WEBVTT - The Oscars Series, Day 2: Cameron Crowe 0:00:00.760 --> 0:00:03.960 This is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the thing. 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:07.760 It's award season and we're re listening to some of 0:00:07.800 --> 0:00:12.040 our favorite interviews with Oscar winners. Cameron Crowe won his 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.680 OSCAR for Almost Famous. In his speech, he gives a 0:00:15.720 --> 0:00:19.680 nod to Billy Wilder. Stay listening to our conversation to 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:26.520 hear just how that friendship came about. Imagine it's the 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:31.200 nineteen seventies, the golden years of rock and roll, and 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.680 you are one of the biggest rock stars in the world. 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:45.520 Let's say you're David Bowie, and this cutting edge magazine 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.360 that everyone in the industry is taking notice of sends 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:52.680 a reporter to interview you and in walks a sixteen 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:58.600 year old boy. Cameron Crowe is still probably best known 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:03.240 for his personal story the child prodigy who convinced Rolling 0:01:03.320 --> 0:01:06.440 Stone to let him in bed with rock superstars at 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.960 age sixteen, as told in his brilliant coming of age 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:13.720 movie Almost Famous, for which he received an Academy Award 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:18.520 for Best Screenplay. But before he won that Oscar, Cameron 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.800 Crow spent his high school years on tour with the 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:25.400 Legends of Rock. My dream kind of ended with a 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.600 story on the cover of Rolling Stone. I was like, 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:31.080 that may never happen, And then it happened when I 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:35.640 was sixteen, so it was like, okay, let's recalibrate the dream. 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:37.800 But when you when you go to make movies, was 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.840 that inevitable? Did you always say that's what I'm gonna do. No, No, 0:01:41.000 --> 0:01:43.360 that that happens. That was a bonus thing that was 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:47.440 coming from a family that worshiped Mike Nichols in Elaine 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.240 May and that stuff was playing. And my mom would 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:52.680 take me to see Cardinal Knowledge on opening weekend, argue 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.440 with the theater owner to get me in. I'll take 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.920 him outside if anything's coming up. Of course she's like, stay, 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:00.480 don't leave. She wants me to see it all. And 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.000 um and some movies were a big part of our world, 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.840 and Yahn and Ben Functors kept me doing stories that 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:12.000 were inching towards cinema. So I got to kind of 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.680 blend a little bit. Were you thinking cinema during that 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:19.640 time too? Because um, I loved Sissy SpaceX, loved Carrie 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.919 and loved um you know what she was starting to 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.480 do with alt Men, And so my daughter, coal Miner's 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:30.480 daughter daughter came together while we were on assignment for 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.679 a cover story for Rolling Stone. It was Annie Leawood's 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.639 and me and Sissy who said, oh, let's go see 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.400 Loretta Len. I have to turn her down for this project. 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:41.360 She's been trying to get me to do her life 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.040 story for six months, so I have to go and 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.520 actually face to face say no, we'll come with me. 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.399 So we all go, yeah, cover that. So we rode 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:53.520 trip to a Loretta Lynn show with Sissy spacek Alec. 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:57.080 Loretta Lynn closed Sissy in about ten minutes. It's like 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:00.920 as soon as she saw Sissy they got into it. Boom, 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:02.920 she was going to play that part that Wonner an oscar. 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:04.799 And it was just one of those great moments where 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.480 I get to be fly on a wall for this 0:03:07.480 --> 0:03:11.679 stuff and starting to see how films happen. But um, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.400 that was a dream that was really far away at 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:16.600 that does it also a time out when Yon leaves 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:18.520 the West Coast and goes to New York. It will 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:20.240 kind of come together where like, you're done with that 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:22.400 now that Yahn's you're not going to New York, can 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.519 we talk about going to New York? No? I was 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.400 continuing with them, and you live on the West Coast. 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.240 I stayed in l A and kind of worked in 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:33.600 that office and and stayed independent because I didn't want 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.560 to be somebody who would be given an assignment and 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.520 have to do it. So I was always kind of 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:42.440 a freelancer, but I had an editor position, so it 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:44.720 was kind of the perfect thing. And then it grew 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:47.520 into the idea of telling the story about kids from 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.200 a kid's point of view. And I had been writing 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:54.200 all these stories about like Rod Stewart's and Crosbie Stills 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:57.000 and Nash, and you would hear them talk about the fans, 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:00.280 and you would see the fans follow them through the situations. 