as the high,

Yelchin had an appetite for

acting that was unstop-

pable.

“He had a childlike ap-

petite for experience,” says

Ben Foster, his “Alpha Dog”

costar. “He was always look-

ing under the hood.”

That appetite was joined

to a determination to get ev-

ery role just right.

When he needed to learn

Russian-accented English

for his role as Chekov in

“Star Trek,” he decided his

parents’ way of speaking

wasn’t quite right and

sought out his grandfather

instead.

And when he needed to

be drunk on screen before

he’d had the experience in

real life, the actor sneaked

downstairs one night and re-

corded his reactions to in-

creasing amounts of his par-

ents’ liquor.

Throughout his life An-

ton was devoted to his par-

ents, especially his mother,

who he called Mamoolah

and to whom he addressed a

flood of effusive letters

throughout his life.

Yelchin started taking

acting lessons at age 9 and

knew almost immediately,

he remembers, “I want to do

this, I want to make movies.”

A key early role was

“Hearts in Atlantis,” where

costar Anthony Hopkins re-

members Yelchin having

“such poise and confidence,

without being obnoxious or

overbearing.”

One of “Love, Antosha’s”

highlights is the emotional

candor of Kristen Stewart,

who had a serious crush on

Yelchin when she was 14 and

remembers being “baffled

by how good he was, intimi-

dated by his being so gra-

cious.”

And then Stewart admit-

ted, “He kind of broke my

heart.”

The documentary also

deals with things about

Yelchin that were not so well

known, like his lifelong bat-

tle with cystic fibrosis and an

interest in the dark side,

which included making un-

settling photographic por-

traits in a sex club in the Val-

ley.

Though at times he grew

frustrated with the compro-

mises that he feared he was

making to further his career,

Yelchin never lost his pas-

sion for acting.

“He wanted to challenge

himself,” says Willem Dafoe,

his costar in “Odd Thomas.”

“He was on a quest, no

two ways about it.”

How sad that that jour-

ney came to such an abbrevi-

ated close.

‘Like Crazy’ (2011)

Simon Pegg:“I really
loved ‘Like Crazy.’ I thought
that was a great movie and a
really sweet, bittersweet
touching romance, which he
played so well with Felicity
Jones and Jennifer
Lawrence. It was a genu-
inely sort of touching movie.
It was a grown-up film. Even
though it was about young
love, it was a mature movie.
It was a very mature per-
formance. It was really
well-measured, and he
played a real person. It
came to him very naturally.”
Jodie Foster:“It really
felt like Anton to me. Obvi-
ously, he’s playing a charac-
ter, but he was such an
amazing improviser and
[you see] how playful he was
especially with whomever
his co-star was. The film
captured both sides of him. I
mean it captured that play-
ful little boy that you see in
‘Love, Antosha’ and then he
also had this — like my sons
do as well — darkness [in his
performance] that comes
with wanting to engage with
life, feeling passion about
life and wanting to do mean-
ingful things, to talk about
meaningful things, wanting
to make things work.”

‘Charlie Bartlett’

(2007)

Bryce Dallas Howard:

“With that movie, it lived

and died on the genuineness

of that central character. So

a movie like that will suffer

so greatly if they’re not able

to cast an actor that embod-

ies that supernatural

sparkle. When I say super-

natural, it’s not literally

supernatural, but when the

characters have this sort of

sense of optimism and a

sparkle to them.

“You have to find an

actor who has that within

them. That’s not something

that you can manufacture at

all. I am trying to think of

performances like that —

Emma Stone, for instance,

was like that in ’Easy A.’

There are a handful of iconic

performances and the ac-

tors who inhabit those

characters and they become

one and the same and in-

form one another.”

‘Star Trek’ (2009);

‘Star Trek Into

Darkness’ (2013);

‘Star Trek Beyond’

(2016)

Chris Pine:“I enjoyed

him really in all of his work

because he always seemed

to have a genuine innocence

to him. He maintained this

really beautiful spirit. I

guess I would say that my

fondest memories of Anton

on screen are in the making

of our ‘Trek’ films.

“In the films, we hold our

kind of personifications of

different — I don’t know —

human qualities. Kirk is the

lead, but he has a rebellious

streak. Then there’s Spock,

who is rational, and Scotty,

who is funny and then you

have the bright light that is

Anton [as Chekov].

