Then-senior editor Ben Fong-Torres also said of Crowe: "He was the guy we sent out after some difficult customers. He got paid $20. The show, starring Luke Wilson, Carla Gugino and Imogen Poots, tells the story of a colorful road crew who work behind the scenes for a fictional rock band, The Staton-House Band. When Tom Cruise sat down with us for his May 1986 cover story, he was a quirky 24-year-old preparing to enter full-fledged Hollywood superstardom in a movie called Top Gun.His interviewer, the shaggy auteur Cameron Crowe, was still three years away from his first directing role and had only one screenwriting credit to his name (1982's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, adapted from Crowe's book . Crowe decided to work it into the movie. I want to learn to cook! she says to her grieving daughter. They're looking at me that way people look at you: 'Why do you think we look alike? Former colleague Sarah Lazin described of the youthful Crowe: "He was a pleasure to work with, a total professional. He began corresponding with music journalist Lester Bangs, who had left the Door to become editor at the national rock magazine Creem, and soon he was also submitting articles to Creem as well as Circus. ", Fairuza Balk, who plays the band-aid Sapphire, has a small but crucial role in the film, something Crowe had to impress upon the actress before shooting. "For a number of weeks, the band rehearsed to playback," recalls Lee, "and all the while I'm letting my hair grow and it's getting longer and longer. And she was the first person to take me to movies and point out artists like Mike Nichols or Woody Allen. Crowe commented that Indio was where "people owned tortoises, not dogs". Almost Famous made stars of Billy Crudup as Russell Hammond, the handsome lead guitarist of the midlevel rock band Stillwater, and Kate. ", "This was the original end of the movie," says Crowe of this family breakfast scene, where Elaine (McDormand, left) surprises her kids by playing a Neil Young song, "On the Way Home." "[12], When Rolling Stone moved its offices from California to New York in 1977, Crowe decided to stay behind. Brooks executive produced Crowe's first directing effort, 1989's Say Anything, about a young man pining away for the affections of the seemingly perfect girl. [21] Though he asked her not to bother Frances McDormand, who played her character, the two ended up getting along well. A single mother, thats a sacred thing, says Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr.) in Jerry Maguireand you get the sense Crowe couldnt agree more. And I'm seeing that when I show my son this movie, it evokes the same feeling that I had or that my mother had when she saw it, or my brother. This included scenes about homecoming and graduation as well as social cliques and sexual encounters.[13]. And she happily takes credit for his lifelong love of music. When Cameron hits it, nobody's better. In this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, the iconic Heart guitarist, 67, opens up about finding the love of her life in husband Geoff Bywater after her difficult 2010 divorce from Jerry Maguire director Cameron Crowe. We went to other Shakespeare plays at the Globe, but he still wouldn't walk next to me!". She took me to foreign films and said: 'Here's how you can combine laughter and tears.". Cameron Crowe's mothering instinct. - Slate Magazine This, in itself, isnt strange: The Zucker Brothers slip their mother, Charlotte, into most of their films, and Rob Reiners mother delivered the classic When Harry Met Sally one-liner that followed Meg Ryans fake orgasm: Ill have what shes having. Alice Maries appearances have been less remarkable. He wrote predominantly about Yes, and also about Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, Jackson Browne, Neil Young, the Eagles, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Linda Ronstadt, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Fleetwood Mac, and others. "But 'blood is thicker than water' has always rung true with me.". This next song is, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.' "When I arrived at the hospital to meet them, it was just an unbelievable, magical, beautiful thing," she says. Oh, Frances, please.). We were still in our rehearsal phase, trying to figure out the dynamic between all of us. From filmmaker Cameron Crowe, this is a love letter to the era and the music that came out of it. "Cameron always loved music, since he was two weeks old and I played him 'The Chipmunk Song.' (Hudson's take: "That picture of me and Cameron embodies me and Cameron. Bruce Springsteen sister appeared in 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' 2023 It took Cameron Crowe and Tom Kitt a single word to hit off their friendship: "Yeah." It was January 2018, and the filmmaker and