‘Almost Famous’ messed up groupie movie that would have been even more real

Classic cinema, the film almost famous (2000) portrays the story of a young music journalist (William Millerplayed by Patrick Fugit) accompanying the band’s tour Stillwater in coverage for the magazine Rolling Stone USA. The story is inspired by real events, including the director’s experiences. Cameron Crowewho also worked for American publishing and toured with groups like Led Zeppelin It is eagles.

Other characters are influenced by real-world events. penny lane (kate hudson), for example, references groupies like Pennie Lane Trumbull It is Pamela Des Barres. The latter even says that almost famous spoiled plans he had to release a film about his own life.

In an interview with vulturein 2020, Des Barres said that he had the intention of transforming his trajectory into a feature film since the 1990s. The work would be inspired by the biographical books he released, with emphasis on I’m with the Bandmade available abroad in 1987 — that is, it would have even more depth and degrees of reality.

I don’t say that almost famous it was not a good movie. It brought a positive look to the muse-groupie. And I’ve been trying to redeem the word ‘groupie’ for most of my life. But I was amazed, because the character was more me than Bebe Buell or Pennie Trumbull. It felt a lot more like me.”

The situation meant that the pamela became uninteresting, as the story had already been told – albeit less realistically than she planned. She got to the point where Cameron Crowe apologize to her years later.

“It became impossible to sell my film. I confronted Crowe after the movie came out and he kind of dumped me,” the filmmaker recalled. “But I saw him a few years ago and he apologized. He asked what he could do to make up for it and I said, ‘I should have been a consultant on the movie’.”

Distorted view of groupies

Although I said I didn’t dislike almost famous, Pamela Des Barres made it clear to vulture that the film follows the distorted idea created by Americans about groupies. According to her, there are very sexist scenes in the film, especially the passage where penny lane tries to kill herself after being rejected by the guitarist of Stillwater, Russell Hammond (Billy Crudup).

“It made me so angry. That character, the groupie as she played it, is pathetic. I met all the top groupies in their prime and none of them would do that. There was always someone coming to town. No music-loving muse-groupie would do something like that. I was of age. They always took care of me. They always treated me well. Everyone has been amazing to me. I was a woman doing what she wanted, that was feminism for me.”

About Almost Famous

almost famousor Almost Famousbecame a cinema classic by mixing music, rock bands, the Rolling Stone and many references to the 1970s. The film directed by Cameron Crowe was not a success at first, but is currently acclaimed by critics and audiences, with a 92% audience approval in the Rotten Tomatoes.

The production shows William Miller (Patrick Fugit), aged 15, having the chance to make his biggest dream come true: accompanying the band’s tour Stillwater as a magazine journalist Rolling Stone USA. Against his mother, he embarks on a journey to talk about the rock group, meeting many new people and living incredible experiences.

The script was based on the life of the director himself. Cameron Crowe became the youngest contributor to Rolling Stone USAwith only 15 years old, the same time in which Lester Bangs was the editor. At work, he had the opportunity to accompany the tour of Led Zeppelin, Allman Brothers, eagles It is Lynyrd Skynyrd.

At first, the film would call untitled (Untitled) or The Uncool (something like The Not Cool), but the executives involved did not approve. In an interview, Crowe revealed how almost famous it came about when watching people next to amps at concerts. “You look at them and think: who are they? Are they groupies? Prosecutor’s friends? Are you married to the bassist? Because they are almost famous”.

In addition to Fugitthe cast has Russell Hammond (as Billy Crudup), Frances McDormand (as Elaine Miller), kate hudson (as penny lane), Jason Lee (as jeff bebe), Zooey Deschanel (as Anita Miller), Anna Paquin (Polexia Aphrodisia), Fairuza Balk (sapphire), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Lester Bangs), between others.