“Bradley Cooper & John Krasinski – Tracy & Woody’s house, Hickam Air Force Base, Honolulu – November 14, 2013”
Cameron has shared another behind the scenes picture that he took from the set of Untitled Hawaii. There will be many more over the coming weeks so stay tuned.
My original take on this scene was a loud, late night pronouncement from Lester Bangs. A call to arms. In Phil’s hands it became something different. A scene about quiet truths shared between two guys, both at the crossroads, both hurting, and both up too late. It became the soul of the movie. In between takes, Hoffman spoke to no one. He listened only to his headset, only to the words of Lester himself. (His Walkman was filled with rare Lester interviews.) When the scene was over, I realized that Hoffman had pulled off a magic trick. He’d leapt over the words and the script, and gone hunting for the soul and compassion of the private Lester, the one only a few of us had ever met. Suddenly the portrait was complete. The crew and I will always be grateful for that front row seat to his genius.
It’s hump day and we’ve got a new addition to the Journalism section. Here’s an interview Cameron did with Humble Pie’s Steve Marriott back in 1973 for the L.A. Times. We hope you like it.
No Upper-Crust Pretensions for Humble Pie’s Steve Marriott
With Humble Pie’s eight album “Eat It” riding high on international charts and its current worldwide tour doing SRO business every stop, Steve Marriott, the spirited English rock ‘n’ roll band’s lead-signer, song writer, guitarist and mastermind, is a man content.
Courtesy of Terry O’Neill – Getty Images
Cameron explores 20 songs with Elton John that encapsulate his legendary career in this Rolling Stone article from this past October.
Elton John: My Life in 20 Songs
Cameron Crowe explores Elton’s journey from Reginald Dwight to technicolored pop sensation to rehab and back
“You don’t mind if I play it loud, do you?”
It’s morning in Las Vegas, and sunlight fills the condo that serves as Elton John’s home during his latest run of shows at Caesars Palace, part of the residency known as “The Million Dollar Piano.” Wearing a white terry-cloth robe, he moves to the stereo system like an athlete, arms swinging crisply at his sides. Soon, he’s locked and loaded his latest album, The Diving Board. Many who’ve just spent the past year and a half working on arecording might then leave the room, allowing the listener his own experience. Not Elton John. He sits down on a small sofa in front of the speakers, closes his eyes and listens along with you. And yes, it’s loud.
Fast Times At Ridgemont High returns to the big screen at CineMark Theaters on Sunday, January 19th and Wednesday, January 22nd. This is in conjunction with their Classic Series with showings scheduled across the United States. Other films being screened include The Princess Bride, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Big, Groundhog Day and Sleepless in Seattle. Tickets and a list of theaters are available over at their site.
Courtesy of Henry Diltz.
Happy New Year everyone Today marks singer/songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire Stephen Stills’ 69th birthday. Cameron has interviewed and profiled Stephen quite a few times over the years with Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy and Creem magazines. Both as a solo artist and as part of Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young). Check them out below:
Cameron, Philip Seymour Hoffman & Patrick Fugit. Photo by Neal Preston.
In celebration of a recent screening of Almost Famous at the Alamo Drafthouse, Cameron spoke to Todd Gilchrist of Bad Ass Digest about the film. Here’s the interview:
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images
We’ve got a brand new Journalism addition to the site today as Cameron profiles the rock group Boston in this lengthy interview for Rolling Stone. Boston was on top of the world and dominating the charts and sales, but feeling the sting of being a critical after thought. Topics include the bands history and the pressure on founder/leader/perfectionist Tom Scholtz to deliver their sophomore album…
Boston: The Band From the Platinum Basement
THE PHONE RANG AT SIX IN THE morning, early in 1975.
Twenty-eight-year-old recordman Paul Ahern grumbled into the receiver: “Who the fuck is this? This better be good!’ “It’s McKenzie. You gotta hear this, PA….”
As employees in Warner-Elektra-Atlantic’s regional office several years earlier, Charlie McKenzie and Paul Ahern were the young lions of Boston-area promotion. McKenzie had the ear, Ahern the rap. They became buddies with all the jocks and, one golden month in 1972, broke Yes and the J. Geils Band and placed thirteen company singles and album cuts on the Top Thirty playlist of Bostons WRKO. They had dreamed of finding the band that would take them off the street and make them “the idle rich,” but their era passed. Ahern moved to L.A. for a better job with Asylum Records. McKenzie left WEA but continued to work for other record companies in Boston. And he hung on to the dream…. You gotta hear this,” he was saying that early morning” in ’75. “Local guy, Tom Scholz … the group has no name. The whole tape is like this!”
