Quotes
 Russell Hammond: I am a golden god! Russell Hammond: I never said I was a golden god... or did I?
Russell Hammond: I`m telling secrets to the one guy you don`t tell secrets to.
Polexia Aphrodisia: Let`s deflower the kid.
Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world... is what you share with someone else when you`re uncool.
Lester Bangs: Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.
William Miller: Well, it was fun.
Lester Bangs: They make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.
William Miller: I know. Even when I thought I was, I knew I wasn`t.
Lester Bangs: That`s because we`re uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don`t have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we`re smarter.
William Miller: I can really see that now.
Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love... and let`s face it, you got a big head start.
William Miller: I`m glad you were home.
Lester Bangs: I`m always home. I`m uncool.
William Miller: Me too!
Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world if what we share with someone else when we`re uncool.
William Miller: I feel better.
Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.
Russell Hammond: I`m never as good as when you`re there.
Penny Lane: Call me if you need a rescue, we live in the same city.
William Miller: Sometimes I think I live in a different world.
Penny Lane: I always tell the girls, never take it seriously, if ya never take it seriosuly, ya never get hurt, ya never get hurt, ya always have fun, and if you ever get lonely, just go to the record store and visit your friends.
Russell Hammond: And you can tell Rolling Stone magazine that my last words were... I`m on drugs!
[crowd cheers]
William Miller: Russell! I think we should work on those last words!
Russell Hammond: I got it, I got it. Last words - I dig music.
[a few claps]
Russell Hammond: [beat]
Russell Hammond: I`m on drugs!
[crowd cheers]
Penny Lane: You`re too sweet for rock and roll.
William Miller: Sweet? Where do you get off? Where do you get sweet? I am dark and mysterious, and *pissed off*! And I could be very dangerous to all of you! You should know that about me... I am *the enemy*!
Sapphire: Can you believe these new girls? None of them use birth control and they eat all the steak!
William Miller: Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song? Do you have to be in love to write a love song? Is a song better when it really happened to you? Like "Love Thing," where did you write that and who was it about?
Russell Hammond: When did you get so professional?
Anita Miller: FECK YOU!
Elaine Miller: HEY!
Anita Miller: This is a house of lies!
Elaine Miller: Well there it is, your sister used the "F" word.
Young William: I think she said "feck."
Elaine Miller: What`s the difference?
Young William: The letter "u."
Dennis Hope: If you think Mick Jagger will still be out there trying to be a rock star at age fifty, then you are sadly, sadly mistaken.
Ben Fong-Torres: A Mo-Jo, it`s a very high-tech machine that transmits pages over the telephone! It only takes eighteen minutes a page!
Elaine Miller: [in the middle of a class lecture] Rock stars have kidnapped my son!
Russell Hammond: I hurt the flower.
Penny Lane: Never take it seriously, you never get hurt. Never get hurt, you can always have fun. And if you ever get lonely, you just go to the record store and visit all your friends.
Penny Lane: How old are you?
William Miller: Eighteen.
Penny Lane: Me too! How old are we really?
William Miller: Seventeen.
Penny Lane: Me too!
William Miller: Actually, I`m sixteen.
Penny Lane: Me too. Isn`t it funny? The truth just sounds different.
William Miller: I`m fifteen.
Jeff Bebe: Is it that hard to make us look cool?
Polexia Aphrodisia: It`s all happening!
Polexia Aphrodisia: Do you have any pot?
William Miller: No. I`m a *journalist*.
Polexia Aphrodisia: Well, go do your job then. You`re on the road, man. It`s all happening! Get in there. Go talk to `em!
William Miller: I have to go home.
Penny Lane: You are home.
Elaine Miller: May I speak with William, please?
Sapphire: He`s not here. He`s down in the bar with the band. They just got back from the radio station. Is this Maryann with the pot?... Hello?
Elaine Miller: No, this is not Maryann with the pot. This is Elaine. His mother. Could you please give him a message for me? Could you tell him to call home immediately? And could you also tell him - I KNOW WHAT`S GOING ON.