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:02.160 But at certain point I was kind of like, let's 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.800 just let's just turn the observation over to those people 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.760 who follow Rod Stewart, for example, And and the stories 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.400 just became endless, just interviewing people. And that grew into 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:15.600 a desire to capture characters. And the first when you 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.200 wrote the book Fast Times, and it wasn't a novel, 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.760 that was a real story. It's a nonfiction the Truman 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:23.720 capody of Rock and Rome. Who tells you you're going 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:25.239 to make that as a movie, How does it become 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:30.039 a movie? Um? Art Linson and Irving as Off and 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:32.640 a few people that they kind of knew the music 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:36.560 world and knew my writing, liked the book a lot. 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:40.080 And Art Linson, I remember, really loved Spicoli the surfer, 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:42.720 and that always felt like a great character if we 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:44.560 were able to get the right guy to do it. 0:04:45.440 --> 0:04:47.960 Sean isn't necessaritionbod who comes into Nails with the reading. 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:52.760 He wasn't necessarily the guy. And uh, and we heard like, oh, 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:54.200 there's this guy. He's like kind of a young de 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:59.479 Niro guy. He's really good. He's from Malibu. Let's let's 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.039 read him. So he came in. There were three of 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:05.240 us in the room and he said, I know how 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:09.440 to do this part. We're like, great, do it. No, 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.680 I'll do it when you hire me. I'm not giving you. 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.840 For some reason, we just decided to hire him without 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.840 ever seeing him do it. It was kind of like, 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:27.040 what the fuck happened? And and he was staying in 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.040 character of the whole movie. How us call him? Jeff 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:32.920 and I would try and get him to do parts 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.640 of the character before it was time to actually film, 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:38.400 wouldn't do it. And then he just busted out with 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:40.720 the character on the day and we're like, oh my god, 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:46.080 this is the guy's bicycle. Yeah, it's like a documentary version. 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.640 Hard to believe that other, you know, with the other 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.039 Chameleon things he did Falcon and the Snowman and things 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:58.520 like that. Very strange way I met him. I don't 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.200 remember when I met him, but I remember first seeing 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:05.280 him there and thinking he was like this, uh, you know, 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.680 crazy comic genius. He was like a Peter Sellers to 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:13.200 me almost. He just completely occupied the character and all 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:15.120 the classic lines. And I want to bore everybody with 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.680 But people who are not familiar with the movie, you know, 0:06:17.680 --> 0:06:20.040 people on lude should not drive all that. We all 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:24.160 were gagging, laughing. We watched everybody watches fast times you 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.400 watched the movie for Sean Penn's performance, and we would 0:06:26.400 --> 0:06:28.880 just be gagging, laughing. And there was there was some 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.200 really and in the middle of the laughing and in 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.640 the middle of the kind of madness of it, and 0:06:33.640 --> 0:06:36.640 and and Ray Walston and ordering the pizza and everything 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.440 is is Jennifer Jason Lee story. And I made a 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.800 movie with her. I know who's there's nobody deeper than her. 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:44.960 She one of the deepest actresses I've ever worked with him. 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.839 Very real. Yeah, she's cool. She was ready for the 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:50.680 movie to be even more raw and real. I mean 0:06:50.680 --> 0:06:53.120 there was some conversation in the movie. First came out 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:55.440 like this is a hard are this is really more 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:58.279 than we want to see from our young kids today. 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:00.839 And she was the just wanted to say, like, I 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.080 wish it was ex there was there was nudity on 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:04.839 me that they cut out that I wish they had 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:09.000 kept in, which which was like super bold and like 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.760 you know, visionary knew where she was headed. The thing though, 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:15.360 was Tann and all those guys calling this movie is like, 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.880 we're gonna best theater. This is a piece of crap. 