Cameron Crowe
folloivs the Fast
Times with a life of
Singles, still making
the everyday seem
extraordinary
Cameron Crowe:
Constantly Improving the
chronicle of a generation.
When lovable high school burnout Jell Npiroh pounded hit \ .tii'
against bis ton-head and siaitimeied, " I bat ssas im skull I m so
wasted," most lb > I Ivw* m h l exet s didn t gel it.
When dltllet giad IJnvcl Ihiblei rambled, “I don't want to s*-ll
anvlhtng. bought ot pun essed, 01 bus an vt lung v>ld ot piik essed,
ot pox ess .instiling sold, bought ot pt«H essed wi what I’ve l>een
doing latels is kit Id Mixing," again. I lollvwood exet s didn't get it
And wlit-n writer-diier tot ('.aineron < rowe was putting ibr
blushing tom In s on bis most ret ent venture. SingUv. he Mill bad t< i
light to enxuie that the slu es ol Ins generation were not abandtmed on the
editing room Hoot lw those same exet s
“In some ways, die stull I write is so slu e-ot hlr it almost needs to Ik- seen b\ the
people it's about to be appret iated," < lowe sa\s “We’ve been lighting realh
hard to get a release date on Soig/ei 1 be people that ate releasing the movie
don't realh knots what u is I lies |iisi don't think there's an audieru e
Hut there is an audieiwe, and the 11 seat-old waiter lias lieen banging out with
with Vo Anything. .1
i <huh love Mon about an unlikely (ouple
Hui ia|>tiii mi; the ambtaiue ot i eal life is not ultt.iv> rust. and translating iealily
to film is a unique i hallrilge.
\ftet two films, ( iowe saw he lias learned vsfi.it woiks and vvliat doesn t. Smgtrs
underwent some i flanges and almost emerged without an ending, not fret a use it
wasn't m ( nine's sc rt|>t fmt liecause he had problems at Inevmg the desired etiei t
"F lid mgs are t< >ugh 'cirtgiri ends with tones all ovei the eitv < ibsessmg alx ml
love as we te nulling awav front this upaitmenl house, (but] vmt ktnda have to
woik with these union actors, and they all sounded like they wete making a bad
radio ad In the end I < aim* bai k with no tnonev left and |usl got all mv friends
and people oil the new to just talk, and that ended up being the end of the
movie," lie savs
Sutgfci is full of the kind of lealislit t ouversations and c hat a« lets that made Vr*
dnythmg st.»nd out in a sea of tren-oncnted movies
“Having three ted two movies, I think I'm learning alroul wfiat woiks with tin
It I III I Ilf I .IS I 1 I -
veals in Seattle —
hanging out living to
get a bdti't Irel lot
>\ ti.11 being voting,
lire, |mol and on Vout
own in all alxnil
" I he liltn is very
vpet tin ally about
being m tout eath to
middle ‘Jth and |ust
11 \ mg to make \ otti
wav through the
minefields of
telalinnships — vou've
lost vmti virginity. vou
have a job. vou don’t
live at home anymore,
vou are out in the
vnoi Id." ('.rowe saw
In I ini I hum.is.
I)<iil\ l-.i'ivgrtTii.
\\ ashin^lnn Sian- l .
living off the
ordinary
"But thru something tealrv ohm h.ipjxnv It s almost tmspoken. DiMonnntrd
smglt- jieople vs 11> i Inr m .in apat tmenl house, thes'll kind of come togethet m .in
odd, great wav. Yout dour will In- open and sour next dooi neighbor, who is
about voui age. got home and lie's not reads to go to In-d vet and he's like, 'Hey,
what’s going ottr"
It's not glamorous stuff But then, C.iowe's characters are not glamorous. In
f.u t, thev’re was average.
"I don't believe that the world is lull of |x>pul.u people and nerds,' (aowe sass,
"I think in the middle is the gte.it majonts of |x-oplc wfm are not so glamorous 01
nerds that thrs are reptesented in movies."
His fascination svith the people-tn-lielwren led (aowe to return to high school
to i eseat i h his ni is el f-a.il limes at Ridgrmoni High, a Imok lie later adapted foi the
big sc teen
He wrote The HaU IjJt, (also made into a film) and made lus direc torial debut
Mull, ami n generally is mien you nine me at ung, ne savs
"The ai tors have told me that all the lines and the dialogue is *> realit>d*Lsrd, dial il
von sound like you're at ling, you're really dead It should have the natural Hots and
it's haul to get there, but when you get there these gteal at i idents happen.”
( aowe also inanagetl to pull together some o! the hottest sounds aiming out ot
Seattle to tompleuient his movie-making skills Soipropulsive soimdlr.uk
continues a (aowe tradrmai k that started with Fast Itmrs.
I he tilm debuts trai ks from Paul Westerlieig and a t onsieliatii m ot Seattle’s finest
inu.sual talents iik hid :ig. \lit e in ( hauls. I’earl |am. Mudhones and Soimdgaiden
Cmwr denies “cashing-in* on the retl-hot Northwe stern sounds though, having
started his pmjet t tu-h ire die nation ret ogm/ed Seattle as a high mush al met < a.
"Isn't it weird how you go from just |muiidmg on your friends to get them to
listen t<i this musii that you love, to all ot a sudden apologizing foi it being
trendy?’