Sapphire: All right. But I`m just going to say this, and I`m going to stand by it: you should be really proud of him. `Cause I know men, and I`ll bet you do too. And he respects women, and he likes women, and let`s just pause and appreciate a man like that. I mean, you created him out of thin air, and you raised him right, he`s having a great time, he`s doing a good job, and don`t worry - he`s still a virgin. And we`re all looking out for him. And that`s more than I`ve ever even said to my own parents, so there you go... This is the maid speaking, by the way.
Jeff Bebe: Some people have a hard time explaining rock `n` roll. I don`t think anyone can really explain rock `n` roll. Maybe Pete Townshend, but that`s okay. Rock `n` roll is a lifestyle and a way of thinking... and it`s not about money and popularity. Although, some money would be nice. But it`s a voice that says, "Here I am... and fuck you if you can`t understand me." And one of these people is gonna save the world. And that means that rock `n` roll can save the world... all of us together. And the chicks are great. But what it all comes down to is that thing. The indefinable thing when people catch something in your music.
Russell Hammond: [Russell grabs phone away from William] Hey, mom! It’s Russell Hammond. I play guitar in Stillwater. Hey, how does it feel to be the mother of the greatest rock journalist we`ve met? Hello? Hello...? Look, you`ve got a really great kid here. There`s nothing to worry about. We`re taking good care of him, and you should come to the show sometime - join the circus...
Elaine Miller: Hey, hey, listen to me, mister. You`re charm doen`t work on me - I`m on to you. Of course you like him...
Russell Hammond: Well, yeah...
Elaine Miller: He worships you people. And that`s fine by you as long as he helps make you rich.
Russell Hammond: Rich? I don`t think so...
Elaine Miller: Listen to me. He`s a smart, good-hearted fifteen year old kid with infinite potential.
Russell Hammond: [Russell is stunned]
Elaine Miller: This is not some apron-wearing mother you`re speaking with - I know all about your valhalla of decadence and I shouldn`t have let him go. He`s not ready for your world of compromised values and diminished brain cells that you throw away like confetti. Am I speaking to you clearly?
Russell Hammond: Yes - yes, ma`am...
Elaine Miller: If you break his spirit, harm him in any way, keep him from his chosen profession which is law - something you may not value, but I do - you will meet the voice on the other end of this telephone and it will not be pretty. Do we understand each other?
Russell Hammond: Uh, yes, ma`am...
Elaine Miller: I didn`t ask for this role, but I`ll play it. Now go do your best. Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid. Goethe said that. It`s not too late for you to become a person of substance, Russell. Please get my son home safely. You know, I`m glad we spoke.
[Elaine hangs up]
Russell Hammond: [Russell stands holding phone in stunned silence]
Russell Hammond: Your mom kind of freaked me out.
William Miller: [places hand on Russell`s shoulder] She means well.
Anita Miller: First it was butter then it was sugar and white flour, bacon, eggs, balogna, rock `n roll, motorcycles. Then! It was celebrating Christmas on a day in September when you knew it wouldn`t be commercialized! What else are you gonna ban?
Elaine Miller: Honey, you want to rebel against knowledge, I`m trying to give you the cliffnotes on how to live life in this world.
Anita Miller: We`re like nobody else I know!
Elaine Miller: I am a college professor. Why can`t I teach my own kids? Use me!
Anita Miller: Darryl says that you use knowledge to keep me down. He says that I`m a "Yes" person and you are trying to raise us in a "No" environment.
Elaine Miller: Well, clearly "No" is a word Darryl doesn`t hear much.
Anita Miller: I can`t live here! I hate you! Even William hates you!
Young William: I don`t hate her.
Anita Miller: You do hate her! You don`t even know the truth.
Elaine Miller: Dramaqueen.
Anita Miller: Feck you!
Elaine Miller: Hey!
Anita Miller: This is a house of lies!
William Miller: I love you. And I`m about to boldly go where... many men have gone before.
Jeff Bebe: "Rock `n` roll can save the world"? "The chicks are great"? I sound like a dick!
Russell Hammond: [to himself] You are a dick.
Ben Fong-Torres: You`re not there to party. We`ve already got *one* Hunter Thompson.
Anita Miller: This song explains why I`m leaving home to become a stewardess.