the Broadway composer were co-writing songs for the musical. [42] It has also been said that the film was never made due to the failure of finding a third act to the story. "I thought that would be in there if you knew what to look for." Filmmaker James L. Brooks noticed Crowe's original voice and wanted to work with him. Say Anything. ", Lee and Hudson aboard the bus, site of one of the film's most memorable moments. (The filmmaker considers Curtis something of a lucky charm: "He was [on the Fast Times at Ridgemont High set] when Sean Penn said, 'You dick. "That's when you know that you're on the right track, when people slip into their characters and the characters get to relate to each other in the script, and somehow it works in life as well." Cameron Crowe was introduced to rock 'n' roll by his older sister, Cindy. The crowd was loud, and we just went through it. . ", "Very rarely do movies just hold up, and when your kids watch it they have the same experience that you had when you watched it for the first time. Her face, that song, and that shot, and that's John Toll very casually just making your dreams come true as the master DP. In 2019, Nancy performed with her sister for the first time since the incident at a benefit show in N.Y.C. ", When Crudup and Crowe first met about Almost Famous, the actor says Russell was "a man of mystery." View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro . Don't forget to subscribe for more exclusive interviews and photos, only in EW. "I remember that was a very important line," Deschanel says. "), The scene they were shooting here is when Russell asks William to "just make us look cool," a moment Crowe was apparently "fastidious" about. He collaborated with The Devil Wears Prada writer Aline Brosh McKenna on the screenplay. But I think our relationship became more about the work than about a real relationship, and we lost track of each other inside the work.". I Am A Golden God: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Almost Famous We showed him a picture of [him in] one from our research and he's like, 'Okay, maybe on that one. And he's exploiting it, but it leaves us resentful and understanding and hateful and charmed, which is one of Cameron's great gifts. In 2005, Crowe directed the romantic tragicomedy Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst, which opened to mixed reviews,[27] scoring 45 on Metacritic, the same as his previous effort, Vanilla Sky. In the end, Nancy realized it "was just not meant to be," and she and Crowe made the decision to separate in 2008. So, when it wasn't working, and I couldn't fix it, I was devastated.". He's for sure being a scoundrel. There's a good reason director Cameron Crowe had his mother, Alice, do an on-screen cameo in his new movie, "We Bought a Zoo" -- and, no, Mrs. Crowe doesn't harbor any aspirations to achieve belated stardom as an actress. "I turned down two pretty big parts at that time to work with Cameron. "That is what Lester was wearing when I first met him," says Crowe, of the Guess Who shirt Hoffman has on. His sister Cindy didn't talk to Alice for nearly a decade. Crowe began writing for the school newspaper and by the age of 13 was contributing music reviews for an underground publication, The San Diego Door. The only reason it's safe to express himself [here] is because she's probably not gonna remember it. Its story follows a young shoe designer, Drew Baylor, who is fired from his job after costing his company an industry record of nearly one billion dollars. Then Crowe was given a green-light to go ahead with a pet project, the autobiographical film Almost Famous (2000). Behind them is Kelly Curtis, Pearl Jam's manager and a longtime friend of Crowe's. Cameron Crowe Movies - IMDb To add to his alienation, he was often ill because he had nephritis.[9]. [15][16] Maguire is fired after having a moral revelation, writing and distributing a mission statement calling for sincere service to the athletes and less money for the agency. We were living the movie, and it was just such a special, special time. In fact, Alice Crowe came up with one of the first lines in "Zoo," after reading an article about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and sharing it with her son, who created and wrote an entire scene around it. [1] Education: Attended California State University. His mother, Holly Baylor, is played by Susan Sarandon, and regardless of what details Alice Marie might nitpick here, it cant be the casting. Shes a person who's always happy when something is serving humanity.". Crowe's first cover story was about the Allman Brothers Band. "That's why we lived in Linda Vista, near the University of San Diego. Read the Unpublished Cameron Crowe Story That Inspired - TheWrap "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" was directed by