{"id":485141,"date":"2026-06-05T21:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/485141\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T21:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:17:11","slug":"drake-doremus-talks-next-life-with-emilia-clarke-edgar-ramirez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/485141\/","title":{"rendered":"Drake Doremus Talks ‘Next Life’ With Emilia Clarke & Edgar Ram\u00edrez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDrake Doremus<\/a> was shooting a commercial in Madrid during the pandemic when a chance encounter changed the course of his life completely. The writer-director initially packed for a nine-day trip but after meeting the woman who would later become his wife, he ended up staying in the Spanish capital for five months. The twist of fate would not only see Doremus relocate from L.A. to London but also formed the basis for his latest feature film,\u00a0Next Life<\/a>, which is premiering today at Tribeca<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLike a lot of artists during the pandemic, I lost my way and was trying to figure out what I had to say, if anything anymore,\u201d Doremus tells Deadline in his first interview in years. \u201cI was even thinking about doing something else completely and not making movies anymore. But then I met my wife by chance in Madrid, and we ended up moving to London, I realized that there are so many little decisions in life that add up to giant changes. Then I thought about making a movie about the greyness of that and the subtlety of that and how easy it is for any of us to choose a different path.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNext Life, starring Emilia Clarke<\/a> and Edgar Ram\u00edrez, is set against the backdrop of the modern London jazz scene and follows the story of Ivy (Clarke), who finds herself confronted with parallel universes in which her life unspools in very different ways. In one reality, Ivy meets jazz musician Diego (Ram\u00edrez), who inspires her to follow her dreams and passion for music no matter the cost and, in the other, she rekindles her relationship with her ex Noah (Jack Farthing), whom she sees a viable future with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI thought about how quickly my life had changed overnight and how, at the end of the day, there\u2019s all these parallel universes with different versions of ourselves all chasing different dreams and different things, in and out of love, and this kaleidoscopic life that is just constantly moving and changing,\u201d he says. \u201cAll of these influences went into the film.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMuch like his 2011 Sundance breakout hit\u00a0Like Crazy, Doremus embraces the messiness of life and emotional ambiguity. Mutressa\u2019s Elika Portnoy, Gleb Fetisov of Fetisoff Illusion, 42\u2019s Ben Pugh and Kate Buckley produce\u00a0Next Life along with Doremus and Clarke and her Magical Thinking Pictures banner. CAA Media Finance is handling domestic rights for the film, with Rocket Science repping international. Vertigo Releasing recently acquired the title for the UK and Ireland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tNext Life\u00a0is Doremus\u2019 first feature in seven years, after 2019 romantic drama\u00a0Endings, Beginnings starring Shailene Woodley and Jamie Dornan. Up until this hiatus, Doremus had been making a movie more or less every other year, frequently attracting top talent such as Jennifer Lawrence, Felicity Jones, Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI just didn\u2019t have it in me anymore,\u201d Doremus admits. \u201cI was going through a lot of self-doubt, and I now feel like the second act has restarted and I\u2019m grateful to be doing it again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDoremus had always had an affinity for Europe and after relocating to London, it felt natural to set\u00a0Next Life in the UK capital. \u201cI feel like a lot of my audiences over the years have been slanted to the European sensibility to an extent,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen my wife and I moved to London, I was really inspired by the city, and I wanted to showcase it. The film feels to me like a love letter to London and all the things I love about it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI also wanted to tell a story about how I was feeling about my life and I really wanted to put a diary entry in about it. I had just gotten through a messy breakup before I left L.A. and that was lingering and it was just the vapors of life and love that are lingering at all times. I wanted to capture that essence against the backdrop of London.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDrake Doremus on set of \u2018Next Life\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tJazz plays an integral role in the film and Doremus tapped four-time Oscar nominated composer Dan Romer to compose the film\u2019s score. He also cast Femi Koleoso, the drummer and leader of the BRIT Award and Mercury Music Prize-winning British jazz group Ezra Collective, marking the musician\u2019s debut acting role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter his move to London, Doremus spent a lot of time at Soho jazz club Ronnie Scott\u2019s, and this ultimately fuelled the decision to set the film\u00a0in the jazz world. Plus, the filmmaker\u2019s grandfather was a jazz bass player who featured on Elvis\u2019 song \u201cLove Me Tender\u201d while his grandmother was a singer. \u201cI grew up in awe of my grandparents and their travels and artistry, and I just wanted a very different texture and feel and soundtrack to this movie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHe adds: \u201cThe story lended itself to jazz because of the freeform nature of life and also that you didn\u2019t know where you were going. So, I thought metaphorically and thematically the jazz scene would really fit the backdrop of the story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDoremus initially set out to write something in a similar vein to British rom-com legend Richard Curtis, who has a cameo in\u00a0Next Life. \u201cI wanted to pay homage to the great, romantic films that he\u2019s made and try to slant something towards that. I also really wanted to push myself into the comedy space and Emilia is so naturally funny and an amazing improviser and was just so perfect for the role.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRam\u00edrez, he says, was \u201cthe only guy who could do this\u201d and the first time he spoke to the Venezuelan actor, \u201che was talking about how nothing happens by chance and all of these philosophical concepts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe was just perfect for the role,\u201d he says. \u201cWe took a chance that they would have chemistry \u2013 they only met the week before we started shooting \u2013 and they just jumped in headfirst and gave themselves to each other. I\u2019ve been really lucky with a lot of chemistry in my movies, but this one is really special.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile Doremus very much considers\u00a0Next Life\u00a0the start of his \u201csecond act\u201d in filmmaking, thematically the writer-director continues to be drawn to themes that explore the complexities of modern relationships and how people connect in a world that pushes them apart. He also takes great pride in making movies about \u201cwomen who make choices.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think there\u2019s a bit of a gap in the market as there are just not a lot of movies out there like that that I want to see that explore women making choices in their lives,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel like we just need those movies and we want those movies. Those are the movies that make me cry and make me feel like making movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe continues: \u201cAt the end of the day,\u00a0Next Life\u00a0is about a woman who chooses what\u2019s in her soul and then everything else comes as a virtue of that and I think it\u2019s a really important message. Follow your dreams and follow your hopes. Love is attached to those things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tUp next, Doremus is keen to venture into love stories that are not focused on \u201cboy meets girl.\u201d Having recently lost his own father, Doremus is now working on a father-son story. \u201cI\u2019ve got stuff bouncing around that I want to do. I love shooting here and working in Europe and definitely plan on continuing that. I\u2019ve realized that I do have a lot to say and this film reignited my passion for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drake Doremus was shooting a commercial in Madrid during the pandemic when a chance encounter changed the course…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,208598,101463,63375,93,61,60,208599,51387],"class_list":["post-485141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-drake-doremus","tag-edgar-ramirez","tag-emilia-clarke","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-next-life","tag-tribeca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}