Lester Bangs: Of course I`m home. I`m always home. I`m uncool.
Elaine Miller: Rock stars have kidnapped my son!
William Miller: Don`t you have any regular friends?
Penny Lane: Famous people are just more interesting.
Lester Bangs: So, you`re the one who`s been sending me those articles from your school newspaper.
William Miller: I`ve been doing some stuff for a local underground paper, too.
Lester Bangs: What, are you like the star of your school?
William Miller: They hate me.
Lester Bangs: You`ll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.
Lester Bangs: You CANNOT make friends with the rock stars. That`s what`s important. If you`re a rock journalist - first, you will never get paid much. But you will get free records from the record company. And they`ll buy you drinks, you`ll meet girls, they`ll try to fly you places for free, offer you drugs... I know. It sounds great. But they are not your friends. These are people who want you to write sanctimonious stories about the genius of the rock stars, and they will ruin rock and roll and strangle everything we love about it.
Russell Hammond: Write what you want.
Jeff Bebe: I can`t say anymore with the writer here.
Russell Hammond: No, no, no. You can trust him, you can say whatever you want.
Jeff Bebe: I work just as hard or harder than anybody on that stage. You know what I do? I connect. I get people off. I look for the guy who isn`t getting off, and I make him get off.
Jeff Bebe: [to William] Actually, *that* you can print!
William Miller: [on meeting Stillwater] Russell. Jeff. Ed. Larry. I really love your band. I think the song "Fever Dog" is a big step forward for you guys. I think you guys producing it yourselves, instead of Glyn Johns, was the right thing to do. And the guitar sound... is incindiary. Incendiary. Way to go.
[He turns to leave. The band members regard one another for a moment]
Russell Hammond: Well, don`t stop there!
Jeff Bebe: Yeah, come back here! I`m incendiary, too, man!
William Miller: "That groupie"? She was a Band-Aid! All she did was love your band. And you used her, all of you! You used her and threw her away! She almost died last night while you were with Bob Dylan. You guys, you`re always talking about the fans, the fans, the fans; she was your biggest fan, and you threw her away! And if you can`t see that, that`s your biggest problem. And I love her! I love her!
Jeff Bebe: Doris is the soul of this band!
William Miller: Please don`t give him any more acid.
Russell Hammond: You, Aaron, are what it`s all about. You`re real. Your room is real. Your friends are real. Real, man, real. You know? Real. You`re more important than all the silly machinery. Silly machinery. And you know it! In eleven years its going to be 1984, man. Think about that!
Aaron: Wanna see me feed a mouse to my snake?
Russell Hammond: Yes.
Sapphire: They don`t even know what it is to be a fan. Y`know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts.
[Finally getting his interview with Russell Hammond]
William Miller: So Russell... what do you love about music?
Russell Hammond: To begin with, everything.
Sapphire: Just think, any other city in the world and you`d still be a virgin.
Elaine Miller: Look at this: an entire generation of Cinderellas and there`s no glass slipper.
Lester Bangs: Don`t let those swill merchants rewrite you.
Russell Hammond: From here on out, I am only interested in what is real. Real people, real feelings, that`s it, that`s all I`m interested in.
Russell Hammond: And you can tell Rolling Stone magazine that my last words were... I`m on drugs!
William Miller: Russell! I think we should work on those last words!
Russell Hammond: I got it, I got it. Last words: I dig music. I`m on drugs!
William Miller: When and where does this "real world" occur?
Dennis Hope: I didn`t invent the rainy day, man. I just own the best umbrella.
Elaine Miller: Adolescence is a marketing tool.
Lester Bangs: Oh man, you made friends with `em. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.
William Miller: Well, it was fun.
Lester Bangs: Because they make you feel cool, and hey, I met you. You are not cool.
Elaine Miller: Keep the small bills on the outside and call me if anyone gets drunk.
William Miller: I will call you if anyone *anywhere* gets drunk.
Penny Lane: Maybe it is love, as much as it can be, for somebody...
William Miller: Somebody who sold you to Humble Pie for fifty bucks and a case of beer! I was there! I was there!... Look- I`m sorry.
