THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2020 AR 7Film
The writer-director Cameron Crowe was al-
ready a beloved voice in cinema for high
school tales like “Fast Times at Ridgemont
High” and “Say Anything.” Then came “Al-
most Famous” (2000). Also a coming-of-age
story, it gave audiences a backstage pass to
the 1970s rock ’n’ roll scene and in the
process became a classic.
Loosely based on Crowe’s teenage years
as a music journalist covering the Allman
Brothers Band and Led Zeppelin, “Almost
Famous” is the story of the 15-year-old aspi-
ring scribe William Miller (Patrick Fugit),
who gets the opportunity of a lifetime when
Rolling Stone magazine sends him from his
home in San Diego on tour with Stillwater,
fictitious rockers on the verge of fame. As
they travel, William forges relationships
with the guitarist, Russell Hammond (Billy
Crudup), and a “Band Aid,” or groupie,
Penny Lane (Kate Hudson).
“Almost Famous” was released on Sept.
13, 2000, and gave Hudson and Fugit their
big breaks, and Crowe an Oscar for original
screenplay. As its 20th anniversary nears,
the movie has been the subject of a stage ad-
aptation (headed to Broadway but delayed
by the pandemic) and a podcast. It’s be-
loved in part for scenes like one riffing on
1970s rock-star hubris: During a tour stop
in Topeka, Kan., Russell crashes a party and
ends up on the roof of a house tripping on
acid, ready to jump into a murky pool. Be-
fore he does, he has a few final words: “I am
a golden god!” Also, “I’m on drugs!”
I talked to the cast and crew — including
Crudup, Fugit, Crowe, the editor Joe Hut-
shing, the production designer Clay Griffith
and the costume designer Betsy Heimann
— about how that scene came to be.
Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant was the inspira-
tion, and not just for the quote.
CAMERON CROWEThere was a famous mo-
ment where [Plant] was on the balcony of
the Continental Hyatt House, [the Sunset
Strip hotel known as] the Riot House. I
think there’s even a photo of the moment,
and he’s holding his hands out, and he said,
“I am a golden god!” It’s Zeppelin lore.
BILLY CRUDUPThe reason Robert Plant said
it was because he had long, golden hair. Be-
cause my hair is brown, I wasn’t making
that connection at all. I was just imagining
that Russell was thinking of himself as
some sort of tribal idol.
CROWEWhen I was writing it, I was think-
ing, I love the playful relationship Plant had
with his own image. Sometimes he would
wear a Robert Plant fan T-shirt that some-
one had thrown onstage. He just had a won-
derful sense of humor about his position as
a big-time rock star. Wearing that shirt was
saying that he understands the fan experi-
ence. In effect he’s one of them. Russell be-
ing with fans was doing a version of the
same thing. “We understand each other,
and I can even collaborate with you about
my deepest feeling from your roof!”
CRUDUPCameron, as somebody who had
spent time around these [famous] people,
wanted to articulate their utter humanness,
even with somebody like Russell. What it
took was an acid trip for him to expose this
childlike experience of being a rock god.
CROWERussell goes to the fan’s home in
search of “what’s real.” This was originally
one of the discarded titles for the movie,
“Something Real.” Before Russell is pulled
back into the hermetically sealed world of
Stillwater, I just wanted to make sure that
we celebrated the fans there because “Al-
most Famous” is so much about us as fans of
music. To me, the sequence with Billy on the
roof, in the pool, that whole joke lives in a
little bit of a love letter to the fans, which is
what I always wanted it to be.
The party sequence became an actual party.
CRUDUPWe spent, I think, two days or three
days in that house with all of the back-
ground artists who were playing the
partygoers. To have everybody gathered
around was quite a joyful experience.
CROWE Mary-Louise Parker [Crudup’s
partner for a time] showed up, Nancy Wil-
son [of Heart, who contributed music to the
film and Crowe’s wife at the time] showed
up, and it really became like a Topeka party.
