Here’s a very rare early piece that Cameron did with the Eagles for Zoo World magazine. This July, 1973 interview is just with singer/songwriter/guitarist Glenn Frey and focuses on the recent success of the band. Topics include their latest album Desperado, touring, working with Jackson Browne and J.D. Souther. Enjoy!
The Crowe’s Nest is a new feature that will collect random tidbits, etc. in one blog post. So without further adieu, let’s get started:
There’s some real nice symmetry between Cameron’s Top 10 Greatest Movies (as he voted for Empire magazine’s 500 Greatest Films of All Time) from November, 2008 and his 10 Essential Films for a Stormy Night from a November, 2005 Elizabethtown cover story in Paste magazine. Please, check out both lists, but more importantly, you really need to see all these films if you haven’t already…
A new addition today as Cameron visits Carole King and her new band (at the time) Navarro in mid-1977 for a Rolling Stone. Carole rarely did press, but Cameron is able to grab a few quotes. The article focuses on Boulder, CO based band Navarro, their history and how they hooked up with Carole. Enjoy!
A new addition to the site is Cameron’s liner notes introduction for the Paul McCartney The Space Within US DVD, Blu-ray and CD. It’s a great concert by Sir Paul, so do yourself a favor and seek it out on the format of your choice.
I’ve received the same question (many, many times) over the years surrounding Cameron’s first novel, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and its availability. As you know, the book has been out of print for a number of years and is currently fetching big bucks on eBay, Amazon and other places. Who owns the rights? Will it ever be re-released? What does Cameron think? Here’s the skinny:
I asked Cameron if the book would ever be put back in print during an exclusive career encompassing interview (Who the Hell is Ricky Fedora?) back in 2002. Here’s what he said:
“I think so. The rights reverted to me a while ago. If I do re-publish it, I’d probably want to write a new introduction… but frankly, we never did a sequel and I’ve never re-published the book because I like the fact that Fast Times at Ridgemont High lives in its own era. It’s sort of a dog-eared memory. I like that. I was reluctant to even do the enhanced DVD, but it was so much fun to sit down with Amy Heckerling again. In a lot of ways, that book is probably the favorite thing I’ve written. It was the first time I’d fully shut the world out, and written something that wasn’t for an editor, or for anybody other than my friends and me. I really related to Brad. The pain and awkwardness of sex, love and friendship. The goal was to write something that was as aching as that time of life was for me (and others), but also funny. It was kind of a Holden Caulfield time. My girlfriend had dumped me, and I went down to San Diego and fell in with a whole new crowd. They were wonderful people. I’m still in touch was a few of them. When people say, ‘I got a beat up copy of that book, it’s really good’. It means a lot to me. For a long time, people didn’t even know the book existed or they would say, “Did you know some guy wrote a book from your movie?’ [laughs]”
So there you go. For now, keep looking at your local book stores, thrift shops, etc. You just might come across a copy and for a decent price! I’ll keep you posted on a future plans to put the book back in print…
Great news today as Cameron’s documentary The Union about Elton John and Leon Russell’s recently collaboration will open the 10th annual Tribeca Film Festival on April 20th. It will be a free, outdoor screening at the World Financial Plaza, along with a live performance by Elton John. I expect Cameron will be in attendance as well. Here’s the relevant quotes announcing the world premiere:
“It’s a special opportunity to open our 10th festival in this distinct and unique way,” said festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal. “Not only are we inviting the community to join us for the world premiere of Cameron Crowe’s film The Union, but to have Elton, whose music transcends generations, perform after is an extraordinary gift to our festival and more specifically the downtown community.”
Crowe’s film entails a rare look at the writing and recording of John’s most recent album last year with collaborator Leon Russell and producer T Bone Burnett. Bernie Taupin, Neil Young, Brian Wilson, Booker T. Jones, Stevie Nicks and Don Was appear in the documentary.
“As a longtime fan of both artists, it was a pleasure to spend a year filming their collaboration,” said Crowe. “We can’t wait to show it to one of the greatest audiences in the world, the Tribeca Film Festival.”
A great new NPR article/podcast about film locations scouts came out recently. You read the entire piece here, but I’ve included the relevant We Bought a Zoo quotes with location manager Chris Baugh and Cameron Crowe below. Furthermore, you can listen to the NPR audio for the story here.
Near Hollywood, some other streets have been closed in recent weeks for a film called We Bought a Zoo. Director Cameron Crowe was filming in the neighborhood of Los Feliz.
“Yesterday I came in angry,” says local resident Kerry Sutkin. But it didn’t last. “Matt Damon kept walking by.”
Four-legged neighbors? Gotta think of them, too. Miles from Los Feliz, on a 450-acre ranch in Thousand Oaks, location manager Chris Baugh is overseeing the creation of that same film’s zoo — made from scratch just for the movie. There are horses pastured nearby, and while everything seems bucolic and calm at the moment, that could change: Tigers will eventually populate the zoo set.
“Wait till we bring in the big cats,” Baugh says.
Plus, there will be a lot of other creatures on the film — flamingos, llamas, monkeys and the bear. For a six-week shoot, Baugh will also have to provide facilities for the care, feeding and safety of a tamer group (one hopes): the cast and crew.
It must be tempting to throw up your hands, say it’s too difficult, opt to build the zoo on a sound stage instead. But that’s not an option for a location scout.
“We’re not allowed to say no; we have to make it work. So we find a way,” Baugh says.
At a small corner restaurant back in Los Feliz, shooting has begun for the Matt Damon movieWe Bought a Zoo. Location manager Chris Baugh, who was working before on the zoo construction at the ranch, comes to Los Feliz to solve a few problems on the neighborhood set. One question comes from the best boy grip, who wants to know where on the location he can park his car.
It’s little things like that that fill up a location manager’s day. Baugh says it’s like throwing a full-blown wedding for 200 people — in a different place every day for 50 days. Except that at these weddings, commandos drop onto the roof some days, or a machine gun fight begins. And then there’s a tidal wave.
When problems crop up, Baugh says, the cry goes up: ” ‘Get me location, get me locations, where the hell is locations?’ And you have to solve everything.”
Director Cameron Crowe says it’s all worth it, if it helps an actor like Damon.
“What was great was being able to bring him to these places and say, ‘This is what we found.’ And he immediately said, ‘I feel the movie here. I can play this character,’ ” Crowe says.
For Crowe, the long, hard work of location scouting — and set designing, lighting, cinematography, performing, directing, all of it — is most successful when it disappears.
“The movie should make it all feel invisible,” he says. “The movie should make it feel like you’re just viewing somebody living a life. To be living a life on screen, they have to feel like that’s their house, this is where they were born. [They have to be] comfortable enough to make you believe it.”