Penny Lane: [sniffs] What kind of beer?
Penny Lane: Look - you should be happy for me. You don`t know what he says to me in private. Maybe it is love - as much as it can be...
Russell Hammond: Hey William, we showed you America. Did everything but get you laid.
[William looks out the window and smiles]
Russell Hammond: No! Yeah?
All in car: No!
Topeka Kid: You`re Russell from Stillwater.
Russell Hammond: Well, yeah, on my better days, I am Russell from Stillwater.
[Regarding the t-shirt picture]
Russell Hammond: Can we just skip the vibe, and go straight to us laughing about this?
Jeff Bebe: Yeah, okay.
Russell Hammond: Because I can see by your face you want to get into it.
Jeff Bebe: How can you tell? I`m just one of the out-of-focus guys.
Russell Hammond: You know, I think we both wanted to, uh, to be with her. I guess she wanted us to be together.
Russell Hammond: Your mom kinda freaked me out.
Penny Lane: We are not Groupies. Groupies sleep with rockstars because they want to be near someone famous. We are here because of the music, we inspire the music. We are Band Aids.
Jeff Bebe: It`s okay! I`m easy to forget! Just leave me behind! I`m only the fucking lead singer!
Lester Bangs: And then it just becomes an industry of... cool.
Penny Lane: I`ve made a decision, I`m gonna live in Morocco for one year. I need a new crowd. Do you wanna come?
William Miller: Yes! Yeah.
Penny Lane: Are you sure?
William Miller: Ask me again.
Penny Lane: Do you wanna come?
William Miller: Yes! Yes.
Anita Miller: One day you`ll be cool. Look under your bed, it`ll set you free.
Polexia Aphrodisia: Forgive me father, for I may sin tonight.
Anita Miller: Listen to Tommy with a candle burning, and you`ll see your entire future.
[Russell is on the phone with Penny]
Russell Hammond: Give me your address. I`m coming to you, this time.
Russell Hammond: Don`t worry, no one`s getting hurt here. She knows Leslie`s coming to New York tomorrow. This is the circus, everybody`s trying not to go home. Stop looking at me like that.
Elaine Miller: [to William] Your Dad was so proud of you. He knew you were a predominantly accelerated child.
Anita Miller: What about me?
Elaine Miller: You are rebellious and ungrateful of my love.
Jeff Bebe: He was never a person, he was a journalist!
Jeff Bebe: He was never a person! He was a *journalist*!
Jeff Bebe: You know I do? I connect. I get people off. I look for that one guy that`s not getting off, and I *make* him get off!
[Ed`s only line]
Ed: Fuck it! I`m... I`m gay!
Sheldon the Desk Clerk: Are you Mr. Miller?
William Miller: Yeah.
Sheldon the Desk Clerk: [politely] You have a message from Elaine, your mother.
[pause]
Sheldon the Desk Clerk: She`s a handful.
William Miller: I know.
Sheldon the Desk Clerk: [seriously] She freaked me out.
Lester Bangs: The Doors? Jim Morrison? He`s a drunken buffoon posing as a poet.
Alice Wisdom: I like the doors.
Lester Bangs: Give me the guess who. They got the courage to be drunken buffoons, which makes them poetic.
Estrella Starr: [about Penny Lane] She Changed everything. She was the one that said "No more sex. No more exploiting our bodies and hearts." Just blow-jobs, and that`s it!
Russell Hammond: [upon entering William`s bedroom] So... This is where the enemy sleeps.
Lester Bangs: Iggy Pop!
[smiling effusively]
Lester Bangs: Amen!
Polexia Aphrodisia: [to William watching Penny Lane] Act One, in which she pretends she doesn`t care about him.
Polexia Aphrodisia: [sees Russell strumming his guitar and staring at Penny] Act Two, in which he pretends he doesn`t care her, but he goes right for her.
Polexia Aphrodisia: [Russell goes to Penny] Act Three, in which it all plays out the way she planned it. She`ll eat him alive.
William Miller: We gotta stop them!
Polexia Aphrodisia: Stop them? You...were her reason for coming here.
Lester Bangs: You like Lou Reed?
