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Welcome to the Almost Famous live tweet, hosted by @rachel_handler, who’s been searching for Penny Lane’s exact coat for 14 years w/out success. If you or your loved ones have any information on Penny Lane’s coat, please contact me. Grab ur Quaaludes & let's go! #vulturemovieclub
This live tweet will feature: new commentary & behind-the-scenes stories from Cameron Crowe and Patrick Fugit, unmoderated thirst, several tweets about Penny Lane’s coat (see above), Frances McDormand worship, and will conclude by me taking LSD and jumping off of my roof.
Almost Famous is 20 years old; historians will look back on these opening credits as perhaps the last time anyone used a pencil. RT if you are unfamiliar with the concept of a pencil, like if you once owned a pencil, reply with a photo of your current pencil. #pencils
Patrick Fugit, a 16-year-old newcomer, had no idea who Led Zeppelin was and revealed this to Cameron Crowe during his audition, who then plotzed (my word). Ultimately he was cast as William because of that sweet, wide-eyed innocence. https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/patrick-fugit-answers-all-our-questions-about-almost-famous.html
Fugit said Frances McDormand refused to use her trailer. “Cameron was like, ‘I feel like Frances is doing me a favor, playing this little role in this movie.’ So they had this big trailer for her — and she refused to go in it. She's like, ‘No, I'll stay in a honey wagon.’” icon.
RT if remember “kissing.” #vulturemovieclub
Cameron Crowe actually skipped *3* grades and graduated high school at 15; his first Rolling Stone piece ran before he turned 16. #vulturemovieclub
and one day YOU will date a property brother.
"Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s first scene in the radio station began with me playing him Iggy and the Stooges during his take, which is something I do all the time, but I hadn’t warned him that I was going to do it,” Cameron Crowe told me. (1/2)
“Philip yelled CUT immediately and said, ‘Why do you think what you’re playing is better than what I have in my head?’ Never did it again.” #vulturemovieclub (2/2)
To prep for his role, Crowe said, “Hoffman listened to interview tapes of Lester from the journalist Jim DeRogatis, famous later for breaking the R. Kelly story, writing a biography of Bangs, and being a premiere Chicago journalist who interviewed Lester shortly before he died.”
"Fugit told me PSH loved to give him shit in the same way Lester Bangs did William. “They'd ask me, like, ‘How old are you again?’ And I’d be like, ‘16,’ and they'd be like, ‘Fuck you, man. You're from Salt Lake City? Okay, great. What have you done there to earn this part?’”
PSH would also rib Fugit by telling him movies were over: "Yeah, they're going to be using digital cameras now. They’re not even going to use actors anymore. They're just going to animate, use your voice from a bunch of different films. They won't even have to pay you anymore.”
Like his character, Fugit didn’t do drugs, though the cast tried to “corrupt” him by sneaking him into parties and getting into trouble. Bijou Phillips was the self-proclaimed “troublemaker” on set; once she stole a golf cart, grabbed Fugit, and did donuts around Sunset & Fairfax
During this scene, Fugit says he could barely see due to the lighting, so he kept staring at his notebook. As the new kid on set, he didn’t want to speak up. Hoffman noticed his discomfort, stopped the scene, & demanded cinematographer John Toll change it. #vulturemovieclub
“ I realized Philip was standing up for me,” Fugit told me, “but also pointing out to me that we may be pretty close to court jesters and dancing monkeys, but we're not totally there. If something's impeding you, you have to say something.” #vulturemovieclub
@harrystyles u up?
*except during a global pandemic when u are trapped indoors reconsidering your entire life’s meaning
have basically been trying to recreate this entire look since I was 12 to essentially zero success. Penny Lane’s coat was custom-made for the movie and yes, that is my personal cross to bear. @ kate hudson can i have it
the CDC’s actual guidelines for sex during a pandemic
honestly... no.
Fugit said Brad Pitt was nearly cast as Russell. To make Fugit comfy during their screen test, Pitt asked him if he played the snowboarding video game “Cool Boarders.” “We just geeked out about it, talking about all the tricks we could do for like 20 minutes.” #brad #pitt #cool
this interview scene is painfully relatable on so many levels: the charismatic interviewee who says so much but reveals basically nothing; the recorder going out mid-conversation; the thrilling terror of trying to capture something meaningful in a totally chaotic setting.
“kate, why did you start an athleisure brand?”
Cameron Crowe: “When Billy Crudup is looking longingly at Kate Hudson, or just being thoughtful in the movie, I’m playing him ‘The Promise’ by Bruce Springsteen, which wouldn’t have existed in 1973 terms. A Bruce fan could tell you that, but it really spoke to both of us.”
Neil Young was supposed to play Russell’s dad, who, Cameron says, “arrives at a Stillwater show with his young wife, who flirts with Russell in front of his dad.Neil was fitted with the perfect costume, worked on his scene for several weeks — and cancelled on the day of filming.”
what is a fever dog?
me at 4 a.m. Coronavirus Time making reckless decisions about a future that only exists in the theoretical realm
if you're drunk rn please let Frances McDormand know immediately
unfortunately this great little speech has been co-opted by Pinterest and we can never speak of it again. #vulturemovieclub
Fugit told me that, like William, he crushed hard on Kate Hudson over the course of filming. “I was not slick. I was not good at concealing it, nor was I good at trying to capitalize on it. So she would kind of fuck with me, knowing that I was crushing on her”
Read my interview with Patrick Fugit for the full story on how Kate Hudson playfully messed with his head during filming and also more instances of Frances McDormand being a freaking legend https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/patrick-fugit-answers-all-our-questions-about-almost-famous.html
Almost Famous is basically sad porn for 2020 journalists https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/the-bittersweet-experience-of-watching-almost-famous.html
Patrick Fugit on Frances McDormand: “Total gravitational power center. When she came on set, the weight of the set changed. But she presented with the most mellow, easygoing, creative, collaborative energy you could think of. Total star-child energy.”
