© DR - ALMOST FAMOUS de Cameron Crowe (2000) p5 par tellurikwaves blog (75 Paris)

The film is director Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical account of life as a young Rolling Stone reporter. The actual group Crowe first toured with was The Allman Brothers Band. Gregg Allman distrusted him, and kept asking if he was a narc. Crowe was in a near-fatal plane crash while traveling with The Who. The character of Russell Hammond is based on Glenn Frey of Eagles.

Penny Lane asks William if he'd like to go to Morocco with her. He says, "Yes... ask me again." According to Cameron Crowe, "ask me again" was Patrick Fugit stepping out of character and asking Kate Hudson to repeat her lines for another take. Crowe liked the take as-is and kept it in the final cut.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's schedule only permitted him to be on set for four days. He had the flu the whole time.

Most films have music budgets of less than $1.5 million. This film featured over 50 songs, with a music budget of $3.5 million.

When Cameron Crowe's mother appeared on the set for a cameo, Crowe made every effort to keep her away from Frances McDormand, who was playing a character based on her, so McDormand's interpretation of the part wouldn't be swayed. When he left the set for a few minutes on the first day of shooting, he returned to find McDormand and his mother having lunch together.

To look like a real rock band, the four actors in Stillwater rehearsed for four hours a night, five nights a week, for six weeks.

Stillwater's songs were written by Peter Frampton (who also had a small part in the film), Cameron Crowe, and his wife Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart, a fact indicated early in the credits. The music acknowledgments credit Russell Hammond and Stillwater as if they were real authors and performers.

When Frances McDormand's character reprimands Billy Crudup's character over the phone, Cudrup was actually was on the other end of the line.

Cameron Crowe's character is pulled into the pre-performance huddle. The scene is based on an occasion when Eddie Vedder pulled Crowe into Pearl Jam's huddle before performing one of their Lollapalooza shows.

There actually was a band called Stillwater in the 70s though the band depicted here is not them. They agreed to the use of their name after reading the script.

The legal disclaimer at the end of the film (which, for most films, merely states that all characters and events are fictional, with any real-life similarities being coincidence), notes that the character of Penny Lane was "loosely based" on a real individual. Cameron Crowe has stated that Penny Lane is based on his real-life friend, Pennie Trumble, who goes by the name "Pennie Lane". She lives in Portland, Oregon, and is involved in the music industry.

Cameron Crowe says he got Billy Crudup's line, "Well, yeah, on my better days, I am Russell from Stillwater," directly from John Cusack's response to a girl in a bar who asked, "Aren't you Lloyd Dobler?", his character in Un monde pour nous (1989).

According to Cameron Crowe, he sent the script around town to see if he could get anyone to respond to it. Steven Spielberg, founder of Dreamworks, read Crowe's 172-page script over the weekend and called Crowe on Monday saying, "Direct every word". Crowe said he filmed almost all of the script.

Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready provided the guitar track for Stillwater's songs.

When the tour plane hits turbulence, Russell starts to sing "Peggy Sue", a reference to Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash while on tour. Russell then continues "Whoa baby!", a reference to The Big Bopper, who died in the same crash.

The roles of Russell Hammond and Penny Lane were originally written for Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley respectively. Polley dropped out to work on her own project, the low-budget Canadian movie The Law of Enclosures (2000). According to Crowe, Pitt worked with Crowe for months before finally admitting, "I just don't get it enough to do it." Kate Hudson was originally cast as William's sister.

The old records William looks through at the beginning are actually Cameron Crowe's, saved from his younger years.

At the party, Russell Hammond cries out, "I am a golden god!" when he is on acid. That is a reference to Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, who is purported to have said the same thing (sober) while looking over Sunset Strip from a hotel balcony.

CINEMA :Les blessures narcissiques d'une vie par procuration

© DR - ALMOST FAMOUS de Cameron Crowe (2000) p5