William Miller: The early stuff. In his new stuff he`s trying to be Bowie, but he should just be himself.
William Miller: You said we were going to go to Morocco. There is no Morocco. There`s never been a Morocco. There`s not even a Penny Lane. I don`t even know your real name.
Sapphire: Does anybody remember laughter?
Jeff Bebe: And I also slept with Leslie.
Russell Hammond: You slept with Jeff?
Leslie: Yeah, but it didn`t COUNT! It was the summer we decided to be free of all rules!
Anita Miller: All the kids make fun of him. They call him the Narc behind his back.
Elaine Miller: What`s a narc?
Anita Miller: It`s a narcotics officer.
Elaine Miller: Well, what`s wrong with THAT?
Jeff Bebe: [to Russell] Your looks have become a problem!
Dick Roswell: Ladies and Gentelmen! The evening is over. We hope you all enjoyed yourselves and we`ll see you all again in 1974. Good evening!
[first lines]
Elaine Miller: I can`t believe you wanna be Atticus Finch. Oh, that makes me feel so good.
Young William: I like him.
[last lines]
Penny Lane: Morocco. A seat by the window, please.
Elaine Miller: You`ve been kissing!
Anita Miller: It`s unfair that we can`t listen to our music!
Elaine Miller: That`s because it`s music about drugs and promiscuous sex.
Anita Miller: Simon and Garfunkel is poetry!
Elaine Miller: Yes it`s poetry. It`s poetry of drugs and promiscuous sex. Honey, they`re on pot.
Penny Lane: When we go to Morocco, I think we should have completely different names and be completely different people.
William Miller: What will our names be?
Russell Hammond: Oh, my God. Holy shit. Fuck! I grew up with that lampshade. I love this kitchen. I fucking love this kitchen!
Trivia
The roles of Russell Hammond and Penny Lane were originally set to go to Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley. Polley dropped out to work on her own project, a low-budget Canadian movie The Law of Enclosures (2000), and Pitt, for whom writer/director Cameron Crowe had written the part of the "guitarist with mystique", worked with Crowe for months before finally admitting, according to Crowe, "I just don`t get it enough to do it." Kate Hudson, who took over the role of Penny Lane, had been originally cast as William`s sister.
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# The original title for Almost Famous was actually "Untitled", however Dreamworks would not allow this, so Crowe called the bootleg edition of Almost Famous on DVD "Untitled" instead.
Peter Frampton taught Billy Crudup how to play the guitar in preparation for the concert scenes.
The film`s production took 92 days.
Philip Seymour Hoffman`s schedule only permitted him to be on set for four days, and he had the flu the whole time.
To look like a real rock band, the four actors in Stillwater rehearsed for four hours a night, five nights a week, for six weeks.
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# Stillwater`s songs were written by Peter Frampton (who also had a small part in the film), Cameron Crowe and his wife Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart, a fact indicated early in the credits although the music acknowledgments credit Russell Hammond and Stillwater as if they were real authors and performers.
Penny Lane asks William if he`d like to go to Morocco with her. He says, "Yes... ask me again." According to director Cameron Crowe, "ask me again" was Patrick Fugit stepping out of character and asking Kate Hudson to repeat her lines for another take. But Crowe liked the take as-is and kept it in the final cut.
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready provided the guitar track for Stillwater`s songs.
The old records William looks through at the beginning are actually Cameron Crowe`s, saved from his younger years.
Unusually, Billy Crudup actually was on the other end of the telephone line in the scene where Frances McDormand`s character reprimands him.
At the party, when he is on acid, Russell Hammond cries out, "I am a golden god!" This is a reference to Robert Plant of the band Led Zeppelin, who is purported to have said the same thing (sober) while looking over Sunset Strip from a hotel balcony.
Fairuza Balk`s exclamation, "Does anybody remember laughter?" is a reference to an additional lyric Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin) would often insert in live performances of "Stairway to Heaven".
