Author Archives: Greg

San Diego Door: Early Eagles Interview

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(L-R) Frey, Meisner, Henley & Leadon. Photo Courtesy of Gary Elam

I’m happy to present a brand new Cameron penned piece of Journalism today entitled “Movin’ Up With The Eagles”. This is a very early interview with the original members of Eagles from November, 1972, shortly after the success of their self titled debut album. Cameron brings the readers up to speed on the band’s formation and then conducts a Q & A with the band. It’s interesting now to reflect back on who the spokesmen for the band was early on. It’s very obvious that both Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon are the dominating force at this time. Don Henley doesn’t say too much and Randy Meisner is nearly as quiet as “silent Ed Vallencourt” from Almost Famous. Leadon would leave the band in 1975 as they moved in a more rock direction and left their country roots behind.

One last thing. The picture above is from the San Diego Door article and send to me by Cameron from his archives. He wants to point out that it was taken by his high school friend Gary Elam. Enjoy!

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Aug 4, 2011

Say Anything…2?

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As you probably know, Cameron mentioned on Saturday at the TCA press conference for PJ20 that Say Anything… was the only film of his that he’d ever consider for a sequel. Here’s the direct quote:

“It’s the only thing that I’ve written that I would consider doing that with. “I’ve thought about it from time to time and talked about it with John Cusack once and just said this is the only story that I kind of think there might be another chapter to that at some point.”

It seems that every online site has taken the story and run with it. I find the whole thing pretty amusing. This is not the first time it’s been discussed. As far back as this interview in 2000, Cameron has mentioned that the film has characters that he wouldn’t mind revisiting. Here’s a more recent quote from Paste magazine in October, 2005.

“I used to think for a while that it would be the one movie I’d do a sequel to, because there was more to be said about Lloyd. Then I went to see High Fidelity, and I thought, “You know what, that movie says a lot of the things that I would probably want to say in a sequel to Say Anything…, so congratulations, it exists.”

That quote seems to suggest that Say Anything 2 hasn’t ever really been close to reality and was merely something he considered at some point. Bottom line is that I wouldn’t get too excited about this either way. There’s no Say Anything… 2 script lying around and my opinion is that another adventure with Lloyd Dobler probably isn’t in the cards. Just an honest answer to an interesting question…

 

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Aug 2, 2011

USA Today Profiles We Bought A Zoo

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Composite Photo of Cast (Courtesy of Neal Preston/20th Century Fox)

USA Today‘s Susan Wloszczyna visited the set of We Bought A Zoo back in March and her main report has been posted in the Life section.  There’s also a smaller story on the music as well. Lastly, you’ll we are treated to new behind the scenes pictures courtesy of Neal Preston. I’ve included some of the pictures here and a few choice quotes from Cameron, Thomas Haden Church and Matt Damon.

“It’s kind of an act of desperation for Benjamin,” “He does it impulsively, but at the same time, his late wife would have celebrated this kind of adventure. It’s really a love story about a guy who is still in love with his wife.” – Matt Damon

Matt Damon and Colin Ford (Photo Courtesy of Neal Preston/20th Century Fox)

“I am the playfully sarcastic voice of reason and skepticism.”  – Thomas Haden Church, who plays Damon’s accountant brother, Duncan.

But We Bought a Zoo felt like the right movie at the right time. “The size of this was great.” “I love those rich movies where every character feels like you could veer off and do a movie just with them.” – Cameron Crowe

Scarlett Johansson and Maggie Jones (Photo Courtesy of Neal Preston/20th Century Fox)

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Aug 2, 2011

Sigur Rós Frontman Jónsi Scoring We Bought A Zoo

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It’s official! Sigur Rós lead singer/guitarist, Jónsi (Jón Þór Birgisson) is composing the score for We Bought A Zoo.  Here’s Cameron on the choice:

“Jónsi has been a part of the making of We Bought A Zoo from the very beginning, as we played his Go album often for inspiration and scene-setting for the performances.  It seemed only natural to ask him to join us officially, as our composer.  He said yes, and we’ve been cheering our good forture ever since.  The movie is brimming with his new music, and his one-of-a-kind sonic heartbeat.  He’s a natural at film composing, and we can’t wait to share it with you in the coming months.”

What do you think about the news? Are you surprised? Share your thoughts.


Filed under News
Aug 1, 2011

Highlights: PBS PJ20 Press Conference

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PBS TCA Press Conference. Photo Credit: Rahoul Ghose/PBS.

