Then in 2000, after years of fertility struggles, Nancy welcomed their twin sons Curtis and William via surrogate and egg donor. We didn't have to work on it," says Hudson of her costar. As played by Zellweger, Dorothy also had a dippy self-deprecation that made her incredibly likable and all too human. ), Adds Crudup, "Hearing the first chords of the song that we're playing, the lights go up and it's 1,500 people at the Palladium they let out a scream and I mean, instantly, you know why rock stars go crazy. The documentary features musicians Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Booker T. Jones, steel guitarist Robert Randolph, Don Was and a 10-piece gospel choir who all appear on the album with John and Russell. A tall, dark-haired older woman with a twinkling smile, she has appeared as a teacher (twice), a plastic-surgeons assistant, and as a member of the divorced-womens group in Jerry Maguire. ". This is when the kid [William] starts to see what's really going on: 'You were her excuse for coming here.' ", Jeff Bebe may have been zeroed in on the perks and perils of music stardom (you never want to be one of the out-of-focus guys on a band T-shirt), but Lee says his expression here speaks to the "special" energy of the set. Nancy says of her jam-packed future. "My mom and (veteran film director) James L. Brooks have been my biggest influences as screenwriters, because they're both so invested in the privilege of storytelling. Elizabethtown (film) - Wikipedia "If everything that Lester Bangs has taught William is actually true, in that moment we're seeing it play out. Crowe's debut screenwriting effort, Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), grew out of a book he wrote while posing for one year undercover as a student at Clairemont High School in San Diego. After four years together, Nancy and Crowe got married in 1986. In 2012, she married Geoff Bywater. . and difficult to market. "[33] Preliminary footage was being shot as of June2010[update]. Making a splash: A deep dive into the live-action Little Mermaid with a new generation's Ariel. It took Cameron Crowe and Tom Kitt a single word to hit off their friendship: "Yeah." It was January 2018, and the filmmaker and the Broadway composer were co-writing songs for the musical. Thats not Alice Maries faultshes just here for the ride, and who can blame her? Crowe's mother, Alice, and his sister, Cindy, do not get along. Shes a person who's always happy when something is serving humanity.". A strong-willed widow who raised Cameron and his older sister, Cindy, Alice Marie has influenced Crowes most memorable female charactersfrom the deflated single mom Constance, played by Joan Cusack in Say Anything, to the plucky widow Dorothy Boyd, played by Rene Zellweger, in Jerry Maguire. What's great was Ben said to me, 'I never used to wear shirts like that.' Seventies rocker Peter Frampton served as a technical consultant on the film.[21]. What's our buddy movie?' The film starred Bridget Fonda and Matt Dillon, where Fonda played a coffee-bar waitress fawning over an aspiring musician, played by Dillon. [42] It has also been said that the film was never made due to the failure of finding a third act to the story. The show, starring Luke Wilson, Carla Gugino and Imogen Poots, tells the story of a colorful road crew who work behind the scenes for a fictional rock band, The Staton-House Band. In November 2009, he began filming a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the album The Union, a collaboration between musicians Elton John and Leon Russell produced by award-winning producer T-Bone Burnett. In that audience is Alice Marie herself, playing a minor role as an aunt, guffawing along with everyone else. Later he wrote and directed another high school film, Say Anything (1989), followed by Singles (1992), a story of twentysomethings which was woven together with a soundtrack centering on Seattle's burgeoning grunge music scene. "), The scene they were shooting here is when Russell asks William to "just make us look cool," a moment Crowe was apparently "fastidious" about. "I do read his scripts," she allowed. (Hudson's take: "That picture of me and Cameron embodies me and Cameron. How Cameron Crowe Rebooted 'Almost Famous'For Broadway | Vanity Fair Cameron Crowe was born in Palm Springs, California. He strikes out to form his own agency. We'd talk a lot of details of Almost Famous." 'Almost Famous': The Oral History of a Golden God's Acid Trip I wonder if the movie were shot now, if in between takes people would be on their iPhones scrolling through Instagram. I got a chill. And he kind of made me focus. Not to mention memorable turns from Frances McDormand, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anna Paquin, Jason Lee, Zooey Deschanel, and the rest of the film's starry cast. [46], Crowe married Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart in July 1986. "[The divorce] was really a sad time because I didn't know how to get through it," says Nancy. The crowd was loud, and we just went through it. " I'll say: 'No, but it's funny.' "But 'blood is thicker than water' has always rung true with me.". And he was like, 'Yeah, I'm using the first one. Looking back on it now, he says, "I think honestly it's bittersweet because it's one of the most extraordinary experiences I've ever had. And he hired me. [4] His family finally settled in San Diego. He's for sure being a scoundrel. "She's an amazing collaborator, she's so sharp," Cameron Crowe said of his mother, who has made a cameo appearance in every movie her son has written and directed, except "Say Anything," his first. And she's like, 'Okay, All right. "It's a healthy, full-blooded relationship. During this time, Crowe interviewed Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Eagles, Poco, Steely Dan, members of Led Zeppelin and more. