Almost Famous
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| Almost Famous | |
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 Almost Famous movie poster |
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| Directed by | Cameron Crowe |
| Produced by | Ian Bryce Cameron Crowe |
| Written by | Cameron Crowe |
| Starring | Patrick Fugit Billy Crudup Kate Hudson Jason Lee Frances McDormand Philip Seymour Hoffman Noah Taylor Zooey Deschanel Jimmy Fallon |
| Music by | Cameron Crowe |
| Cinematography | John Toll |
| Editing by | Joe Hutshing Saar Klein |
| Distributed by | - USA - DreamWorks - non-USA - Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 13, 2000 |
| Running time | 122 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $60,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Almost Famous is a film written and directed by Cameron Crowe and released in 2000. It tells a fictional story of a teenage journalist initially writing for Creem magazine and then later for Rolling Stone covering the rock band Stillwater, and his efforts to get his first cover story published. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.
Despite very good reviews, the film was not a box-office success. The film received four Oscar nominations, one of which led to an award to Crowe for his screenplay. It was also awarded the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Roger Ebert hailed it as the best movie of the year. [1]
The tagline for Almost Famous is "Experience It. Enjoy It. Just Don't Fall For It."
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
William Miller is a teenager aspiring to be a rock-and-roll journalist, despite the desires of his eccentric, overprotective mother, Elaine, who wants him to go into law. Shunned by his classmates (most of whom are two or three years older than he), he writes for underground papers in his hometown, San Diego.
He goes one morning to watch as a local radio station interviews pioneering rock journalist Lester Bangs. The two hit it off, and Bangs gives William an assignment to interview Black Sabbath. William, without credentials or ticket, cannot get into the arena. He meets up with some "Band-Aids", semi-groupies who draw the line at intercourse with rock stars (everything else is fair game) and their leader, Penny Lane. He manages to meet the opening band on the card, Stillwater, who first dismiss him as a journalist, but then take him to their hearts (and backstage) when they realize he's also a fan.
A week or so later, he goes with Penny (deceiving his mother) to the “Riot House” — the Hyatt Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. He first meets Vic Munoz, an extreme Led Zeppelin fan who follows them all over the country, and they are soon in a room with Stillwater. Penny goes off with the band’s “guitarist with mystique”, Russell Hammond, to a vending room, where they have sex. William is beginning to appear jealous.
William is called by Ben Fong-Torres, editor of Rolling Stone Magazine. They have read his material and want him to do a story. However, Ben is under the impression that William is several years older than he really is. William does nothing to disabuse Ben, but accepts an assignment to follow Stillwater on the road and write an article.
Elaine consents, under strict conditions, which will be repeatedly violated, to her chagrin. Penny and other Band-Aides will be riding the bus as well. William tries to get interviews with each band member, but his attempts to interview Russell are repeatedly frustrated. The young journalist witnesses Russell receive a severe electric shock on stage in Phoenix, the band argues in Kansas, and Russell and William go off to a teenage house party where the musician has too much acid. William calls for the band bus to come by the house, and Russell is persuaded to get on the bus. It is made clear that, however much they might argue, the band is a family.
Both Penny and Russell know that Penny must leave the tour before New York, where Leslie, Russell's girlfriend, will be joining the tour. During a poker game, he allows the manager to put up the groupies as a stake in a poker game. The band loses the groupies to the band Humble Pie for $50 and a case of beer. When William tells Penny about this, she acts nonchalant, but is devastated.
Penny goes to New York anyway on her own, and, during a dinner with the band and their girlfriends, Penny shows up in the background. Band manager Dick Roswell (Noah Taylor) asks her to leave. William goes to Penny's room and finds her overdosed and on the verge of death. While trying to wake her up, he tells her he loves her. A doctor comes and pumps her stomach. She confides in William the next day, even telling him her real name, which very few people know.
On a plane ride to another concert, the plane is in trouble and looks like it will have to make a crash landing. Believing they will all die, the band members and entourage start confessing their secrets. When Jeff and Russell start arguing, and Penny is referred to as "that fucking groupie", William, to the surprise of all, defends Penny and speaks his anger that the band used her, declaring his own love for her. The plane lands safely, leaving all to ponder the changed atmosphere.
William must continue on to San Francisco to finish the story. As William is leaving to fly to San Francisco, Russell tells him to go ahead and write whatever he wants. The Rolling Stone editor loves the story and can't wait to publish it, but first they have to ask the band to verify it. However, they say that it's all lies. The magazine won't publish it and are angry at William for fabricating the story. William is crushed. While sitting dejected in the airport, he sees his sister, who had left both home and Elaine to become a stewardess. They go back home together, and William stages a reconciliation.
Back on the Stillwater tour, one of the groupies tells Russell how horrible he was to Penny and to William. Russell calls Penny and wants to meet with her. He asks for her address. Penny, who has moved on and doesn't want to go back, gives Russell William's address instead. Russell goes to the house thinking it's Penny's, but Elaine answers and lets him talk to William. The two of them talk things through.
The final scenes are a picture of the cover of Rolling Stone with Russell's picture on the front with the rest of the band behind him as the band starts its 1974 tour.
