After marking the movie’s 25th anniversary last month, Cameron Crowe is continuing to unpack the traumatic inspiration behind Almost Famous.
The Oscar winner, whose memoir The Uncool is now available, said he “broke down” while recording the part of his audio book that touched on the Allman Brothers Band frontman Gregg Allman, who inspired the film’s rockstar character Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup).
“I had a real wound that was still there from this violent thing that happened between us when he took all the tapes back,” he recalled to USA Todaydecades after interviewing Allman for Rolling Stone. “He threatened me vaguely; he called me a cop that worked for the FBI. He was like, ‘Who do you think you are? How old are you? You’re 16?’ I just remember being scared, and this was a band I loved.”
Crowe continued, “I thought, ‘Oh, wow, so maybe I’m not just a kid in a candy store who can ask anybody about anything. Maybe I asked too many questions about his dead brother. I did something wrong, and I’m going to get fired from ever writing for Rolling Stone again.’ I had to stop reading the audiobook and gather myself. But as my mom would say, you never know good luck or bad, because he did give me my tapes back. It gave me the story that became Almost Famousand it taught me that the stakes were high. If you’re given the opportunity to write about something important to you, strap in and do it right.”
In Almost Famous, 15-year-old William Miller (Patrick Fugit) is assigned to accompany his favorite band Stillwater on tour for a Rolling Stone article. While becoming infatuated with the legendary ‘Band-Aid’ Penny Lane (Kate Hudson), he finds it difficult to land an interview with the band’s elusive guitarist Russell (Crudup).
From left: Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit and director Cameron Crowe on the set of 2000’s ‘Almost Famous’
“In the end, so much came from that difficult thing that happened with the Allman Brothers Band,” added Crowe. “I was able to see Gregg before he died and, in an odd way, have an unspoken conversation about what had happened between us. I thanked him for Almost Famousto which he said, ‘You’re welcome.’”
Allman died in 2017 due to complications from liver cancer. He was 69.
اترك تعليقاً