Cameron Crowe is responsible for some of the most memorable moments in cinema these past 40 years or so. Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold at the pool in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Jerry Maguire and Rod Tidwell screaming “Show Me the Money.” Lloyd Dobler blasting Peter Gabriel in Say Anything. But before he won an Oscar or became friends with Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg, Crowe lived an entirely different life as a precocious rock-and-roll journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. Barely ready for life outside of his house, the young writer abruptly found himself hanging out with rock gods and sexy groupies – he was privy to more hedonism than most of us can only dream of before he turned 18. Naturally, that sounds like fodder for a compelling movie, and while he plotted a film based on his younger years for quite a long time, Crowe didn’t get to realize it until Almost Famous, his love letter to music, family and the early 70s. You probably know some of the details, but we’re here to clue you in on What Really Happened to Almost Famous.
Let’s start with Cameron Crowe’s avatar in the film, young William Miller. Played by Patrick Fugit, Miller is a music lover who dreams of hanging out with his favorite bands; not only does music drive him, he’s a gifted writer. Eager to pursue a career in music journalism, Crowe would call Lester Bangs, the editor of a popular music mag called Creem, and pitch him stories while using a fake voice to cover for his young age. Bangs eventually became Crowe’s mentor as evidenced in the film, and by all accounts Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance captured the spirit of Bangs almost precisely. In a sad bit of irony, both eventually died because of a drug overdose.
Crowe eventually talked his way into reporting for Rolling Stone magazine, the publication similarly not realizing how young he was until much later. The magazine’s senior editor, Ben Fong-Torres, actually met Crowe in person at a concert for the first time as opposed to over the phone as depicted in Almost Famous, but in both cases he was not aware Crowe was only 16. The bulky recorder Fugit carries throughout the film was an exact replica of the one Crowe used when he was in his teens.
Crowe would go on tours with some of the most popular rock bands of the era. There was indeed a group called Stillwater in the 70s, but the band in the movie is not based on them, although Crowe asked for their blessing in using their name and got to use it after paying them a little. The film’s Stillwater is an amalgam of several bands, notably The Allman Brothers, Lynard Skynard, and The Eagles. Their album covers even resemble those of the Allman Brothers’.
One major diversion from how it all really went down is the omission of Neal Preston, the photographer who accompanied Crowe during most of the tours. Preston was allegedly present for most, if not all of, the crazy events Crowe experienced, but he’s not in the film, with Crowe choosing to focus on the journalist character. Ironically, Preston was the still photographer on the set for Almost Famous.
The band’s charismatic lead guitarist Russell Hammond, played by Billy Crudup, is also an amalgam of several real life rock stars, including Gregg Allman, Glenn Fry of The Eagles, and Led Zepplin’s Jimmy Page. While on tour with the Allman Brothers, Crowe could never get Gregg Allman to sit down for an actual interview, until the very last day, where Allman opened up and spilled his guts to the young writer, not unlike in the film. Allman would sometimes accuse Crowe of being a narc or an fed, frequently coming in and out of paranoid episodes, and at one point confiscated Crowe’s tapes for a while before giving them back. Allman also would not confirm Crowe’s reporting for Rolling Stone’s fact checkers just as Russell does toward the end of the film before changing his mind.
Meanwhile, Glenn Fry once asked Crowe to “just make us look cool,” one of Russell’s most memorable lines.
Russell’s famous “I’m a golden god” line was inspired by a moment when Zepplin’s lead singer Robert Plant shouted the same thing, though not before attempting to dive into a pool. The line might have made even more sense had the original actor to play Russell – Brad Pitt – had ended up portraying the character, but he eventually dropped out.
Kate Hudson’s lovable groupie – although don’t call her that – Penny Laine is also a combination of several well-known 70s faces. One of them was a Pennie Trumbull, known then as Penny Lane, the founder of a group of rock-obsessed groupies known as The Flying Garter Girls, also loosely depicted in Almost Famous. Lane was so impressed with the final product that she wrote Crowe a letter saying “If I die tomorrow I’ll know there’s something out there that explains who I was…” Not unlike with Pitt and the Russell character, Sarah Polley was supposed to play Penny but had to exit the film due to scheduling issues. Hudson, who was originally playing William’s sister, was then given the Penny role.
Other infamous groupies who helped inspire Penny were Pamela Des Barres and Bebe Buell, Liv Tyler’s mother. Bebe was paid small tribute to by Crowe when he named Stillerwater’s lead singer Jeff Bebe. Incidentally, Bebe was partially inspired by Bad Company lead singer Paul Rodgers.
Record company executive Dennis Hope, played by Jimmy Fallon in his first feature film, is supposedly inspired by legendary music manager Irving Azofff, best known for his time with The Eagles. Fallon’s beard and glasses closely resemble images of Azoff from the 70s.
William’s mother is, naturally, inspired by Crowe’s real mother, who was none too thrilled with her son’s preoccupation with rock-and-roll and was constantly paranoid that he’d be doing drugs, often calling him while he was on the road to make sure he was staying safe. In the film, William’s father has been dead for several years, but in reality Crowe’s father didn’t die until 1989, right after Say Anything came out.. Still, his death caused a strong ripple throughout his family, leading to a major rift between his mother and sister that was only repaired years later thanks to the release of Almost Famous.
One of the film’s most memorable scenes takes place during a turbulent plane ride, when the weather gets so bad that it seems for a moment like the plane is going to crash. The characters start confessing very private things to each other, especially infidelities with each other’s spouses. Legend has it this was inspired by a similar event that happened to rocker Alice Cooper and his band, where supposedly imminent doom caused the passengers of the plane to start revealing deep, dark secrets to one another before the pilot abruptly announced everything was going to be alright.
Another scene inspired by a real event is the one when Russell is accidentally electrocuted on stage. That really happened to Ace Frehley of KISS fame, who got shocked by 10,000 volts at a concert in 1976. Ace was able to finish the show after an understandable delay. While Crudup didn’t actually electrocute himself for his art, he and the rest of the actors playing Stillwater reportedly practiced playing music after every shooting day, sometimes for up to four or five hours in order to believably resemble an actual rock-and-roll band.
Almost Famous won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, though obviously it just as easily could have been Adapted. While not exactly a biopic, it’s pretty clear Almost Famous was a very personal project for Cameron Crowe, who was able to take his time as a naive yet committed journalist and turn it into a funny, thoughtful and moving look back in time. Think he’d agree that’s pretty rock-and-roll.