“Because John [Cho]

and Anton were always

sitting on front of me on the

ship, whenever Anton

looked back [at me], it was

always difficult for me to

keep a straight face because

there was a quality to him

that made him lighter and

brighter. That’s kind of my

memory of Anton — just a

lot of laughs.”

‘Green Room’

(2015)

Drake Doremus:“It’s

just like an onion. It’s just

like Anton. The arc, the

transition and how he goes

from the beginning of the

movie to the end — this man

taking control of this situa-

tion and his life — it is remi-

niscent of him and his life. I

was watching that movie

after working with him so

many years [before] and felt

he had just grown up so

much and was becoming a

man in so many ways in his

life and in that role. He

carries the whole thing.

“He is this soft-spoken,

demure character at the

beginning, and basically

they are taken hostage in

this green room by these

white supremacists. Essen-

tially, he’s got to save the

day and be a hero and he

transforms into this person.

He becomes this classic

hero character when the

time calls. He is so complex

in the film.”

Joe Dante:“I thought he

was particularly terrific in

‘Green Room.’ I’d always

been impressed with Anton

from the days of ‘Hearts in

Atlantis’ and ‘Charlie

Bartlett,’ but when you’ve

actually worked with some-

one you tend to see their

subsequent performances

[in a different way]. His

maturity and amplified

acting chops were on full

display here. Such a loss.”

J.J. Abrams:“Anton was

so many things. He was an

artist, a photographer. He

was interested in music and

people and exploring and

experimenting. He was just

a curious soul. He put him-

self into his roles. He was a

chameleon. He got lost his

roles. I would see him just

absorb the material and it

absorbed him. When you

asked me this question

[about] favorite perform-

ance, I think of films that I

saw of his whether they were

intense like ‘Green Room’ or

sort of sweeter like ‘Charlie

Bartlett.’ He would take on

with real discipline the

roles, the characters, he

portrayed.”

‘Thoroughbreds’

(2017)

Zachary Quinto:“One of

the greatest tragedies of

losing Anton so young is all

the incredible work which

we’ll never get to see. He was

just stepping into his prime

as a creative force, which

was reflected in his bound-

less creativity and voracious

appetite for storytelling. His

performance in ‘Thorough-

breds’ stands out as an

example of his emergence as

a mature and bold young

actor with confidence and

freedom second to none.

Watching it was so deeply

bittersweet. He continues to

inspire even in his absence. I

miss him madly.”

Seven key Yelchin films, curated with care

Though he only lived for 27 years, actor Anton Yelchin left a huge mark in cinema — both

for fans of his work and with the people he loved and worked alongside.

Three years after his tragic death of blunt traumatic asphyxia, a new documentary

“Love, Antosha,” which opens in Los Angeles on Friday, offers insight into the charismatic

young man who began as a child actor in such films as 2001’s “Hearts in Atlantis” and played

the vital role of Chekov in the recent big-screen revival of the “Star Trek” franchise.

The documentary, produced by his “Like Crazy” director Drake Doremus, features heal-

thy amount of clips from Yelchin’s features, home movies, his photography, his original mu-

sic, as well as heartfelt interviews with his parents — former ice skaters Irina Korina and

Viktor Yelchin, who left the Soviet Union when he was a baby — and numerous co-stars and

filmmakers. Several of those collaborators — including Doremus, J.J. Abrams (“Star Trek”),

Jodie Foster (“The Beaver”), Chris Pine (“Star Trek”), Simon Pegg (“Star Trek”), Joe Dante

(“Burying the Ex”), Zachary Quinto (“Star Trek”) and Bryce Dallas Howard (“Terminator

Salvation”) — spoke with The Times about their favorite Yelchin performance and why they

were moved by his work.

ANTON YELCHINwith Felicity Jones in Drake Doremus’ “Like Crazy.”

Fred HayesParamount Pictures

By Susan King

‘Love,

Antosha’

Not rated

Running time:1 hour, 33

minutes

Playing:Landmark Nuart,

West Los Angeles

REVIEW

‘Love, Antosha’ a heartfelt goodbye

Garret Price’s moving

documentary profiles

the late ‘Star Trek’

actor Anton Yelchin.

KENNETH TURAN
FILM CRITIC

RUSSIAN-BORN ACTORAnton Yelchin, here in a scene from the documentary, died in a freak accident in 2016 at the age of 27.

mTuckman media / Lurker Films