Cameron personally invited everyone in the U.S. to attend the We Bought A Zoo screenings this past Saturday, November 26th via this special Tout video message. After you see the film, you are encouraged to share your “20 seconds of courage” video via Tout .
Update: Share your thoughts. What did you think of the film?
Cameron will be the guest on Pearl Jam Radio this holiday weekend discussing all things Pearl Jam Twenty. You must have Sirus/XM to listen to it live. But fear not, it will show up on iTunes a few days later. Here’s the summary of what to expect.
Inside Pearl Jam Twenty: A Conversation with Cameron Crowe
Fri. 11/25 12pm ET Rebroadcast: Sat. 11/26 9 am ET, Sat 11/26 6 pm ET, Sun 11/27 12 pm ET, Sun 11/27 9 pm ET, Monday 11/28 6 pm ET
Pearl Jam Radio presents an in-depth look at the band’s year-long 20th anniversary celebrations with acclaimed director, filmmaker and longtime friend of the band Cameron Crowe. Hosted by Pearl Jam Radio’s The Rob, this exclusive special features an intimate conversation with Crowe about his new Pearl Jam documentary PJ20, the creation of the film’s accompanying soundtrack, and Crowe’s overall thoughts on the band’s influence and legacy. Plus, hear Pearl Jam music hand-selected by Crowe himself. (1 hr, 10 min)
Welcome to another edition of Inquire Within… Through your submissions, Cameron will answer your questions in his own words.
The Uncool: Tell us about your writing habits. How often do you write?
Cameron: I write every day. I listen to music every day. It’s kind of like keeping a creative radio-station tuned in. Life is always sending you a new playlist and I like to write down what’s coming in.
A typical day at the office! (Not really, just the set of Vanilla Sky)
Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…
NPR premiered the brand new song from We Bought A Zoo entitled “Gathering Stories”. The song is a collaboration from both Jónsi and Cameron. Have a listen, we hope you like it.Here’s Cameron discussing how Jónsi and his music inspired the film and how he ultimately became involved. These are part of the liner notes for the soundtrack which will be released on December 13th. (Amazon.com or iTunes)
Both with Sigur Rós, and in his solo work, Jónsi has always made music that captured the human adventure. Early on, it was obvious that this music would have a profound effect on the making of “We Bought A Zoo.” In preparation for making the movie, we gave all the actors and crew members a copy of Sigur Rós transcendent documentary, “Heima,” (Icelandic for “home”). We all watched the film and listened to the music, and it quickly seeped into our own journey in filming the real-life story of Benjamin Mee’s book. The actors listened to the music during their takes; it was immediately part of the film’s DNA. Even the signs guiding our crew members to the set revealed our inspiration “Heima.” During filming, I sent Jónsi a photo of one of the signs. He wrote back with characteristic enthusiasm. On our last day of shooting in April, I contacted Jónsi again and asked him if he was interested in scoring the film. I sent him a copy of the script, and a Quicktime of one of the scenes. The story affected him. He’d already begun composing new music for the film when he arrived from Iceland with his toy sampler keyboard and a headful of ideas.
His first theme for the movie fit perfectly. Within a week, Jónsi had composed a series of themes that would reflect everything we’d hoped for. In his music were all the highs and lows and passionate in-betweens of the film itself. Over the course of several visits to Los Angeles, Jónsi sculpted and orchestrated a soundscape with elements I’d never had in a movie before: bells, strings, cymbals, toy pianos, even melodies played through a small Dictaphone. The instinct that began the movie had come full circle. On a warm fall night in October, we finished. The e-mail he sent last night before boarding the plane back to his home in Iceland says it all: “It was such a blast.” And so it was. Here, with thanks from an inspired director, and special gratitude to Alex Somers, who helped shine it through a prism of love and wonder, is Jónsi’s first score for film. This is his music for “We Bought A Zoo.”
Cameron Crowe
October 2011
Cameron and the members of Pearl Jam shared their favorite rock documentaries with Reuters as part of the Pearl Jam Twenty press at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September. Here’s their picks:
Cameron Crowe
Can I do two? Okay, Gimme Shelter and Don’t Look Back. Gimme Shelter, because it’s just amazing, on-the-fly film-making and Don’t Look Back because it just captures the white-hot heat of somebody like Bob Dylan, who’s exploding and there are cameras and microphones everywhere.
Eddie Vedder
The Kids are Alright and Last Waltz. It reminded of the time I got caught smoking pot and got grounded for a week in the summer. And it wasn’t that bad, because all I did was listen to Last Waltz for 18 hours a day.
Matt Cameron
I saw Jimi plays Berkley and Jimi Hendrix (film). Those two films kind of blew my mind as a teen. And I also remember watching Freddie and his friends, about Freddie Mercury’s home life. It had nothing to do with the band Queen, just how Mercury was as a person. It was mind-blowingly cool.
Jeff Ament
There was a documentary that came out three or four years ago called American Hardcore. That was sort of the music that I learned to play and to see the footage of some of the Detroit bands and the Boston bands was pretty amazing.
Stone Gossard
Spinal Tap has got to be in there too. It really is something that affected me hugely.
Mike McCready
I would say one life changing film was Woodstock. My first concept of a rock singer ever was probably Roger Daltrey at Woodstock doing his thing. And Hendrix, of course his version of The Star Spangled Banner was the one that went into my soul and I grabbed it, grabbed it and I ran with it.
Please chime in! What are your favorite rock documentaries?
Now that most of you have seen Pearl Jam Twenty, I thought it was a good time to share the Toronto International Film Festival press conference with you. This footage is courtesy of Now magazine. My videos didn’t turn out nearly this good. I’ve also transcribed the press conference, if you’d like to read it, you can here.
Pearl Jam Twenty is now available for your viewing (or repeated viewing pleasure). To celebrate, there’s a couple of performance clips (from The Kids Are Twenty) out today too. “Last Exit” (above, courtesy of The Wall Street Journal) and “Not For You”, (exclusively over at IMDB.com). In North America, you can pick it up Pearl Jam Twenty and The Kids Are Twenty in the following ways:
Photo by Neal Preston
Today is legendary rocker, Tom Petty’s birthday. He is 61 years young. His history with Cameron is a long and fruitful one. In addition to the Heartbreakers Beach Party MTV special, there’s been a numerous journalism pieces and Petty’s contributions to soundtracks such as Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Jerry Maguire and Elizabethtown. Here’s a few to articles to peruse. Happy Birthday Tom!