Amy Heckerling and written by Cameron Crowe. I think when they see it, they're hopeful for life. And he did. So we did it 40 times and then [later] he said, 'So yeah, you know how I made you do that line like, 40 times? Tim Appelo wrote in Entertainment Weekly, "With an ambling, naturalistic style, Crowe captures the eccentric appeal of a town where espresso carts sprout on every corner and kids in ratty flannel shirts can cut records that make them millionaires. What's our buddy movie?' We had great seats, and he was mesmerized. Crowe and co-producer Danny Bramson also won the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media Grammy Award for the soundtrack. It was astonishing that we pulled that off and the cameras were moving around and covering it all." ", As for Angarano, Fugit is still impressed with what the 10-year-old actor accomplished in such a short period of time on screen. Almost Famous reunited Cameron Crowe's mom and sister. "It was really great to bring Ben and David to the set," says Crowe, of the recreated Rolling Stone offices. That was his first published piece in the Times, and the Times didn't know how old he was. Zooey Deschanel, Michael Angarano, and Frances McDormand in Almost Famous (2000). My mom is a real hero to me. With Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin. We Bought a Zoo is a transparently cloying effort by director Cameron Crowe, but Matt Damon makes for a sympathetic central character. We used to walk that track field [at the school] and talk about ideas, because we were big movie fans. ", Jimmy Fallon, another member of the movie's all-star supporting cast, played Dennis Hope, who becomes Stillwater's manager once the band's profile begins to rise. Following that success, Crowe wrote the screenplay for 1984's The Wild Life, the pseudo-sequel to Fast Times at Ridgemont High. ", RELATED GALLERY: All the Celebrity Couples Who've Called It Quits in 2021, Nancy kept that mindset in 2016 when a rift formed between her and sister and bandmate Ann, 70, after Ann's husband, Dean Wetter, assaulted Nancy's then-16-year-old sons during a Heart show, after the boys reportedly left a tour bus door open. William Miller's mother figured prominently in the film as well (often admonishing, "Don't take drugs!"). I wonder if the movie were shot now, if in between takes people would be on their iPhones scrolling through Instagram. The two actors would chat between takes too, and though Hoffman was cordial to the then-teenaged Fugit, he could also be a little gruff. Aloha (I) (2015) PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama . It's a great behind-the-scenes of how people create a company. Then playback would play and then we'd go into the next song," says Lee. "And I was from a family where my mom and dad were such devoted people. Russell is torturing Bebe. ", "Cameron loved 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and I always hoped he would be a lawyer," she said. It seems unjust to complain about a filmmaker who, in his best work (Jerry Maguire, Say Anything), shows a refreshing optimism about womanhood, even an unabashed sentimentalism, tempered by cutting dialogue and unforgettable characterization. Thats a shame for a director who has created such breathlessly frail and human moments on screen. "He's like, 'It's great that you're here. The director cast Terry Chen as Ben Fong-Torres (both pictured above), Rainn Wilson as RS co-founder David Felton, and Eion Bailey as editor-in-chief Jann Wenner. He covered the bands that hated Rolling Stone. "He wanted to get the ambiguity right whether or not Russell is taking advantage of William, or William is giving license to Russell," says Crudup. Almost Famous turns 20: Behind the scenes of Cameron Crowe's I have to go,' and he hung up. "Our natural closeness kicked right in again like clockwork.". But I wonder if Crowe might have a little more perspective on the women in his films if he werent so reverent toward those women in real life. Whenever they were in the same place, I was like, 'Come on, guys. During a hometown memorial for his Kentucky-born father, a young man begins an unexpected romance with a too-good-to-be-true stewardess. After the screening, Led Zeppelin granted Crowe the right to use one of their songs on the soundtrackthe first time they had ever consented to this since allowing Crowe to use "Kashmir" in Fast Times at Ridgemont Highand also gave him rights to four of their other songs in the movie itself, although they did not grant him the rights to "Stairway to Heaven" for an intended scene (on the special "Bootleg" edition DVD, the scene is included as an extra without the song where the viewer is instructed by a watermark to begin playing it). Though he would continue to freelance for Rolling Stone on and off over the years, he turned his