charming and sparky on call — let’s go
with a real kid.” So we shot three weeks
with this kid and he was diminishing
returns, Shawn, he was sagging. Then one
late night, we were shooting the two-shot
of Tom on the couch with the kid, and he
just lost all energy. I asked him to do one
more take. He looked up and said, “I
don’t want to be here.” And it was the
fucking most real line reading I’d ever
heard. Everybody looked at each other
and I said, “It’s a wrap.” We had a huddle
with the producers and said, “We’ve got
to find somebody else over the weekend.”
So Gail Levin, the casting director, and
Laurence Mark, one of the producers,
said, “It’s going to be a tireless weekend,
nobody will sleep, we’re going to throw
the net out.” Monday morning, they had
one kid and he’s Jonathan Lipnicki. He
goes, “I love Tom Cruise! He’s been my
favourite actor since I was a little kid!”
He’s eight! He goes in the trailer to meet
Tom and the first thing he does is give
him the Maverick thumbs up. And the
two of them were off and running and
doing the scene. I said, “Oh my God,
Gail, thank you. What has he done
before this?” Gail said, “Only one thing:
a McDonald’s commercial.” When
you’re wrong, you’re wrong!
Levy: You’ve had repeated mega-
successes, a bunch in a row, and then
you have one that misses. How have
you dealt with that?
Crowe: I love that you asked that, because
I’ve felt very fortunate. I got to watch
Billy Wilder in the latter part of his career
and talk with him about all this. This is
a dude with the best batting average you
can imagine. A lot of out-of-the-park,
amazing stuff. Some stuff didn’t go out of
the park until later, and that happens
sometimes. Look at [Jean Renoir’s] Rules
Of The Game... Loathed in its day, now
a Criterion masterpiece. He said, “It’s
terrible when you have this picture that
does not work. Here’s how you deal with
it: you do another one! You come back,
you do more, you do this thing that we
love.” I’ve always felt that way. I’ve always
felt there’s an X–factor that can break
your way and you can find a Jonathan
Lipnicki, or you can have a movie that
was your wildest dream in your head and
things don’t always line up properly. But
if you lose your curiosity, you’re done.
You’ve got to nurture the joy of
filmmaking. Wilder said this: you’re
always one great idea away from your best
fucking work. Be curious.DAVID CROSBY: REMEMBER MY NAME,
PRODUCED BY CAMERON CROWE, IS OUT
LATER THIS YEAR. STRANGER THINGS:
SEASON 3, PRODUCED BY SHAWN LEVY, IS ON
NETFLIX NOWan editor that said, “Yeah, your scenes
have all got to be great and then you add
the music.” I always thought that’s a valid
point of view, but what if the music is
a part of it? What if the character’s
created because you want a guy who
would listen to that Tom Petty song
and stick with it? What if it’s reverse-
engineered? That started to really
unlock stuff for me.
Levy: Honestly, it’s not even a cheat with
you, because your scenes are working
before you’ve even cast it. The writing
is at a level where every scene has
a purpose. It just feels very intentional.
Crowe: Thanks, man. But I can tell you
that not everybody got that script. There
were people that didn’t get it, who said,
“You can’t make a movie where the guy
gets married at the beginning of the third
act. It makes no sense!” Fair enough.
People have structural ideas, and I do too.
Jerry didn’t want to be alone. So he will
get married to avoid being alone. Not
because it’s the pinnacle of the romantic-
comedy story. It’s one of the pinnacles of
his desperation story.
Levy: With the last scene — which is the
pay-off of the actual love story — how
many takes did you do?
Crowe: I don’t know. Like, five? We
re-shot it, because it didn’t work.
Levy: Why?
Crowe: It’s sort of interesting. People
understand the movie better now, but
when it first came out, there was a little
group of people that were, like, “Oh, they
walk off into the sunset together...” And
they really don’t! We’re not quite sure he’s
in love with her. Really...
Levy: I need to stop right now because
you are on a road to breaking my heart.
Crowe: No, I’m not going to break your
heart. But I am going to say that Cuba’s
character could get decimated the next
week and Jerry has no other clients. So
really, he’s still hanging by the skin of his
teeth, hoping that love is still going to be
the answer.
Levy: I feel like you’ve told this story
more times than you want to, but as I
recall reading about it, Jonathan Lipnicki
was not originally cast in that part. You
shot some of the movie with another kid.
Crowe: Three weeks, yeah. We ended
up reshooting all the scenes with the
first actor, who was a really sweet guy.
I think there’s one wide shot that we
couldn’t reshoot, so we turned him
into a potted plant.
Levy: I’m definitely going to search for
that shot!
Crowe: He was a hell of a potted plant!
A great kid. He was from Seattle and he
was a sad kid and reminded me of people
I knew. I thought, “Let’s not go with the
McDonald’s kid, who knows how to beClockwise from top
left: Dorothy (Zellweger)
completes him; Props
and promo materials
in Crowe’s office, and,
below, the directors
settle in; Cruise and
Lipnicki (as Ray)
instantly hit it off; The
A-team mean business;
Under the veneer, Jerry
is desperate; Rod, as
Ray observes, talking
too much...ALAMY, ARENAPAL