Cameron did a Q & A today as part of the Television Critics Association Press Event in Hollywood, CA. If you don’t mind spoilers, then you can find transcripts around the net. We are going to stay pretty spoiler free here, but I will share a few choice quotes from the event:

  • On the band’s reaction: “We showed [the film] to them in October and you could more than hear a pin drop,” laughed Crowe. “It was like all the oxygen disappeared from the room.”
  • Finally, said Crowe, one of the band members’ wives broke the silence: “It’s f—ing great! I wouldn’t touch a frame!” We went back to Kelly Curtis’ house and had a group discussion about the film and about their entire history. Amazing. Wish we’d filmed that too . . . they thanked us for holding a mirror up to their band. It was an emotional night.”
  • On PJ20: “It get’s under their skin a little bit. But if everything was perfect it would be like an EPK [electronic press kit]. If you rip the scab off a little bit and make people a little uncomfortable, you’re going to get something unique. I want to ask the stuff that a fan given a front row seat would ask, but be tough when I need to be tough.”
  •  “Nobody dies. Nobody O.D.’s.,” Crowe said of Pearl Jam’s evolution. That was a challenge in telling the band’s story. “How do you get from that early angst to this state of grace?”
  •  “We have a lot of extra pieces on the DVD. Some of it is about the band’s political history.”
  • Favorite Songs?: “I love Release,” “Rearviewmirror” and acoustic stuff like “Thumbing My Way.”  “If you’re a fan you know that your favorite song one year is then a different song in another year. That’s the great thing about a band with a lot of songs.”
  •  “They never stopped caring, even if you weren’t there,” Crowe says of the band’s efforts during their less commercially-successful periods.
  • Does he feel the band is still making significant music? “I do. You listen to a song like ‘The End’… and you can feel it. It’s real and it’s passionate.” “They continue to be worthy of our attention in a very rare and wonderful way.”
  • His goal with the film: “I wanted the whole movie to be like a box of collectibles you open years later.”

 

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Jul 31, 2011

Pearl Jam: Five Against The World

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As you know, it’s been a very active week with all the PJ20 news. I thought it might be a good time to revisit Cameron’s Rolling Stone cover story on the band from October, 1993 entitled “Five Against The World. The article focuses on the band’s turbulent year dealing with sudden fame, the recording of their 2nd album Vs. and much more.

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Jul 29, 2011

Pearl Jam Twenty – World Premiere at TIFF + Trailer!

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That’s right. Pearl Jam Twenty will have its world premiere at the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF lists the final running time at 120 minutes, but that’s not confirmed as of yet. Also, in addition to the previously announced Neil Young and Chris Cornell interviews, it seems that Kurt Cobain interview footage will also be present the film. It sounds like a great time to be in Toronto as Pearl Jam will be playing back to back concerts at the Air Canada Centre on September 11th and 12th.

Would you like to see the trailer too? Here you go. The trailer, screening info and much more can be found at PJ20.com

 

Filed under News
Jul 26, 2011

Inquire Within: Missing “Mandalay Again”?

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Welcome to another edition of Inquire Within… Through your submissions, Cameron will answer your questions in his own words. The goal is to have a new question and answer posting every week or two leading up to the releases of Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall and The Union early next year.

James Clark: Like your good-self, I am a huge Elton John fan and cannot wait to see your new documentary The Union.  I’m so grateful to you for giving fans like myself an opportunity to see Elton (and Leon) doing ‘their thing’ in the studio. Why was “Mandalay Again” left off the main release?  It’s such a beautiful song I actually think it’s one of Elton and Bernie’s best… ever!  I’m assuming here that you were privy to the conversations that lead to it being left off the album and was hoping that you may be able to shed some light.  I’d also love to hear your thoughts on the song.

Cameron: Like all of us who worked on the film, we loved “Mandalay Again.” LOVED the song.  It was a surprise to us when Elton John decided that it didn’t quite fit in the specific tone of The Union.  I think his reason was that it was a little too much in the “classic” vein of Bernie and Elton’s later work, and maybe not necessarily representative of the Union sessions as a whole.  Glad he decided to release it as part of the deluxe edition of the album.  We also loved the demos for many of the “Union” songs, and use “Never Too Old” in demo form quite liberally in the finished film.  Nice question.  To paraphrase Steely Dan, only a true fan could ask that.

The Union doc debuts on HBO in January.

Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…

 

Filed under News
Jul 25, 2011

  • Almost Famous- Paramount+, AMC+

  • David Crosby: Remember My Name- Starz

  • Elizabethtown- FUBO

  • Say Anything...- Disney+, Hulu, AMC+

  • Vanilla Sky- Paramount+,Showtime

  • We Bought A Zoo- Disney+, Roku