attention to a book. For anyone who loves rock music, especially from the 1970s, Almost Famous is an essential movie. [17] Rene Zellweger appeared as an accountant who sets aside her job security to follow Maguire's charismatic moral aspiration in both work and love. He very carefully cultivated the Irving Azoff bowl cut look from the early '70s and we were off and running." starting to go through all the footage we have, and Cameron's writing the treatment. She married Cameron Crowe in 1986, and the couple had two sons before getting divorced in 2010. Cameron Crowe. He had to get that right. ", "It's not hard to fall in love with Billy Crudup. . It was very well-written. "He'd send them to the Los Angeles Times and Creem (magazine)," she said. I got a chill. Sometimes it has to be embarrassing to everybodyeven, as hard as it may seem, to your mother. The documentary features musicians Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Booker T. Jones, steel guitarist Robert Randolph, Don Was and a 10-piece gospel choir who all appear on the album with John and Russell. Singles successfully rode on the heels of Seattle's grunge music boom. [7] Crowe was the youngest of three children with two sisters; one died when he was young. Released in 1982, the movie version lacked a specific plot and featured no major name stars. [22] The film, starring Tom Cruise, Penlope Cruz and Cameron Diaz, received mixed reviews, yet managed to gross $100.6million at the US box office, making it his second highest grossing directorial effort behind Jerry Maguire (1996). But by treating these women as sacred, he also makes them less than human. Cameron Crowe (@CameronCrowe) / Twitter Even in the pretend environment where I'm playing somebody else, I still felt the extraordinary and one-of-a-kind experience of having a moment as a rock star. And its no surprise that a kid who famously left home at 13 to tour the country with the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin might have a little guilt to burn. Of course she was right, but few were as good at feigning outrage as my sister and me." Related. Their twin sons were born in January 2000. I told him, 'Don't pick me up. . 1 pizzeria, Ambrogio15, just changed its dough. Slate is published by The Slate ", McDormand, as William's mother, Elaine (seen here next to Michael Angarano, who portrays a young William), stands along Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach, San Diego. And, I did. "It was them that I had always wanted, and they were finally with me. New Michael Cunningham novel Day scheduled for January, Gwyneth Paltrow wont recoup attorney fees in ski crash suit, Review: In Homegrown, Jeffrey Toobin looks at far right, Review: Actor Minka Kelly bares all in stunning new memoir, Review: Japan bestseller Honeybees is an ode to creatives. For his screenplay, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. I was 20 years old filming this movie, [and] it brought me so much focus and experience because he was 10, 11 years older than me. Cameron Crowe Reveals Newly Published 'Almost Famous - IndieWire [46], Crowe married Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart in July 1986. "We did it a lot of times I don't know, maybe 40 times. (As for if he ever heard from Mick Jagger about one of Hope's more memorable lines when the character declares, "If you think that Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age 50, you're sadly, sadly mistaken" Crowe responds, "No, I didn't. In late 1999, Crowe's second book was published, a question and answer session with filmmaker Billy Wilder entitled Conversations with Wilder. (Notes Crowe: "I love that photo because that's Billy. Note the bus Stillwater's first mode of tour transportation in the background. She was a scrappy Gal Friday with a modern twist, in the form of her precocious son. "Baby Baruchel" recalls Crowe. [29][30] The book's story follows Mee, who buys and moves into a dilapidated zoo (now Dartmoor Zoological Park) in the English countryside. A tall, dark-haired older woman with a twinkling smile, she has appeared as a teacher (twice), a plastic-surgeons assistant, and as a member of the divorced-womens group in Jerry Maguire. The film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Actor (for Cruise). You start being insulated and very cloistered from the outside world. The character was based on Crowe's own mother, who even showed up at the film sets to keep an eye on him while he worked. Seventies rocker Peter Frampton served as a technical consultant on the film.