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:21.280 We shouldn't be making movies like that. We we snuck 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:24.160 it through, and when they started to see it, they 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:27.680 realized that Amy Heckerling had gone for the raw truth, 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:31.240 you know, of like what Jennifer Jason Lee's character had 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:35.120 gone through, gotten pregnant and an abortion. Amy had this 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.320 brilliant kind of take on it, which was let's just 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.600 show it. How was it for you when you saw it? Okay, 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:42.120 I mean it was like this, let's shoot that. So 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:46.600 she had this very naturalistic, funny approach that when people 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:50.720 saw it they laughed. The thing, though, was Bicoli was 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:54.640 our magic. That was our bit of magic. And and 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.239 the studio and the people involved in the movie. Maybe 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:01.800 Art Arlenson knew the potential there, but everybody who made 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.280 those plants like on opening weekend, we're gonna drive around, 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.640 we're gonna get together. We'll pick you up, we'll pick 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:08.480 you up, we'll come and get you we'll all go together, 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.239 we'll get like two cars will caravan. As it gets 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:13.480 closer to the to the weekend that the movie comes out, 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:17.440 it's like, I'm gonna be out of town. Um, are 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.480 you gonna go? I can't make it. So it turned 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.840 out nobody would go and do like a victory tour 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.040 of the theaters for fast Time. So I got in 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:27.840 a car and drove to Arizona to to go to 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:29.720 my friend's wedding that didn't think I would be able 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:32.160 to go to. Oh was I available to go to 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.800 his wedding? And I went with a buddy. And we 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.719 can start to get close to Phoenix, Tucson where we're going, 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:39.760 and and we're like, let's go to the theater. Let's 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.680 just see the empty theater. Showing fast times. We go in, 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:47.520 it's packed. There's already kids who have gotten the checkerboard vans, 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:50.040 gone to the mall and gotten them and come back 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:57.160 to see the movie. And I'm saying Coli drives them 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.880 into the theater and and and saves the movie. Really, 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:03.280 they never caught up because they cut our theaters the 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:05.319 last minute. They were like, nobody in the East Coast 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:08.640 is gonna go see this movie, and then like those 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.720 theaters ended up being packed. You've never written a screenplay before. 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.320 I had not. You're with the book. How the people, 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.200 even though it's a small movie, done this research alc. 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.800 You're like the busiest guy. How did they get you 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.119 to do that? I mean, how did you get them available? 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.000 It's like they bought the book and they were like, 0:09:26.800 --> 0:09:29.320 let him let him write it. Let him write it 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:35.160 twelve dollars and maybe he'll pay us fifty coffee. Was 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.640 Amy on board? Then? Were you did you? Script was done? 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.319 Script was done and Tom Mount again, the guy at Universal, 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:44.200 was kind of our secret patron, you know, helping us 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:46.560 out and everything. I said, I got this great idea, 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.840 who could direct it? He's done this film eraser Head. 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.520 He's really a talented guy, David Lynch is his name, 0:09:54.240 --> 0:09:57.160 and uh, I saw a racer. Of course racer. It's amazing. 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.400 I'm like, you know, if you'll read the script app resolutely, 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:03.680 So I give him the script and he was really 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.840 great about and David Lynch like drove back a couple 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:07.680 of days later in a I believe it was a 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:12.520 white VW bug and very politely said, fun story. Not 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:14.880 really what I think I'm going to be doing. It's 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:19.000 a bad David Lynch, but he he, he appreciated it 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.840 enough so that they kept looking. And then Amy had 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.280 done this short called Getting It Over with Not a 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.839 Young Girl Losing a Virginity. It was fantastic, and so 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.360 we're like, let's let's go Gorilla Lo Fi and make 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.000 it Where do you right after Fast Times? We did 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:35.600 when when you so you wrote the screenplay, the film 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:38.040 comes out and eventually becomes this kind of this called 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.360 classic comedy. So are you like fully smitten? Then you're like, 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.840 I'm going down that road now far less? Rolling Stone 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.440 essays that kind of right. I always feel like it's 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:51.959 been journalism all the time, but it was kind of, 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.000 you know, a morphous trying to get to what the 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:57.080 story would be. I was trying to tell other people's stories, 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:01.040 but the more almost famous became utterly personal the more 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.320 it became the movie it should be. Wasn't there something before? 