[edit] Credits
The film stars:
- Patrick Fugit as Crowe's alter ego, William Miller
- Billy Crudup, Jason Lee, and Noah Taylor as lead guitarist, lead singer, and band manager respectively, of the band Stillwater
- Mark Kozelek as the band's bass player (Kozelek is the real-life leader of the Crowe-favored bands Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon)
- Frances McDormand and Zooey Deschanel as William's mother and sister, respectively
- Kate Hudson, Fairuza Balk, Anna Paquin, and Bijou Phillips as groupies known as "Band Aids" (Hudson's character Penny Lane was based on several women Crowe knew, including "rock star muse" Bebe Buell, but primarily one Penny Trumbull, as he specifically states in the DVD commentary to the long "Director's Cut" of the film. He says Penny Trumbull is still alive and living in Oregon.)
- Jimmy Fallon (in his first feature film role) as the band's new manager Dennis Hope.
- Philip Seymour Hoffman as real-life journalist Lester Bangs.
The film's award-winning soundtrack featured an eclectic mix of period rock, other period genres, and songs written by Crowe's wife, Nancy Wilson, expressly for the movie. Highlights include Simon & Garfunkel's "America", Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" and "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters", and Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air".
[edit] Awards
- Academy Awards, 2001
- Won - Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - Cameron Crowe
- Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Kate Hudson
- Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Frances McDormand
- Nominated - Best Editing - Joe Hutshing and Saar Klein
[edit] The Bootleg Cut
Along with the standard DVD version, Crowe compiled an alternate version entitled "Untitled," which was a compilation of both released footage and his favorite deleted scenes. Running for over a half hour longer than the theatrical release, "Untitled" was subtitled 'The Bootleg Cut', with its packaging resembling a cheap Seventies bootleg. The set is apparently out-of-print at the current time. (Incidentally, a variant of the Bootleg Cut is the basis of the network television version of "Almost Famous.")
[edit] Major changes to the film
- The hand in the opening titles writes "Untitled" instead of "Almost Famous". (Untitled was the title that Cameron Crowe originally wanted for the cinematic release of the film.)
- Elaine berates a man for painting "Merry Xmas" on a storefront, saying "Xmas" is not a real word.
- Young William is mocked in the school shower for his lack of pubic hair.
- Additional albums are glimpsed in the scene in which young William finds the record bag under his bed.
- William arrives at school to see that his classmates have changed the marquee on the school's sign to read "William Miller is too young to drive or fuck".
- Bangs talks in more detail about The Guess Who and mentions a live version of "American Woman" from the band's Live at the Paramount.
- Before cutting to the restaurant scene with Bangs, William and Lester stand on a street corner in silence, as Lester waits for a bus.
- Before the first concert, Russell tells William how the littlest details in songs are the ones that people remember the most, citing a vocal sound in Marvin Gaye's "What's Happening, Brother?" as an example.
- Anita's boyfriend climbs through the window of her bedroom and reminisces to William about the sex that they had there.
- Before he leaves for the Hyatt House, William is given a wad of 'gas money' by his mother.
- Penny and William's arrival at the Hyatt House is heavily extended, featuring a longer section with Peter Frampton, as well as William being told to "blow me!" by a comedian he recognizes.
- Before having sex in the ice room, Penny and Russell have a conversation about their failing relationship.
- Stillwater attends a radio interview, hosted by a stoned DJ (Kyle Gass) who falls asleep mid-conversation.
- An extra scene before Russell's electric shock shows William attempting to interview Stillwater's dimwitted bassist in the pouring rain.
- The backstage fight over the blurry t-shirt includes an added exchange in which Russell asks Jeff if he's on cocaine.
- A couple of lines were added to the scene in Aaron's bedroom, in which Russell gives his belt to a young admirer.
- The scene after Russell jumps into the swimming pool is extended to imply that there was some concern over whether or not he would resurface before everyone else jumps in.
- The band holds a birthday party for Penny Lane, where she first learns that she is not welcome on the airplane.
- After Penny Lane's recovery from her Quaalude overdose, she and William walk by the lake in Central Park. She proceeds to tell him her real name, and in the extended cut, says: "Keith Richards looked at me, pulled me on stage, he took me backstage, and gave me a Coke with ice and a lemon. And I never went home."
[edit] Soundtrack
[edit] DVD release date
[edit] See Also
[edit] External links
- Almost Famous at the Internet Movie Database
- Almost Famous on Cameron Crowe's Official Website
- The Allman Brothers Story, the December 1973 Rolling Stone cover story by Crowe that partially inspired the film.
- Romancing the Stone, a September 2000 Rolling Stone article by Crowe about the writing and making of the film.
- Reviews for Almost Famous at TopTenReviews
- Original movie script containing scenes never shown in cinema but available on the director's cut
| Preceded by Toy Story 2 |
Golden Globe: Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy 2001 |
Succeeded by Moulin Rouge! |
| Films directed by Cameron Crowe |
|---|
| Say Anything • Singles • Jerry Maguire • Almost Famous • Vanilla Sky • Elizabethtown |