[21]. On the verge of suicide, Drew receives a call from his . . "I'm a little nervous because Philip is formidable and he's been listening to Lester on earbuds every time where I'm not talking to him. [18][19] Cruise won his second Golden Globe for his role as Jerry. "I was blown away that we actually got him to come in because I was already a fan; he was fantastic. [34] A trailer for the movie, which featured Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder choosing between three permanent markers in a shop before turning to the camera and saying "Three's good Twenty is better", was shown before select movies at the 2011 BFI London Film Festival. It's f---ing sad. ", Crowe ended up changing the scene when he adapted the film as a musical. "He had a super thick Staten Island accent; half of [Michael's] work was trying to just like West Coast his natural way of speaking. And I'm like, yeah, but let's have fun while we're doing it [laughs] let's have fun while we're taking it really seriously. Nancy Wilson is thankful she no longer needs to get by on her own. She is also her son's most attentive editor -- and most candid critic -- when it comes to reading the screenplays he has written for the films he's directed. And she's like, 'Okay, All right. That's not Russell. Because Crowe was a fan of the 1970s hard rock bands that the older writers disliked, he landed a lot of major interviews. The film received a wide release on December 23, 2011, by 20th Century Fox, and starred Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. And he kind of made me focus. [28], With production on Aloha delayed, Crowe set his next feature, the family comedy-drama We Bought a Zoo, based on Benjamin Mee's memoir of the same name. Mothers have always served as cinematic fodderfrom Hitchcocks Psycho, a film literally screaming with mommy issues, to Almodvars rose-tinted paean All About My Mother. "One day, he got a note that the Times wanted to print his Alice Cooper review. Here is is the film's journey to the big screen. "[The divorce] was really a sad time because I didn't know how to get through it," says Nancy. What Kate's doing because I really remember that mannerism she had when she's chewing on a finger while I'm talking to her, is, 'I hear what you're saying, but in the end, I'm just going to wing it.' Crowe followed Almost Famous with the psychological thriller Vanilla Sky in 2001. Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Crowes latest film is Elizabethtown, a romantic comedy about an entrepreneur (Orlando Bloom) who returns to small-town Kentucky after his fathers sudden death and the biggest flop of his career. Sofia is played by Penlope Cruz in both Amenabar's original movie and Crowe's remake.[26]. After Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley dropped out as Russell and Penny, Hudson and the role she was destined for came togethereventually. Curtis Crowe (niece or nephew) Cameron Crowe (sibling) Trivia (1) Former sister-in-law of singer-songwriter Nancy Wilson. "There's Patrick easing into William, hanging onto the bag for dear life," says Crowe. "We were in Sacramento, I believe, and oh my God, it was so hot. The Almost True Story Almost Famous and Authenticity USU Digital Yet while William's intentions may be heartfelt, Fugit notes the moment's creepy undertones. He also directed three musical documentaries, Pearl Jam Twenty (2011), The Union (2011), and David Crosby: Remember My Name (2019), and created the television series Roadies, which ran for one season in 2016 on Showtime. "She's an amazing collaborator, she's so sharp," Cameron Crowe said of his mother, who has made a cameo appearance in every movie her son has written and directed, except "Say Anything," his first. And she'll say: 'Do you really need that? "One of the secrets of Almost Famous is that it's so much about the father who's not there," says Crowe. [This] was his story, it's his life. Gooding won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role. A strong-willed widow who raised Cameron and his older sister, Cindy, Alice Marie has influenced Crowes most memorable female charactersfrom the deflated single mom Constance, played by Joan Cusack in Say Anything, to the plucky widow Dorothy Boyd, played by Rene Zellweger, in Jerry Maguire. "By the third date I finally was brave enough to just drag myself to see him. Billy takes it very seriously. Though he initially planned to include himself in the book, he realized that it would jeopardize his ability to capture the essence of the high school experience. Lets just let it stand, Cameron, without comment. Like a dutiful son, he does. Wouldn't that be cool?'" He was easygoing and eager to learn. It taught me so much so young, and I think we were a really great team, Cameron and I. I really feel like I got him, and he understood exactly how to direct me and get exactly what he needed. The one where EW follows up with the cast. ", "This is the Hyatt House scene," says Crowe. For all the details on Nancy Wilson's life and loves, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday. Whereas its predecessor