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:06.360 Almost between many? But it's like that was the first 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.520 thing that I went I want to get into the music. 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:13.280 That started characters and music because it was so fun 0:11:13.320 --> 0:11:15.880 putting the music on fast times. That you could take 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:19.640 a song like Somebody's Baby, which like in this part 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.360 of the movie, it's just kind of nice pop, but 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.839 if you put it over a kid having premature ejaculation, 0:11:25.960 --> 0:11:29.280 all of a sudden, it's like kind of psychedelic and 0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:32.280 the and the song you'll never forget as you remember it. 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:34.720 And then later you run into Jackson Brown, He's like, 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:36.240 thanks a lot. I thought I was writing you a 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.880 nice little ballad, and now I'm like a poster boy 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:42.880 for jacking off and coming too fast. It's like it 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:48.120 was like thank you, Jackson, Jackson and and uh, and 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:49.880 that was kind of like the beginning of Wow, you 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:53.360 can use these songs and really make the music character, 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:56.920 and that became you see people that are doing that, 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:58.960 though when you think that they're not doing that well 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:02.080 with without naming names and judge. But I'm just saying 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:03.720 for me. I'll see movies sometimes and I'll be like, 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.480 enough enough of you telling I get it. We're in 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:08.839 the seventies, I get it. I get it. Your script 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:11.080 is a nimick and you want to bolst it with 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.800 you know, knights and white satin or something. I'll get it. 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:16.960 They're great. Music is gonna make your movie great. Yeah, 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:18.880 and they just use it for a minute while somebody's 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.120 car door opens and then shuts, rather than like let 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.719 the song play. Of course, as he was always the 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.000 guy that could give you a fast buzz of like, 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:28.880 here's the guy that knows music, and he's gonna give 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.560 you this Ronnett's record, and it's gonna rip your soul out. 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.600 You know this because he knows when you're cocaine all 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.760 of a sudden with Ray, you and Ray are Jones 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.480 and yeah, or or you're looking at that helicopter and 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.400 Nielsen is has got that track going and you're like, 0:12:44.840 --> 0:12:49.840 take me there. Cameron Crowe is a master of the moment. 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:54.160 The needle drops, the song comes on, and you're there 0:12:54.200 --> 0:13:02.440 filled with teenaged longing. Lloyd Dobbler holding up the boom 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.520 box and Say Anything. Jerry McGuire, as you had me 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:12.600 at Hello and Comic Perfection, Sean Penn's puckished stoner. Jeff Spicoli, 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:14.920 Just what in the hell do you think you're doing? 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:19.360 Learned about Cuba having some food? Mr Spicoli, You're on 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:23.199 dangerous ground here. You're causing a major disturbance on my time. 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:28.280 I've been thinking about this, Mr hann If I'm here 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.079 and you're here, doesn't that make it our time? We 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:34.960 certainly did nothing wrong with a little feast on our time. 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.280 After the break, Cameron Crowe tells me what John Cusack 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:43.040 was like on the set of Say Anything. I'm Alec 0:13:43.080 --> 0:14:06.400 Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. Yeah, that's 0:14:06.559 --> 0:14:10.719 Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl, used by Cameron Crowe to give 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:15.360 an unsentimental retro rock Field to a montage sequence in 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:19.240 two thousand elevens we bought a Zoo. Now more from 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:23.880 my conversation with crow about going from screenwriting success to 0:14:24.040 --> 0:14:27.680 taking full creative control of his films. What's the first 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:33.400 one you directed? Uh, Say Anything? James L. Brooks. He said, like, okay, 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:35.840 we have two other people that we've always talked about 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:37.920 and if if the second one on that list, the 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.080 second one is no, you really got to think about it. 