Mitja Okorn always dreamed of directing an American movie.

It was never imagined that his first big American big break would be with Amazon Prime’s Life In A Year with Cara Delevingne (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Paper Towns) and Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid, The Pursuit of Happyness).

And don’t forget to bring tissues.

The romantic drama follows a teenage boy (Smith), who promises to give his dying girlfriend (Delevingne) an entire life in the year she has left. The coming-of-age story sets them both on an unexpected journey that teaches them about love, loss, and most importantly, themselves.

The film also stars Nia Long, Cuba Gooding Jr., Chris D’Elia, and RZA. Mitja Okorn directed the film from the script written by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews.

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LRM Online’s Gig Patta chatted with director Mitja Okorn about his opportunity to direct the romantic drama. He discussed his prior experiences in directing romances and creating the perfect environment to shed tears. Also, he even told us the story that Cara Delevingne and Jaden Smith shaved off their hair for their respective roles. Not to mention, Delevingne wanted to shave off her eyebrows too.

Mitja Okorn is a Slovenian-born director, who has helmed several award-winning television series, commercials, and music videos in Europe. His film, Letters to Santa, was one of the highest-grossing Polish films in the past three decades. In 2016, the film Planet Single released to critical acclaim and broke attendance records overseas, in which it beat Marvel’s Deadpool for number one position on Valentine’s Day Weekend in 61 markets.

Life in a Year is now playing on Amazon Prime.

Watch the exclusive interview with director Mitja Okorn below. Let us know what you think.

Source: LRM Online Exclusive, The Overbrook, Sony Pictures