No one does “semi-autobiographical” on film like writer-director Cameron Crowe. From his first screenplay for the classic comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which was built on his experiences as an undercover reporter inside a typical 1980s-era high school, to his directorial triumph Almost Famous, which was based on his own early life following 1970s rock bands on tour as a teenage journalist for Rolling Stone.
Crowe‘s latest film Elizabethtown is a romantic comedy in the deep-feeling Jerry Maguire vein, inspired by the death of Crowe‘s father and the unexpected reception he received while visiting the eccentric, spirited Kentucky-based family he never really knew.
“The beginning of the movie is sort of a nod towards the success-and-failure derby, and then I wanted it to take a sharp turn into life and death,” said Crowe. “The shock when that kind of enters your life and you realize instantly how much time you waste involving yourself in the more ephemeral stuff. That’s sort of how it felt when the real thing happened to me. It was like ‘God. This is a taste of the black whip that people write whole books about, and this is how lives change–and often rarely for the better. This is the dark under belly of the world.’ And you really feel almost shame just in that split second when someone says, ‘Your loved one is dead.’ You feel that thing of like, ‘And this morning I woke up thinking about how there was no food in the refrigerator that I liked. What a d**k I am. This is what life is really about.'”
Take Hollywood.com’s tour of Elizabethtown and meet its key citizens with our interviews with stars Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon, and our exclusive one-on-one with Crowe himself.
Citizen of Elizabethtown: Cameron Crowe
Crowe: “There were little things that I guess I always wanted to write about…hopefully it’ll flow out in a structure that might make sense, but with this movie the structure was always off which is why up until six days ago we were still editing it. It’s crazy in that you just sort of set high bars for yourself. Like, can you turn this into a movie that ends with a 15-minute road trip? Throw the dice!” Get the full story.
Citizen of Elizabethtown: Orlando Bloom
Bloom: “I never had been to the heartland of America and I never understood what Southern hospitality meant until I was there and people were baking cakes and cookies and bringing ice cream to the set. It was like this is America…” Get the full story.
Citizen of Elizabethtown: Kirsten Dunst
Dunst: “[Bloom] is just not afraid to be open to things, and he’s very innocent the way he sees things a lot of times. [He] can be goofy and like a little boy. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. That’s refreshing in male actors around my age…” Get the full story.
Citizen of Elizabethtown: Susan Sarandon
Sarandon: “[Crowe] is a really interesting combination of somebody who is very, very specific and thoughtful and controlling in a way, I mean, you don’t change your words, he knows exactly what he wants, he keeps the camera going, and has people say phrases over and over. But then on the other hand, he’s so accessible and enthusiastic–he just screams with joy after every take…” Get the full story.