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:45.800 And the second one was in fact Lawrence Caston, who 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:47.840 who said, you know, if I was prolific and did 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:49.560 a movie a year, I would do this. But I'm 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.840 doing um Accidental Tourists, and that's going to be my 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:54.440 movie in the next two years. But I'm gonna call 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:56.160 the studio and telling James Brooks is right and you 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.160 should direct it. So that got me the directing job. 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:01.920 On anyone say anything, how did you find that the 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:03.640 first time you directed? What was it like for you 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:06.960 to direct characters? And how was that change? Scared? Today? 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:09.920 Cusack is the lead Cusack it was. It was a 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.400 wide shot in a nursing home, and he gave the 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:14.480 speech and I kind of turned around to everybody and said, 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.200 I like it. It's good. I think we have it, 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:20.600 and they kind of like, hey, come, come, come over, 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:22.760 here gets some look of one. You have to do 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.200 a thing called coverage. You have to shoot it from 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:30.360 other angles, other angles. Let's go other angles. Everyone terrified. 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.800 I went to the trailer and and just like was 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:38.160 in an upright fetal position and Clay Griffith my good 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.600 buddy who's like been production designer for all the movies lately, 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:45.280 Claire Griffith says, you gotta get outside of the trailer 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:48.320 and you should go have lunch with the crew and 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.360 tell the crew just by being there that you're with 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:53.600 them and you're all making the movie together. And it 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.800 was like the greatest advice. I left the trailer obviously 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.960 never left hanging with it. It's the only way to 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.000 make a movie is to love your crew and to 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:09.200 be with them. About the actress actors, I didn't realize 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.840 until we're halfway through what great partners they could be. 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:16.760 Like John Mahoney and Cusack are like these Chicago brawlers. 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:21.440 They're like they just want to tear your scene thirty takes. 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:23.480 Like Johnny be like, let me do one where I 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:26.360 throw John Mahoney across the table. You're supposed to be 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:29.200 kind of like the nonviolent guy. Well, let me just 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.280 do one where I do this. And it's like, yeah, okay, 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:32.960 let's do that. Let me make out with him, let 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:37.520 me kiss them on the mouth. Yeah. We kind of 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:40.960 found through collaboration, like how to get a really good 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:44.960 language first time director style on that movie, and I 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.480 fell in love with directing actors, and you're worked with 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:49.680 him again. Since then, you worked with the one time, 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:51.880 tried to a couple of times and we've missed. But 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:55.160 I think that the times so for you there is 0:16:55.160 --> 0:16:58.560 is there a the notion that you have kind of 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.520 a battery with them as a direct and an actor. 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:02.840 You think I can get movies made with the guy. 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:06.760 It's like Scorsese with Leo. Now he's a DeNiro. I 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:11.200 love that. That's you know why I'll always call you 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:13.600 when you have to say anything, just a quick question. 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:15.639 When we were going over movies that we're going to 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:19.720 talk about, there were so many like super strong leading 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:24.440 man movies like just you know, double fisted, I'm gonna 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:26.680 give you the story, I'm gonna I'm gonna hit my 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.040 mark and give it to you. Man. It was like, 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.119 there are not many of those movies made anymore. And 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.320 I saw them on that list, and I was like, damn, 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:38.040 studios used to make movies that we're both personal and 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:42.560 universal and and and without a lot of fear, it seemed. 0:17:43.080 --> 0:17:45.879 And and so now there's these cannon of movies that 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:48.800 are that are feeling like they're from the distant past. 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:52.040 Which is strange because we gotta start making like these 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.359 movies that are kind of our version of that. Today. 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:57.840 It's there's a lot of whimsical stories being told, but 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:00.320 I just like to like, straight up, look, tell you 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.280 an American story quality. Then there was Woodstock on the list, 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:09.000 of course, equally important in every way. It's like, I'm 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:12.720 obsessed with it too. And Monterey Pop. Monterey Pop is amazing. 