same
According to Patrick, McDormand was a “total hippie who wanted to be wearing the '70s clothing and rocking out to music herself.” In one cut scene, they listened to “Stairway to Heaven” and she had to pretend to hate it, but would dance wildly between takes. #vulturemovieclub
only Fairuza Balk could pull off this feather shoulderpad vest situation #thisisthemaidspeakingbytheway
Fugit bonded the most with Billy Crudup. “We won't fucking talk for six years — I haven't talked to him since 2011, 2012, I saw him in New York, and he was pissed at me because I was so much taller than him. He's like, ‘I thought he would get shorter and uglier. Goddammit.’”
when u know u got a good quote
have u ever been electrocuted on stage but it was fine
Fairuza crashing into the wall was not written into the Almost Famous script. Crowe says, “The crashing into the wall moment with Fairuza came from her stand-in, who was the great screenwriter Robert Towne’s daughter. She did it by accident in the rehearsal, and we kept it in.”
RT If you have driven a bus through a gate as an act of moral justice
now RT if you have tried to "save" a "man" as a "project"
when your aura is this beautiful purple color
who says journalism is dead
when the intern accidentally uploads the album to Spotify a day early
when the intern wants to skip the vibe and go straight to us laughing about this
@RealChalamet pls review and let's circle back and discuss
me when i have had too much screentime
anyone on the TL who is a “real Topeka person” please speak up now
@ aaron from topeka
From Cameron: “When Jimmy Page & Robert Plant watched the movie to approve their music, they were mostly quiet. Robert Plant shouted out in pleasure when Crudup says, 'I am a Golden God.' He had said the very same words back in the day, during a photo session.”
incredible backstory about the Tiny Dancer scene, from Cameron Crowe:
it's a thinkpiece about a midlevel band struggling with their own limitations in the uh harsh face of stardom
Patrick was insanely nervous to film the “deflowering” scene. “I was inexperienced with girls. I was a teenager, so I was worried about certain physical responses to the stimulation. I was worried that I wasn't going to be kissing right, that I wouldn’t look good in my underwear”
day 167 of quarantine
me defending my 1000-word conspiracy theory article on Mary-Kate Olsen’s divorce https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/mary-kate-olsen-cara-delevingne-dating.html
"don't worry baby, you will" is the best line in this film
more behind the-scenes from @CameronCrowe: “The Cleveland scene, where Bowie runs through the lobby, was filmed at a big hotel where Guns N’ Roses was doing a photo session just below us at the same time. My real-life sister and her family are in the elevator in that scene.”
met Frances McDormand once at a party and can confirm that this is extremely her energy. I asked her for a brief quote and when she said no, she proceeded to calmly tell me that I should go back to my editor and explain that I was now writing an entirely different story.
Patrick said the cast had wild parties he was mostly “kept away from as a minor. “Billy and Jason were embracing this band rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, which Cameron encouraged, because it came across on camera in their manner with each other.” https://www.vulture.com/2020/06/patrick-fugit-answers-all-our-questions-about-almost-famous.html
@jimmyfallon hey
This is an extremely depressing poker scene, wherein Penny Lane is gambled away for a six-pack of beer because men, but Cameron has a David Crosby, weed-related behind-the-scenes tale that will help distract you from the sadness:
this is Kate Hudson’s best scene in the film, imho — the way she says, “What kind of beer?” while she wipes away a single tear is so naturalistic and heartbreaking.
here's how to make an urgent phone call when you are Jann Wenner, publisher of Rolling Stone #vulturemovieclub
honestly would still love to own a mojo
I know this is Extremely Not the point of this scene but I really need this entire outfit...help...
the Quaaludes scene has garnered some controversy over the years for the non-consensual kiss that William plants on an unconscious Penny; in the upcoming stage musical (yes, really!), that scene will be removed. #vulturemovieclub
Lady ….Goodman!!!!
According to Cameron, this scene got the film fully greenlit. “Steven Spielberg asked to see a scene cut together. We were still filming. I showed him William running after Penny’s plane, waving to her as she leaves. He said, ‘Okay, we’re good. Have fun finishing the movie.’”
If you’re keeping track, this is the third near-death experience of the film.
it didn't count, it was the summer we decided to be FREE of all RULES
The Journalist’s Way
During this scene, Patrick was having a hard time getting emotional; Cameron told him, “Well, it's a sad thing to think about, but you will probably never see most of these people ever again.” Patrick says he “just started crying, and the scene came extremely easily after that.”
LET'S go BACK to Robert Plant's private screening of Almost Famous: According to Cameron Crowe, when Russell says, “I didn’t say ‘I am a Golden God...’” Robert Plant shouted out loud in the screening room, “I did!!!”
my epitaph
the most accurate depiction of the day after a deadline that I’ve ever seen
notice penny doesn't say "got a pencil" because pencils were already extinct immediately after the credit scene
these final scenes are really lovely. William’s sweet, rumpled vulnerability, Penny’s long-due escape and iconique hat, Led Zeppelin’s “Tangerine” — a bittersweet combination of nostalgia, regret, and youthful hope. #vulturemovieclub
thanks for joining me — maryann with the pot — tonight. remember: the only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool. and we’re all ... on twitter on a friday night. tragically I’ll be back on here in 4 seconds @rachel_handler.