References to The Allman Brothers Band: - In the opening scene, we briefly see a ticket stub from an Allman Brothers concert - Later, we see a black-and-white photo of the fictional band Stillwater that echoes the Allman Brothers` famous "Live at the Fillmore East" album cover - The character Red Dog is named after one of the Allman Brothers` famous roadies - We also hear the Allman Brothers` music on the tour bus
Stillwater`s bus is named "Doris".
When Penny Lane is driving William to the hotel to meet Stillwater, there is a reflection on the windshield that resembles the cover of Pink Floyd`s album "Dark Side of the Moon".
The shot of the crowd at the start of the first Stillwater concert (with the roses on the stage and fan flashing a peace sign) is based on the cover of Neil Young`s "Time Fades Away".
At the age of 18, director Cameron Crowe wrote the liner notes to the "Frampton Comes Alive!" album by rocker Peter Frampton. Frampton returns the favor here by acting as a music consultant for the film.
In the scene where the tour plane hits turbulence, Russell starts to sing "Peggy Sue". This is in reference to Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash while on tour. Russell then continues "Whoa baby!", referencing The Big Bopper, who died in the same plane crash.
The film is director Cameron Crowe`s semi-autobiographical account of life as a young Rolling Stone reporter. The actual group that Crowe first toured with was The Allman Brothers Band. (Gregg Allman was the one who distrusted him and kept asking if he was a narc.) Crowe`s real-life near-fatal plane crash happened while traveling with The Who. The character of Russell Hammond is based on Glenn Frey of Eagles.
The school shown for a few seconds at the beginning of the film is the University of San Diego High School (USDHS), Cameron Crowe`s alma mater. Crowe also cast his former journalism teacher from USDHS, Daniel Wilson, for a cameo during the high school graduation scene. The concert scenes that open the film were filmed down the road from USDHS at the San Diego Sports Arena.
Jason Lee said he emulated moves of Paul Rodgers, lead singer of Free and Bad Company, to accurately portray rock star Jeff Bebe (his aim was "not to be a parody").
Featuring over 50 songs, the film`s music budget was $3.5 million. Most music budgets for films are less than $1.5 million.
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# According to Cameron Crowe, he had sent the script around town to see if he could get anyone to respond to it, including Dreamworks Studio where one of its principal founders is director Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had read Crowe`s 172-page script over the weekend and called Crowe on Monday saying, "Direct every word". Crowe has stated that he did film almost all of the script.
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# In the Continental Hyatt House, Vic the Led Zeppelin fan has a T-shirt with song lyrics on it. On the front is "To be a rock and not to roll", which is from "Stairway to Heaven". On the back it says "Have you seen the bridge?" which is from "The Crunge".
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# The scene where Cameron Crowe`s character is pulled into the pre-performance huddle is based on an occasion when Eddie Vedder pulled Crowe into Pearl Jam`s huddle before performing one of their Lollapalooza shows.
During the opening credits, the hand that`s writing on the notepad belongs to Cameron Crowe.
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# When William finally makes an appearance at Rolling Stone`s San Francisco office, a Hunter S. Thompson "Freak Power" poster can be seen on the wall. William`s editor also mentions Thompson in an earlier phone conversation.
The photo on the T-shirt that Stillwater are disappointed about is a close replica of the cover from Bad Company`s 1977 album, "Burnin` Sky".
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# In William`s final interview with Russell Hammond, William asks "What do you love about music?" and Russell replies "To begin with...” and William laughs. "To Begin With...” is the title of Stillwater`s (fictional) first album, seen briefly on an 8-Track in the opening sequence, and more clearly in The Making Of, on the DVD.
Cameron Crowe says he got Billy Crudup`s line, "Well, yeah, on my better days, I am Russell from Stillwater," directly from John Cusack`s response to a girl in a bar who asked, "Aren`t you Lloyd Dobler?" (his character in Say Anything... (1989)).
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# When William comes across the Led Zeppelin fan kid in New York, the kid is wearing a T-shirt which has the lyrics of Led Zeppelin`s "The Rain Song" written on it.
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# Kirsten Dunst was nearly cast as Penny Lane instead of Kate Hudson. Cameron Crowe chose Hudson because he felt Hudson seemed more like a "free spirit", but Crowe promised Dunst he would cast her in a future film of his. Four years later, he kept his promise by casting Dunst as the leading role in Elizabethtown (2005).
