Writer/director Cameron Crowe defies simple categorizing. Go ahead and try to find a common theme between "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982), "Jerry Maguire" (1996), and "Almost Famous" (2000). The only unifying theme, in fact, seems to be the quality of filmmaking. Probably best known for "Jerry Maguire," "Almost Famous" cemented Crowe's status as one of Hollywood's most interesting and renowned directors. "Elizabethtown," a homecoming story (appropriate for Tufts, no?) about a young man (Orlando Bloom) who falls in love with a stewardess (Kirsten Dunst), opens Friday. Earlier this week, the Daily talked to Crowe about the upcoming film, his career and Cameron Diaz.
Question: Your love and deep appreciation for music is apparent in all your films, but you gave up a career as a rock journalist in favor of screen writing and directing. Given this, how do you view music in film?
Cameron Crowe: I just have to say that loving music is constantly surprising and viable to me as kind of a background for making movies because when you can match the right piece of music with the right piece of film, both get stronger.
You also don't want to overuse or lean on music too much. It is a finicky kind of relationship that music and film have. But like some people that went to film school or grew up learning editing as a background, I sort of grew up loving music, and used it as I entered film making. Music in "Elizabethtown" sort of serves as the voice of the deceased father, particularly the Elton John song "My Father's Gun." So there are many gifts that music can give to a film.
Q: In the film, Claire [Kirsten Dunst], when she meets Drew [Orlando Bloom] on the plane, she is speaking about what she believes names mean - the name Ben is predictable and that she has never met an Ellen she liked. What would you say about your name? What would you say that a Cameron would be described as?
CC: Hopefully somebody that... I don't know. The only other Cameron that I really met is Cameron Diaz. She seemed really different from me... [Laughter]
Q: What inspires you to do the movies you do and were there any personal experiences that you put into your film - besides "Almost Famous," obviously?
CC: Yes. I mean this movie, "Elizabethtown," is a tribute to my dad. It is somewhat of a love letter to his home state, Kentucky, and that came from personal experience in knowing how much that was a part of our family heritage.
Lloyd Dobler in [1989's] "Say Anything" is a completely fictional character. I think I grew up having girlfriends that I could be really honest with and they would be honest with me, but that is sort of a fictional character, whereas William Miller in "Almost Famous" is pretty close to my own experience. So it changes, but generally the stuff that comes from your heart is the stuff that other people find most universally true for them too, I am happy to say.
Q: "Jerry McGuire" and "Almost Famous," are centered around young men who overcome odds of being too sensitive for the world in which they live. Eventually they use their exceptional characteristics for their own strength.
CC: Not the next one. [Laughter]
Q: How does this film fit into that idea?
CC: I look at it more as a revisit to a character that is trying to be a warrior for optimism in a sometimes brutal and often cynical world. I just think that is a hero now, particularly now because it is often pretty dark out there. But life is about embracing both sides and pushing through to be a warrior for that.
Q: People are trying to compare "Garden State" with "Elizabethtown." How do you feel about that?
CC: I think the world is big enough for two movies about loss and a journey back home for a funeral. Especially two movies as different as these. I later met [Garden State's director] Zach Braff and had a great talk with him. He thought the same thing - the movies are really different. He is a great guy. He said, "You know, you should use the Shins in your movie." I was like no, I think you got the copyright on the Shins. [Laughter] Though I have been playing the Shins on the set of "Elizabethtown." That was the biggest similarity I saw, that we both like the Shins - but that's his territory now.
The thing about Zach's movie and our movie is I know they are not easy to get made. It is much easier to make a heist movie or a slasher movie. Those are easier to sell and market and all that stuff. You really have to fight to make a movie like "Elizabethtown." Once you get a chance to make it, then it is about making it right and casting it right and getting all the details right. Then it becomes really fun.
Q: Your dialogue is amazing. You said you were always entranced by people talking. So is that where you draw a lot of your inspiration, from your own conversions? Or from conversations you wish you had?
CC: Really conversations I wish I had. Or sometimes you hear things in life.
I mean remember as early as 1982 when I was researching Fast Times [at Ridgemont High], I overheard this conversation where the girl said to her boyfriend, "I don't want to use sex as a tool." I just thought that was so funny and I built a whole scene in the book around it and then it ended up in the movie too. I thought it cannot be real life - the way people really talk is often as poetic or more poetic than the things that you make up. So that is being a fan of real life, kind of what influences that. Keep a notebook, you know? It is so good to just write things down as you overhear them or you might hear yourself say something and go, "Wow, I just said that. That might be good for the scene I want to write."