followed teenagers' lives in high school, The Wild Life traced the lives of several teenagers after high school living in an apartment complex. "My character is this distressed guy trying to make a decent movie out of my actual childhood. "He wouldn't walk next to me, only behind me or in front of me," Alice Crowe said. Digging into his most personal memories, Crowe used a composite of the bands he had known to come up with Stillwater, the emerging act that welcomes the young journalist into its sphere, then becomes wary of his intentions. "When we got to the theater, he didn't want to go in and wanted to go home to the apartment we lived in, on Sixth Avenue. [13], At the age of 22 he came up with the idea to pose undercover as a high school student and write about his experiences. His screenplay for "Almost Famous" -- which is set partly in San Diego and which is at least somewhat autobiographical -- won Crowe his first Academy Award. ", Deschanel (here with cinematographer John Toll), is seen filming the moment where Anita leaves home but not before giving some parting gifts (records) and words of wisdom ("One day, you'll be cool") to her younger brother. I want to learn to laugh! The pilot episode was written and directed by Crowe, as well as the series finale. "He didn't say much, and I couldn't get a handle, really, on what [Crowe] wanted from the character from the script so I was a little timid at first about how I was going to effectively play this guy, since I didn't really know who he was," Crudup remembers. The Slate Group LLC. ), Adds Crudup, "Hearing the first chords of the song that we're playing, the lights go up and it's 1,500 people at the Palladium they let out a scream and I mean, instantly, you know why rock stars go crazy. Singles (1992) - IMDb "I think the scene that people talk about the most is the 'Tiny Dancer' scene," says Lee. During production, bands like Nirvana were not yet national stars, but by the time the soundtrack was released, their song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" had to be cut from the film because it was too costly to buy the rights. [13], His book, Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story, came out in 1981. There is a moment when we catch a glimpse of the baffling pain a widow must face. And he did.". "I'm excited!" [43][44], Crowe also attempted to make a biopic about Marvin Gaye titled My Name is Marvin. Much of this was due to repeated delays while studio executives debated how to market it. Crowe and his then-wife, musician Nancy Wilson of Heart, co-wrote three of the five Stillwater songs in the film, and Frampton wrote the other two, with Mike McCready from Pearl Jam playing lead guitar on all of the Stillwater songs. So that was always an aspect of William's kind of cluelessness and also Polexia's world-weariness. The thing about personal art is that it cant just be embarrassing to you. "[4][5][6] She worked as a psychology professor and in family therapy and often participated in peace demonstrations and causes relating to the rights of farm workers. "), Their collaboration, Hudson says, was "one of the great working relationships of my life. Certainly idiosyncratic as a writer, Cameron Crowe has created a series . The writer-director Cameron Crowe was already a beloved voice in cinema for high school tales like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Say Anything." Then came "Almost Famous" (2000). Thats where she speaks her most memorable line: So, I finally got in touch with my anger!, But Alice Maries imprimatur on her sons career doesnt end with cameos. All contents He had to get that right. "Cameron would put it like this," Fugit remembers, "'Polexia is the one that William will end up finding in 15 years and have a deep, long relationship with.' And it's just Cameron. I didn't care what I was doing, I just wanted to be in a Cameron Crowe movie," she says. But this reverence is turning his female characters, mothers and love interests alike, into movie-land clichs. ", Stillwater concerts gave the actors a real taste of rock stardom especially that Palladium performance, filmed in front of a swarm of screaming fans/extras. Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites. She always goes for a literate truth, and says: 'Study this person.' ", "The second date was with my attorney and his wife," she adds with a laugh. With Bywater by her side, Nancy feels more invigorated than ever. (From the director himself: "I was just jumping up and down on that very porch when I saw that we'd gotten it, because those are the moments that are important and they're out of real life, too. That's us trying to figure out what Stillwater was. "He was totally f----ing exhausted, dehydrated, and obviously very nauseous and had to step away basically just to vomit during takes," says Fugit.