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Phoebe Cates, Judge Reinhold and Sean Penn starred, and Nicolas Cage, Eric. Over the course of two and a half hours, she reminisces about their life in San Diego, gushes about her sons talent, and, occasionally, scolds him. [11] He went on the road with them for three weeks at the age of 16; he interviewed the band and the road crew. "I thought that would be in there if you knew what to look for." It was amazing to ask him to be in my movie at the same spot where my mom would drag me to see 'Hamlet' in the first place. Nancy first met Crowe in 1982. It took me a while to have any kind of trust in the situation, but it was a perfect union, I've got to say. I'm driving myself.' He began corresponding with music journalist Lester Bangs, who had left the Door to become editor at the national rock magazine Creem, and soon he was also submitting articles to Creem as well as Circus. Even in the pretend environment where I'm playing somebody else, I still felt the extraordinary and one-of-a-kind experience of having a moment as a rock star. He is channeling the guy on the exact corner where I met him. Hudson calls the scene "beautifully innocent and sad." [This] was his story, it's his life. Crowe had signed members of Pearl Jam, shortly before their burgeoning, nationwide success, to portray Dillon's fictional band 'Citizen Dick'. Cameron's like, 'You see your mom and your sister [played by Deschanel, center] synergizing again, but there's something missing. Cameron Crowe's mothering instinct. - Slate Magazine But that hasnt been the case with later Crowe heroines, who often seem more like magical beings sent to earth to save our aching hero, armed with fistfuls of quirk, humor, and (usually) blond highlights. We used to walk that track field [at the school] and talk about ideas, because we were big movie fans. "I was blown away that we actually got him to come in because I was already a fan; he was fantastic. Nancy Wilson. Whereas its predecessor followed teenagers' lives in high school, The Wild Life traced the lives of several teenagers after high school living in an apartment complex. (A lifelong teacher, Alice Marie cant resist scolding McDormand, either. "See the rig? You're the only person that can do it the way that it needs to be done, who will ache with a love of music.' The music industry is very different now Hollywood is, too. In addition to promoting her new debut solo album You and Me released last week, she plans to head back on tour with Heart next year, and a biopic about the Wilson sisters is in the works. And its no surprise that a kid who famously left home at 13 to tour the country with the Allman Brothers and Led Zeppelin might have a little guilt to burn. Still , he recognizes what Crowe was trying to do. The reviews of Fast Times at Ridgemont High were positive, and the film ended up launching the careers of some previously unknown actors, including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Eric Stoltz, Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Anthony Edwards, Nicolas Cage, Forest Whitaker, and Sean Penn. "He wanted to get the ambiguity right whether or not Russell is taking advantage of William, or William is giving license to Russell," says Crudup. That's not Russell. His sister Cindy didn't talk to Alice for nearly a decade. [13], His book, Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story, came out in 1981. Say Anything was positively received by critics. "I have this [real] picture of her with her first real serious boyfriend, she's leaving the house and is so anxious to get out she leaves with curlers in her hair," he explains. ", "It's not hard to fall in love with Billy Crudup. Whenever they were in the same place, I was like, 'Come on, guys. His next project, 1992's Singles, described the romantic tangles among a group of six friends in their twenties in Seattle. How is it that William is going to express his love for this woman? And he did.". "Our natural closeness kicked right in again like clockwork.". They had this big, open window there where they would display the latest great album that had come in. Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American journalist, author, writer, producer, director, actor, lyricist, and playwright. "One day, he got a note that the Times wanted to print his Alice Cooper review. Crowe focused on six main characters: a tough guy, a nerd, a surfer dude, a sexual sophisticate, and a middle-class brother and sister. He also felt the excitement of his career was beginning to wane. (Another Easter egg: Standing next to Alice is actor Charles Walker, who played the principal inSay Anything. That's the magic of Kate." In my mind, I thought that was the standard by which my life should be lived and my relationships should meet up to. "One of the secrets of Almost Famous is that it's so much about the father who's not there," says Crowe. "I had my manager come with me on the first dinner I had with him," she says. Their mother, appalled by the misogyny in some song lyrics, did not allow rock records in the Crowe family home. [39], In 1997, it was reported that Crowe was in talks to direct a biopic about Phil Spector, with Tom Cruise in talks to portray him. Aloha (I) (2015) PG-13 | 105 min | Comedy, Drama . ("A bootleg version, very good," notes the director.) But by treating these women as sacred, he also makes them less than human. Zooey Deschanel, Michael Angarano, and Frances McDormand in Almost Famous (2000). You start being insulated and very cloistered from the outside world. A strong-willed widow who raised Cameron and his older sister, Cindy, Alice Marie has influenced Crowe's most memorable female charactersfrom the deflated single mom Constance, played by. [43][44], Crowe also attempted to make a biopic about Marvin Gaye titled My Name is Marvin. "Baby Baruchel" recalls Crowe. Adds Fugit: "I love filming that scene because it was informative about Cameron and his family in a way that had not occurred to me up until that point," he says. "How do you change the behavioral nature of that to something that is still unsettling but very sweet? Crowes latest film is Elizabethtown, a romantic comedy about an entrepreneur (Orlando Bloom) who returns to small-town Kentucky after his fathers sudden death and the biggest flop of his career. After Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley dropped out as Russell and Penny, Hudson and the role she was destined for came togethereventually. When Cameron hits it, nobody's better. Nancy Wilson Personal Details: Date Of Birth: 16 March 1954 . Cameron CrowePersonalBorn July 13, 1957, in Palm Springs, CA; son of James (a businessman) and Alice (a professor and activist) Crowe; married Nancy Wilson (a musician), 1986; children: twin boys. [22] The film, starring Tom Cruise, Penlope Cruz and Cameron Diaz, received mixed reviews, yet managed to gross $100.6million at the US box office, making it his second highest grossing directorial effort behind Jerry Maguire (1996). But I wonder if Crowe might have a little more perspective on the women in his films if he werent so reverent toward those women in real life. And I think he's bumping into Bebe's back a little bit just to f--- with him. And he did. [20], In 2000, Crowe used his music journalism experience roots to write and direct Almost Famous, about the experiences of a teenage music journalist who goes on the road with an emerging band in the early 1970s. A version of this story appears in the September 2020 issue of Entertainment Weekly.