CLAY GRIFFITHWe cast the extras more by
their look. We had a bunch of extras one day
in San Diego, and they all looked too con-
temporary. I’m not sure how to say what a
1970s look is, but it definitely was [very]
1990s. So, we went to local places, I can’t re-
member if it was bars or restaurants, start-
ing to pick people out and asking if they
wanted to be in this movie.
PATRICK FUGIT[That house] was the first
time I was around a lot of people closer to
my age.
CROWEThe people that lived there became
part of the party, too. But it was filled with
these extras. It was heavenly because, as it
happened a few times, life became the mov-
ie, which became life, which became the
movie. Patrick was that age and entranced
with Kate Hudson, just like the character.
FUGITShe came from Hollywood royalty
and [her mother, Goldie Hawn, and stepfa-
ther, Kurt Russell] would come to set. That
was crazy to me because I had grown up
watching a lot of their movies. Also Kate is
beautiful and talented. It made an impres-
sion on 16-year-old me. I crushed on her for
two months. As we got more into filming,
she became much like an older sister.
Crudup and Fugit bonded between takes.
FUGITThe night we shot the “golden god”
sequence, mostly Billy and I were off be-
tween setups. For multiple hours, because
that scene took a while to shoot, we were do-
ing pratfalls in the backyard, judging each
other’s pratfalls and laughing our asses off.
CRUDUPWe had an absolute ball in every
scene. There was something nice in particu-
lar about [that scene] because that broughtout my own affection for Patrick that was
veiled throughout because Russell was so
guarded.
FUGITI was constantly picking up things
that Billy was doing, and skills that he had
really mastered, trying to pattern off him. In
our downtime, [Billy] would joke around
with me that I hadn’t done anything to get
the movie, I was just so lucky. He’d be like,
“How old are you again?” 16. “And how’d
you get this movie?” “It was just a shot in
the dark, Billy.” He wasn’t mentoring me di-
rectly, but the way that he was in the scenes
and on set, [he] mentored me, and I believe
he did that on purpose.
Crudup nearly missed the first time he
jumped off the roof.
GRIFFITHWe were looking for a place that
looked like the suburbs in Kansas, and we
found it in the San Fernando Valley [in
Southern California]. We were trying to find
a house [very] near a pool. [We ultimately
decided to] find the right house and then we
built a total theatrical facade that we could
push toward the pool.
CRUDUPThe roof was quite steep, so I didn’t
feel totally comfortable up there. The prac-
tical part of just standing on a relatively
steep roof feels precarious, even if you’re
only 20 feet off the ground or whatever.
CROWEWe were just trying to be safe, but
also [thinking] what would be the most wild
and woolly way where we can see enough of
him before he helicopters into the pool?
BETSY HEIMANNFrom a costume point of
view, we were all a little nervous about all
the kids diving in the pool and Russell div-
ing off the building, because in any film, you
say the word “water,” and you’re like, “How
many do I need?”.
CRUDUPI jumped onto one of those stunt
pads that deflates when you jump into it.
The first time, I was so jacked up with
adrenaline, I came close to missing. I could
see by the whites of the eyes of the stunt
person that they were concerned that I was
not fully capable of managing that moment.
CRUDUPI jumped into the mat and then
they did an overhead shot of my stunt per-
son jumping into the pool. I don’t want to
ruin anybody’s suspension of disbelief, but
that was not me going into the pool.
FUGITAfter Russell goes in, a bunch of
partygoers also jump in to save him.
CRUDUPI do remember when all of the kids
jumped in, but I kind of remember watching
it. It’s really strange to think back at it now,
wondering if I actually did jump in at some
point. I’ll defer to whatever Patrick said. I
would put it this way, the Fugit does not lie.
Crudup invented Russell’s acid trip.
CRUDUPCameron wanted to do these shots
where the camera is craning over me, and I
have to hold my arms out and look up to the
camera and scream [the lines]. That felt a
bit dizzying when I think back on it now.
Cameron also encouraged any kind of weird
interpretation of what a trip might be like
for Russell: That was just seeing energy
and feeling energy. It’s doing all this weird
stuff with my arms.
