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Sunday, Nov 22, 2009
Cameron Crowe talks about "Jerry Maguire," "Say Anything ..." and tiptoeing his way though the '70s for his new autobiographical movie, "Almost Famous."
Sep 6, 2000 | Until "Jerry Maguire," writer and director Cameron Crowe was known mostly as a maker of angst-ridden, teen-oriented cult favorites, films like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (he wrote the screenplay), "Say Anything ..." and "Singles" -- movies that almost anybody in his 20s could quote from. After "Jerry Maguire," Crowe became an Oscar-nominated A-list director and pretty much could have made anything as an encore. Few expected he'd write his life story.
Crowe spent his teenage years as a wunderkind rock 'n' roll writer. He got his start writing for scruffy, seminal rock magazine Creem, and came under the tutelage of that publication's famous wild-man critic, Lester Bangs. Then he moved over to Rolling Stone, which after a roaring start in the 1960s was confused about what do with a new breed of popular music the magazine's older staff of critics held in contempt. He became the magazine's most tolerant chronicler of this new generation of bands, penning major features on the likes of Led Zeppelin, Peter Frampton and Fleetwood Mac, all during his teens.
Now, some 25 years later, Crowe has decided to give us his version of his salad days. His new film, "Almost Famous," is a nostalgic look back on his unusual coming-of-age story. The hero is a precocious 15-year-old journalist, William Miller (played by newcomer Patrick Fugit), who goes on the road with a fictional band, Stillwater, on the cusp of stardom. The story is loosely based on Crowe's adventures with Led Zeppelin, whom a 16-year-old Crowe profiled in a 1975 cover feature for Rolling Stone.
The process of bringing his adolescence to the screen wasn't easy for Crowe. The script went through numerous rewrites, while the production had numerous delays, leading to several major stars dropping out of the film. Most publicized were the numerous title changes, and until about a month ago "Almost Famous" didn't have a title.
But the result is a sweet-natured paean to the '70s, a time when groupies in diaphanous dresses relieved 15-year-olds of their virginity, editors at magazines like Rolling Stone told their staff to write the truth and damn the consequences, and a song like Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" could induce even the most hardened rock 'n' roller to sing along.
At 43, Crowe retains both a boyish mien and the affability that made him so successful as an interviewer. The director hardly looked stressed, however, as he sat down to talk about his latest project recently in Seattle.
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So, come clean: What was the problem with choosing a title for "Almost Famous"?
I'm still getting used to it. The whole business with the title really got on my nerves. To me, it was always "Untitled." It's weird to become a poster boy for indecision, when in fact I always had called it "Untitled." I showed it as "Untitled." Every time I talked to the studio, it was "Untitled." I argued for a year and a half and ultimately they just wouldn't go for it. The thing was, I wanted to have that feeling of the fourth Led Zeppelin [album] -- you know, how it just didn't have a title? -- and [the studio] said, "Can you imagine going to a box office and saying I'd like two tickets to a movie with no title?" And I would say, "Yes! I'd be there on opening night!" [Laughing]
But they paid for the movie, so at a certain point I went with "Almost Famous," which was a title I'd put on an early draft of the script. I think it's good if you know that it comes from the name of [Stillwater's] tour. If you don't know that, it feels like some comment on celebrity.
But doesn't it also work in the context of not only the band but the 15-year-old journalist, William Miller, as well? Isn't the film partly about William realizing that he's not part of the band, that he's being used and he's really an outsider to this circus?
Yeah, true. There's the line in the film where he finally admits, "I'm not famous." And then there's the whole thing where Lester Bangs [Philip Seymour Hoffman] is telling him not to make friends with the band because it's all an illusion.
