Ten years in the making, Almost Famous is based on Crowe’s experiences as a teenage
music writer on tour for Creem and Rolling Stone magazines in the early 70s. Short of
the laughable title, the movie is wrenching and deeply personal—and in many ways
out of step with Crowe’s past film work. No Lloyd Dobler, skinny arms straining, boom
box thrust in the air. No hipster stars
tumbling into love amid pithy pop ref
erences. None of that “you complete
me” foolishness.
That said, Almost Famous is a love
story—very much like Crowe’s Say
Anything..., Singles, and Jeiry Ma
guire. But instead of love of, well, being
in love (or at least the idea of love), the
movie is writer-director Crowe’s rumi
nation on family, the rock & roll com
munity, and, more than anything else,
the decade that defined him. i—
skipped a few grades—seeking solace
in music after his older sister, Anita
(Zooey Deschanel), flees home. He
finds a mentor in legendary critic
Lester Bangs (played here by Philip
Seymour Hoffman) and is soon hitting
the road to cover fictional up-and-com
ing roots rockers Stillwater, leaving his
widowed, heartbroken mother with an
empty nest. During the Stillwater tour,
the 15-year-old loses his innocence
(among, uh, other things), gets a back
“I started to see the ’70s get
ting characterized as this big
kitschy mirror ball, and that was
not my experience,” remembers
Crowe, who, after graduating at
15, toured with bands like Jack
son Browne, the Allman Broth
ers, and Led Zeppelin. “I just
tried to write nakedly [about the
experience]—and that was the
right thing to do. The only way to
do it was to be raw.”
The story that evolved has
Crowe’s stand-in, William Mil
ler—alienated after his rock &
roll-loathing mom had him
to-front schooling in his new trade,
and falls for a sweet, damaged groupie
named Penny Lane (Kate Hudson).
“There are real figures mixed with
composites,” says the director. (And
some were both. Though her character
is a composite, the real Penny Lane
lives in Oregon and visited the set.)
“The band was all the early ones I
wrote about—the Who, Led Zeppelin,
the Eagles, the Allman Brothers,
Lynyrd Skynyrd. But it was Ronnie
Van Zant from Lynyrd Skynyrd who
singled me out in 1973. He loved my
writing and tried to sponsor my stuff.”
Which is not unlike what Stillwater
guitarist Russell (Billy Crudup) does for
William in the movie. The death of Van
Zant in a 1977 plane crash was a defin
ing moment for Crowe, who, grieving,
couldn’t bring himself to write the obit
for Rolling Stone and shelved his
Skynyrd records for almost 20 years.
Crowe struggled with how to tell this
story for years. He knew he wanted to
make a semiautobiographical film as far
back as the mid-’80s, but it wasn’t until
1998 that he cracked the story (which
ultimately required changing the band
from Brits to Americans) and finished
the Almost Famous script. Even then,
shooting proved a tortuous exercise.
First, the director insisted the auto
biographical plot remain top secret.
“When I came in [to read], he had
rewritten the scenes for politics,” re
—I members 17-year-old Fugit, a
Salt Lake City neophyte found
through an open casting call. “Un
til I got the part, I thought it was
about a campaign trail.” Then,
there were the much-publicized
problems casting the lead roles.
Following the $154 million success
of Jerry Maguire—and the Oscar
for Cuba Gooding Jr.—everyone
wanted to work with Crowe, and
at various times, Meryl Streep
was considered as Mom, Sarah
Polley was on board as Penny,
and, most famously, Brad Pitt as
Russell. They all fell through—
Pitt amid rumors (denied by his
reps) that DreamWorks had lowballed
him after Meet Joe Black tanked.
“All those people were smart enough
to know that someone else belonged in
the movie,” reflects Crowe. “I’ve real
ized that just recently.” Cnidup (With
out Limits) and his buddy, Oscar win
ner Frances McDormand {Fargo),
stepped in as Russell and Mom. Hud
son, who until that point had been slat
ed to portray William’s rebellious sis
ter, Anita, lobbied hard to play Penny.
(PREVIOUS SPREAD AND OPPOSITE PAGE) HUDSON AND FUGIT: STYLING: JESSICA PASTER/LUXE; HAIR: CRAIG GANGI/SMASHBOX; MAKEUP: SHALLY ZUCKER/JET SET.
FUGIT’S T-SHIRT: WASTELAND; HUDSON’S SHIRT ON OPPOSITE PAGE: ROBERTO CAVALLI; (THIS PAGE) NEAL PRESTON
STILLWATER RUNS DEEP Crudup [front] and
Jason Lee [center] head up the A/mosfband
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY OTt CampUS