Jon Favreau and Jack Black both auditioned for the role of Lester Bangs.
Cameo: [Alice Marie Crowe] the director`s mother appears in the graduation scene as a teacher handing out diplomas.
Cameo: [Cindy Crowe] the director`s sister (portrayed in the movie as Anita), and her husband and three daughters as the startled family in the elevator when David Bowie is hustled into it by his manager.
Cameo: [Jann Wenner] publisher of Rolling Stone is seated in the back of a New York taxi.
The opening credit sequence is a homage to the one in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), one of director Cameron Crowe`s all-time favorite films. Immediately after the opening credits, William Miller and his mother are having a discussion about Atticus Finch, the protagonist of "To Kill a Mockingbird".
In the scene where the band finds out that William is using "everything" in his Rolling Stone article, Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) is wearing a T-shirt that says "Jeff Bebe" on it, but the picture above it is of Russell Hammond`s (Billy Crudup) face. This is a sly allusion to the feud between them, and ties into the line from the "Untitled" version where Jeff says to Russell, "I`m the you they get when they can`t have you."
The scene where members of the band Stillwater are being driven into New York city in a limo mimics a scene in the film The Song Remains the Same (1976) where members of Led Zeppelin are being driven into New York city in a limo.
The legal disclaimer at the end of the film (which, for most films, merely states that all characters and events are fictional, with any real-life similarities being coincidence), in fact notes that the character of Penny Lane was "loosely based" on a real individual. Cameron Crowe has stated the character of Penny Lane is based on his friend in real life, Pennie Trumble, who actually does go by the name of "Pennie Lane". She now lives in Portland, Oregon, and is involved in the music industry.
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# Cameron Crowe`s mother appeared on the set for a cameo, and Crowe made every effort to keep her away from Frances McDormand, who was playing a character based on her, apart. This was so that McDormand`s interpretation of the part wouldn`t be swayed, but when he left the set for a few minutes on the first day of shooting, he returned to find McDormand and his mother having lunch together.
The band name Stillwater may be a tribute to Stillwater, Oklahoma where Rolling Stone is printed.
Patrick Fugit grew three inches while filming and consequently, co-star Billy Crudup had to wear platforms to balance it out.
Patrick Fugit`s voice broke during filming.
The character of Ben Fong Torres, like the character Lester Bangs, was not a work of fiction, but in fact a one-time senior editor and writer for Rolling Stone, who was with them from near the beginning through to the early eighties. During his time with Rolling Stone he famously interviewed Bob Dylan and The Doors, amongst many others, and since leaving he has published a number of books, including "The Doors by The Doors" (in collaboration with The Doors), and "Hickory Wind", a Gram Parsons biography.
Marti Frederiksen provided the lead singing vocals for Jason Lee as Jeff Bebe. We do, however, hear Jason Lee`s actual voice singing the song "Cover of the Rolling Stone" when Jeff Bebe learns that Stillwater will make the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
The type of camera Penny used was a Polaroid SX-70.
According to the commentary on the director`s cut, Noah Taylor stayed in character as the band`s manager during breaks in filming.
The song "Fever Dog" written by Peter Frampton is similar to the opening song "Four Day Creep" on Humble Pie`s live album "Rockin` The Fillmore" (Frampton was lead guitar in Humble Pie).
In the opening credits you can hear a song by "Alvin and the Chipmunks" playing. Jason Lee will later play Dave in the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007).
Penny Lane dancing in the empty, debris-strewn Cleveland auditorium is Cameron Crowe (I)`s favorite scene in the movie.
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# Lawrence Kasdan is given a "special thanks" credit. It was Kasdan who encouraged Cameron Crowe to revive his often-discussed personal project and get the movie made.
SPOILER: The scene where Penny Lane nearly dies of a drug overdose is a tribute to a similar scene in the film The Apartment (1960), director Cameron Crowe`s favorite film, in which Fran Kubelik nearly dies from taking too many sleeping pills.
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Anna Paquin
(as Polexia Aphrodisia)
with Jason Lee
(as Jeff Bebe)
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