CROWEI remember at some point, Billy was
on fire. And he said: “OK, I’m on acid, right?
Give me something specific. Give me some-
thing to do.” And I said: “Well, you’re tin-
gling, you’re feeling it in your hands. It’s
like, your hands have a mind of their own.”
And he did that thing with his hands, which
I just can never get enough of, where he’sfeeling the tingly air on his hands, and it’s
just like, “I dig music.”
CRUDUPI can remember just how giddy
that made Cameron.
CROWEIt became the bravura moment that
I had dreamed it might be, and you don’t al-
ways get there. The movie’s way different
without that sequence. I’m always grateful
for it.
Crowe held a screening for Led Zeppelin to
get the musicians to license their music,
something they didn’t do much at the time.
JOE HUTSHINGCameron and I had to fly to
London to show [Jimmy] Page and Plant
the movie and hopefully get their blessing.
After the lights came up, Robert Plant im-
mediately said, “So Cameron, is your mum
really like that?” There was a pause, and we
all burst out laughing. She was exactlylike
that, and Frances McDormand had played
her perfectly.
CROWENever have you watched two heads
more than we watched their two heads
watching “Almost Famous.” Every once in a
while they would whisper something to
each other. And we’d look at each other like,
“What did that mean?” And then comes the
“golden god” sequence. And Billy goes, “I
am a golden god!” And Robert Plant lets out
the greatest laugh and claps. We could
breathe now. We’re like, “We got a shot that
they might like the movie.” Then comes the
end, where Billy Crudup is finding out that
the kid has written all of it [in the article],
including screaming, “I’m a golden god.” I
think Billy says, “I didn’t say that.” And
Plant shouts out, “I did!” in the theater.
CRUDUP Cameron told me afterward,
“Robert Plant said: ‘Yeah, I liked it a lot.
That Russell character, I know that guy.’ ”
And Cameron was like, “You know Billy?”
And he goes, “No, no, no, I know Russell.”
CROWEWe sat in the screening room with
Page and Plant for a while. And one of the
first things was, Robert Plant said, “Wow, so
many memories.” He said: “I have a bottle
of quaaludes from the early 1970s that is or-
namental on a shelf. I think I’m going to go
home and open it up tonight.” That was
when I felt like “I’m a golden god” found its
rightful home and went back to its creator. I
often think of Robert Plant himself dialogu-
ing with the movie when I see that scene.
Years after the film was released, the two
“golden gods” had an unexpected encounter.
CRUDUPI actually saw Robert Plant [in] the
airport, carrying his guitar, and I was think-
ing, “God, I wish I could just have the guts to
ask him if it was true that Cameron wit-
nessed him saying that.” Of course, the mo-
ment passed, and I go to board my plane,
and he’s sitting catty-corner to me and it’s a
five-hour flight back to New York. I spent
five hours paralyzed, trying to imagine
some way to introduce myself. Nothing
comes to me, the plane lands, and I go to get
my carry-on. Apparently, my carry-on was
a piece of [garbage], because Robert Plant
took the time to say, “Well, I guess that’s
seen better days,” to which I replied: “My
name is Billy Crudup. I was in the film ‘Al-
most Famous,’ and I played Russell Ham-
mond, the guitarist.” He goes, “It isyou!”
And I said, “Yeah, I had that line, ‘I’m a gold-
en god.’ ” He said, “That’s my line.” I said,
“Well, that’s my line now” and walked off
the plane, at which point the flight attend-
ant goes, “Wow, the two golden gods.” It
made me so satisfied that he remembered
the movie and remembered that line.MAX-O-MATICNEAL PRESTON/DREAMWORKS PICTURESThe Oral History of a Golden God’s Acid Trip
‘Almost Famous’ is nearly 20.
We revisit a standout scene.
By ILANA KAPLANFrom left, Billy Crudup
and Patrick Fugit with
Cameron Crowe on the
set of “Almost Famous.“
Top, an illustration of a
party scene in the film.