Singer/actress Michelle Phillips (the Mamas and the Papas) was profiled by Cameron in the February 23rd, 1978 issue of Rolling Stone right before the release of her (one and only) solo album Victim of Romance. After the solo album, Michelle focused primarily on her acting and continued to appear on TV shows throughout the ’90s.
Did you know there’s a Billy Wilder cafe at the Potsdamer Platz (next to the Berlin Film Museum) in Germany? Here’s a few pictures and you can check out the website as well (Thanks Paul!)
Cameron wrote for a publication called Zoo World in the early ’70s. I’ve managed to track down an April, 1973 interview he did with musician/actor Johnny Nash. You might remember Johnny from his big 1972 hit “I Can See Clearly Now”. Although his popularity in the U.S. dimmed, Nash returned to the UK charts in 1975 with his number one cover of the Little Anthony classic “Tears on My Pillow,” followed a year later by another Sam Cooke cover, “(What a) Wonderful World.” He gradually retired from performing during the coming years. “I Can See Clearly Now” has been covered many times, including versions by Jimmy Cliff and (one of my personal favorites) Neil Finn.
I’ve got a real treat for you today. A huge interview with Cameron by the Seattle Times during promotion for Singles. It’s one of the most insightful and in-depth interviews yet. I have a feeling Cameron gave the Seattle Times extra attention. It’s his “adopted hometown” and I’m sure he wanted to give them a special interview. Enjoy!
There’s a wonderfully informative interview with Vinyl Films’ Scott Martin over at The Living Jarboe. He talks about job responsibilities as Associate Producer, his integral role in relation to music for the film (and during the shoot) and his involvement with the DVD’s. It’s a fascinating piece, so please give it a look. The entire interview is available below:
On a January 2001 day that began at dawn and ended long after the sun had gone down, I was an invited guest on the set of Vanilla Sky at Paramount Studios. There, I had the fascinating experience of participating in the filming of a “party scene” which included three of the stars of the movie. I also had the distinct privilege of observing director Cameron Crowe as well as Scott Martin in his professional duties as associate producer.
JARBOE : How long have you worked in film production in Hollywood?
SCOTT MARTIN: I’ve been working in film or television since 1993, initially as a production assistant, then as an executive assistant and finally as an associate producer for Cameron Crowe, with whom I continue to work.
JARBOE : Tell me about your work for the film, Vanilla Sky. You are credited as Associate Producer. What does this entail?
SCOTT : This is a question I get asked constantly, “What the hell do you actually do?” People, especially my family, get very upset that I have a hard time defining it at any given time. I work with Cameron Crowe, who writes, directs and produces. My job is to assist him in any and every way I can. Something very tangible I produced last year was a DVD called Untitled. We were working on Vanilla Sky at the same time and Cameron had hardly any time to devote to the creation of the DVD, unless it directly involved his creative input, such as the audio commentary. So I took on the responsibility of shepherding that while he focused on the movie at hand. At the same time, I was helping Cameron with casting decisions, editorial decisions and day to day production problems, depending where we were in the process. Cameron has final cut and final say in every single decision regarding the movie, but he uses me as a sounding board to help work through problems. We have now done Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, and Vanilla Sky together, so I feel like I can contribute an opinion that honors his directing style and is best for the film. Also, I bring a lot of music into the fold. We play music on the set, during takes or between takes to help motivate the actors, or establish a mood. Cameron and I collaborate on that. We have very different tastes in music, so we are able to cover a lot of ground. He used to tour with Zeppelin and The Who and I used to skate to Swans records and Bowie’s Low. It’s an interesting musical partnership that has, sort of, organically developed between the two of us. That’s why we can have a soundtrack like Vanilla Sky that contains artists from Sigur Ros to Rundgren to Leftfield.
I’ve added Cameron’s introduction to his novel, Fast Times At Ridgemont High. Since it’s the 20th anniversary of the film, I’ll keep trying to convince him that it’s time to re-release the book (those Ebay prices are outrageous).
We are pleased to present Cameron’s introduction to Yes’ new 5 CD boxset “In a Word”. Special thanks to Mark and Ignacio!
This appeared in Roger Ebert’s Movie Answer Man Column last week (Thanks Altenyr!):
