Tag Archives: We Bought a Zoo

USA Today Profiles We Bought A Zoo

Comments Off

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)

Filed under News

Aug 2, 2011

Sigur Rós Frontman Jónsi Scoring We Bought A Zoo

Comments Off

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

Exclusive: Cameron On Music – PJ20, We Bought A Zoo & More

Comments Off

I’m very excited to share a recent interview that I conducted with Cameron on all things music entitled “Music Matters”. We chatted about a variety of musical topics including Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Todd Rundgren, Led Zeppelin, the best guitarists he’s seen live and much more. Then the questions turned to the musical aspects of both Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought A Zoo. Another in-depth interview will occur this Fall and cover more specifics around the films, but today’s interview is all about the music…

Filed under News

Jul 19, 2011

Inquire Within: Zoo Homework

Comments Off

We are back with 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 The Union, Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall.

The Uncool: What films were required viewing this time around for your cast and crew before you started filming We Bought a Zoo?

Cameron: Local Hero and the Sigur Ros documentary Heima. Both had a warmth and a feeling of getting lost in another world, a place you might never want to leave. At this point, I’ve ordered so many copies of these two films, if Amazon had a button that just said — “AGAIN” — I would press it.

Fun Fact: Heima was even used on the signs to guide people to the set of We Bought a Zoo!

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

Filed under News

Jun 11, 2011

Inquire Within: Zoo Origins

Comments Off

Today is the debut of a new feature entitled 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 few weeks leading up to the releases of The Union, Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall. I’ll kick it off with a question around We Bought a Zoo and how it came to his attention.

The Uncool: How did We Bought A Zoo come to your attention?

Cameron: We Bought A Zoo came to us from Fox Studios, and producer Julie Yorn. It was immediately interesting, a true story that really stayed with me. I loved the book. There was also a wonderful script by Aline Brosh McKenna and a documentary that the BBC produced on Benjamin Mee’s story. It was rich with characters and had a strong beating heart in the tale of Benjamin and his family’s quest to bring the Dartmoor Zoo back to life. Gail Levin (our longtime casting director) also read all the materials and said “let’s have a blast.” Which we did. So happy to have had a chance to work with these actors, each one different and each one so committed. It’s the kind of movie that they say doesn’t get made much anymore – a big story without a lot of fancy fireworks. Just strong actors, a great cinematographer in Rodrigo Prieto, and a chance to tell a human story with every emotion built into it. I could have never written this out of thin air – it all happened to Benjamin Mee – but I related so much to his journey. I felt like it was my job to bring it to life. I told Clay Griffith, my friend and production designer, “get ready to build a zoo.” And so it began…

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

Filed under News

Jun 1, 2011

Dylan’s 70th Birthday Celebration

Comments Off

That’s right. Today is Bob Dylan’s 70th Birthday. Cameron has covered Dylan over the years including this 1978 Rolling Stone piece on his Universal Amphitheatre concerts and his massive liner notes for the box set, Biograph (sorry, I still haven’t transcribed that yet..it’s a beast!).

You don’t want to miss the recent Rolling Stone issue dedicated to Bawb. It covers “The 70 Greatest Dylan Songs”, “20 Overlooked Classics”, “My Favorite Dylan Song”, Photos, Bootlegs, his first Rolling Stone interview and much more. Cameron participated by talking about #60 on the list of Greatest Dylan songs, “Buckets of Rain”. A fitting choice as I heard that song was played quite a bit on the set of We Bought a Zoo. Here’s what he wrote:

#60 – “Buckets of Rain” – Blood on the Tracks (1975)

ONE OF THE GREAT GIFTS BOB DYLAN HAS IS TO slip a grace note into an album, something that doesn’t cry out to be noticed, but is unforgettable. To me, that’s “Buckets of Rain,” the perfect grace note for Blood on the Tracks: melancholy, loping and bittersweet. It’s sly and unpretentious, but has huge power. Any room I’ve ever played it in has changed as a result.

The one little thing in the corner of an album, a movie or any piece of writing can be the most important element of all. The quiet little song makes Blood on the Tracks complete, and one of his greatest albums.

Dylan was in a middle period when he wrote it. I heard he went back to Minnesota and was living on a farm. He had a notebook, and the lyrics of Blood on the Tracks were honed in that period. He was going to get personal. It was going to hurt to hear, but it was going to be revelatory. It turned out to be the confessional Dylan album that people had been craving for a long time, and he hasn’t really gone back there since. He put up a lot of roadblocks and disinformation about it, but Blood on the Tracks is his Blue – his confessional album about relationships. I can’t think of it without “Buckets of Rain.” Dylan’s stuff continues to inform every generation – it just lives and lives, and a song like “Buckets of Rain” breathes with a simple truth about real life. After a blistering heartache comes a soothing rain.

Cameron Crowe

May, 2011

Filed under News

May 24, 2011

2 Exclusive Zoo Photos From Cameron

Comments Off

Cameron sent over these two exclusive photos that we he took on the set of We Bought a Zoo. Please say hello to Crystal, the capuchin monkey (who’s gotten more press lately than most folks out there) and John Michael Higgins taking a break in-between set-ups. As always, you can read Cameron’s thoughts on each pic, by simply clicking on the picture. I’ve seen Cameron’s pictures reported on other sites as movie stills. This is not the case, these are pictures that Cameron personally took during the filming of Zoo.

Filed under News

May 6, 2011

Cameron Joins Social Media & Shares Exclusive Zoo/PJ20 Photos

Comments Off

That’s right everyone. Cameron has joined the ranks of social media. You will be able to see his exclusive pictures and thoughts via Twitter or Facebook. I’ve embedded the first images here (simply hover over the picture to read Cameron’s thoughts on that pic) and will be creating a real time link on the site in the coming days.

Filed under News

May 4, 2011

← Older posts

Newer posts →

Tag Archives: We Bought a Zoo

Tags