0:18:12.760 --> 0:18:15.880 For the crowd shots. Monterey Pop has the most beautiful 0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:20.320 crowd shots. They're like comfortable, Oh my god, they're so great, 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:23.000 and they also tell you that thing of like in 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:27.520 nine seven, it wasn't all the sixties. It was still 0:18:27.600 --> 0:18:29.879 like there were dudes from the fifties still there in 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:31.720 the shots. You know, they go to the show too. 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.440 They just they didn't get the manual for the Moon 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.879 to wear. They're still wearing like, you know, a little 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.040 skinny black tie. And you see these things in Monterey 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.159 Pop and just go wow. Somebody was there at the 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:46.879 right time with the camera just captured the generation changing 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.800 and it was crazy. The end of that the end 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:53.040 of that time, we're like, I always get so upset 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.560 when people say the sixties was for nothing, But I 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:57.960 want to get back to something you said, which is 0:18:57.960 --> 0:19:00.440 about Monterey and wood Stock, which is on the board 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:02.560 of the Hampton's Film Festival, and we have our festival, 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:05.040 so we do give me shelter, and we find out 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.280 the Masals is Insect Harbor visiting his daughter who lives there. 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.639 We bring him into interview him. It's sold out and 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.440 everybody comes in and everybody like, no, there's no dope 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:16.320 in the room, but you can smell. Everyone gets a 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.399 contact high. This is really true, Alex. This is like 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:23.760 the the souvenirs of that era. People are are gravitating 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.399 to so strongly, like that's why they showed up for 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.240 give me shelter. I want to see Richie Furay, you 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:35.600 know who packed a nice sized theater singing Buffalo Springfield types. 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.879 It's like that they people are there for the things 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:43.520 that moved them in their lives shows. So bring him back, 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.240 Will and Grace. Yeah. But and if and if Will 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.240 and Grace comes back with the feeling that you got 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.320 that contact high the first time and they have, You're like, 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:53.960 they're in that's a miracle now. But but I know 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:59.240 that you did reunion with Elton John and us couple 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:01.359 numbers from Lee. Um, I know that you did the 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:05.000 reunion with him. Why didn't you make more movies like that, 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:09.480 like concert films? Why didn't you marry? We're doing it. Yeah, 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.520 it's just the movies have taken me like a long 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:14.639 time because they take a long time to write and 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.080 then I you know, maybe put one aside for a 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.560 while and start a new one. So it's like, as 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.240 I've kind of streamlined that process a little bit, there's 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.160 a room to do music stuff. So we're we're actually, 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:27.360 um gonna do a couple of documentaries and a few 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:29.320 and a few music things. One thing I guess I 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.320 can say is, um, we're gonna do a little documentary. 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:35.480 David Crosby, who I first met when I was fifteen, 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:39.800 he's you know, more prolific now that he's been a 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.560 long time. He's at a point in his life where 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.240 he's just got a lot to say, and I think 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:48.640 with a with a lack of a lot of talking 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:52.400 heads and leaving it with him just telling you almost 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:56.800 all just a very personal thing. I'm gonna tell you 0:20:57.200 --> 0:20:59.119 some stuff you'll agree with, some stuff you won't. But 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:01.520 it's this between me you, this is my life. Like 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:04.439 I love that tone, that tone. So we're gonna do 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:09.920 that with David Crosby, who's wonderful. And I just well, 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:15.280 you know the music, you know, listen, we made almost famous. 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.640 And here's this note that comes to the mail like immediately, 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:22.359 and it's from Alec Baldwin. I'm like, fuck, open it up. 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:25.320 And it's like, I loved your movie. I love led Zeppelin. 0:21:25.359 --> 0:21:28.560 I can't believe you put tangerine in the movie, Aleck. 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.080 That's the way, that's the way, and and and I 0:21:32.119 --> 0:21:36.680 was like, like, Baldwin knows that's the way. And Zeppelin, yeah, baby, 0:21:37.520 --> 0:21:41.239 And fandom, that fandom, and you do good and you 0:21:41.320 --> 0:21:44.000 don't do you can't because I just think you have 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.719 to sign on for the people that you love creatively 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:51.840