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Storyline
Almost Famous is an autobiographical inspired film about a 15-year-old who is hired by Rolling Stone magazine to follow and interview a rock band during their tour. A film about growing up, first love, disappointment, and the life of a rock star. |
Backdrops
The Director
 Cameron Crowe
Cameron Bruce Crowe (born July 13, 1957) is an American screenwriter and film director. Before moving into the film industry, Crowe was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, for which he still frequently writes.
Crowe has made his mark with character-driven, personal films that have been generally hailed as refreshingly original and devoid of cynicism. Michael Walker in The New York Times called Crowe "something of a cinematic spokesman for the post-baby boom generation" because his first few films focused on that specific age group, first as highers and then as young adults making their way in the world.
Crowe's debut screenwriting effort, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, grew out of a book he wrote while posing for one year undercover as a student at Clairemont High School in San Diego, California, where he met Geraldine Edwards, who was a student there, and who he later bas ed his Penny Lane character on in Almost Famous, when he discovered she was going backstage to rock and roll concerts. Later, he wrote and directed one more high school saga, Say Anything, and then Singles, a story of Seattle twentysomethings that was woven together by a soundtrack centering on that city's burgeoning grunge music scene. Crowe landed his biggest hit, though, with Jerry Maguire. After this, he was given a green light to go ahead with a pet project, the autobiographical effort Almost Famous. Centering on a teenage music journalist on tour with an up-and-coming band, it gave insight to his life as a 15-year-old writer for Rolling Stone. Crowe has stated that the Penny Lane character was based on his fellow San Diegan, Geraldine Edwards, who he met in 1975, as mentioned earlier. Part of the dialogue is also inspired by comments that were made by Bebe Buell in certain interviews. Also, in late 1999, Crowe released his second book, Conversations with Billy Wilder, a question and answer session with the legendary director.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Cameron Crowe, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
User Reviews
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Oscar Flashback: Almost Famous (2000)
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Next on my Netflix queue was Almost Famous, for which Cameron Crowe won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar and for which Frances McDormand and Kate Hudson were nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and Joe Hutshing and Saar Klein were nominated for the Best Film Editing Oscar (film year, 2000; awarding year, 2001). The other nominees in this category were:
Best Original Screenplay
Billy Elliot
Erin Brockovich *
Gladiator *
You Can Count On Me
Best Supporting Actress
Pollock - Marcia Gay Harden (Winner)
Chocolat - Judi Dench
Billy Elliot - Julie Walters
Best Film Editing
Traffic *
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon *
Gladiator *
Wonder Boys
This film represents the second of two films featuring Billy Crudup (of all people) that top my Netflix queue, just in case you were keeping track. This film further represents the first of two films written and directed by Cameron Crowe that also top the queue.
Almost Famous is another of those films that I have wanted to see since its release but have never really thought to or been able to do so until just a couple of weeks ago. Though I am a young-ish member of the Generation that is X, I seem to gravitate toward the 60s and 70s in my pop culture affinities, so a film about a young man who manages to snag a road trip, writing for Rolling Stone magazine about an up and coming (if fictional) '70s rock band, a story that is loosely based on Cameron Crowe's actual life experience doing the same for tours of Led Zeppelin and the Allmann Brothers Band (gasp), greatly appealed to me. Plus, I was intrigued by the character portrayed by Kate Hudson, for which she was not only nominated for an Oscar...
View full review
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reviewed by Pippin2010 (Filmaster.com) on the 1st of November 2010
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Protagonists are designed to be identified with, but there is something particularly familiar about the organic progression of Fugit's Miller overly genuine innocence that makes it a pleasure to follow. The supporting cast, Hoffman in particular, is fantastic, with brilliant character actors enlivening nearly every role, bringing a levity to the production that would not otherwise have been possible. Crowe clearly loves this awakening version of himself, his reverence is clear in every frame.