Here’s a still from Cameron Crowe’s Gap commercial entitled “Denim Invasion” starring Kate Beckinsale and Orlando Bloom. As previously reported, this will debut tonight in the United States during “Law & Order,” “Criminal Intent” and “X-Files.” Throughout May, they will air during episodes of “24,” “West Wing,” “Friends,” “ER,” “Will and Grace,” “Felicity” and the NBA playoffs. They will also run in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Cameron has just completed work on his first television commercial for The Gap! According to Vinyl Films’ Scott Martin, it was shot in Pomona, CA with actors Kate Beckinsale (Pearl Harbor) and Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings). They play a couple pursued by admirers during a stroll on the streets. It was filmed in black & white and will make its debut April 28 in the United States during “Law & Order,” “Criminal Intent” and “X-Files.” Throughout May, they will air during episodes of “24,” “West Wing,” “Friends,” “ER,” “Will and Grace,” “Felicity” and the NBA playoffs. They will also run in the United Kingdom and Canada. Other Gap ads were directed by the Coen Brothers and Roman Coppola.
Cameron, Billy, Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon
To keep our thoughts on Billy Wilder, here’s a great piece Cameron wrote for the Guardian about Billy Wilder and the making of The Apartment. Enjoy!
Cameron Crowe’s mentor, filmmaking legend Billy Wilder, 95, passed away this past Wednesday in Los Angeles. Wilder is survived by his wife of 53 years, Audrey, and daughter Victoria. There will be no funeral, according to Daily Variety, but a public memorial will be held later this year. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.
You can read the numerous stories about his life and career here: NY Times, Daily Mail, CNN, PBS: American Masters. There’s also a great list of Wilder quotes (From Cameron’s Conversations with Wilder) available here.
We all seen various quotes that Abre Los Ojos director Alejandro Amenábar approved of Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky remix. Here’s his complete official statement:
“When I learned, quite some time ago now, that Cameron Crowe was going to write and direct the film based on Open Your Eyes with Tom Cruise in the leading role, I felt honored. Now that I have seen Vanilla Sky, I couldn’t be more proud. Cameron has all my respect and admiration. Respect, for having plumbed the deepest meaning of the work. Admiration, for having sought new viewpoints and a fresh approach to the mise-en-scene, giving the film his own unmistakable touch. Vanilla Sky is as true the original spirit as it is irreverent towards its form, and that makes it a courageous, innovative work. I think I can say that, for me, the projects are like two very special brothers. They have the same concerns, but their personalities are quite different. In other words, they sing the same song but with quite different voices: one likes opera, and the other likes rock and roll.”
Alejandro Amenábar
As promised, (for a long time now), we present Cameron’s 1986 talk with Tom Cruise from Interview Magazine. He discusses his early film career (Taps, The Outsiders, Risky Business and Top Gun) and his plans for the future.
Here’s the great reunion shot of the Fast Times at Ridgemont. It includes the cast, director Amy Heckerling, Cameron and Producer Art Linsonfeatured in this month’s Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair.
Some additional tidbits about the picture. It was Vanity Fair‘s idea to get everyone together for the shoot. A celebrity photographer, Jason Schmidt, did the work at Beverly Hills High School. Sean Penn was the first to arrive and stayed throughout the shoot. Everyone was there but Cameron, Phoebe, Jennifer and Anthony Edwards. Cameron and Anthony were shot later on the West coast and then digitally inserted. The two girls, however, took a bit more work. The photographer talked the school into selling him two of the desks which he shipped back to NYC and then shot ‘Linda’ and ‘Stacy’ reacting to their 2500-mile-away detractors, and again digitally inserted.
I talked to the powers that be at Vinyl Films to get more specifics about the May 21st release of the Vanilla Sky DVD. As usual, we’re in for a treat. First up the audio commentary will again be venturing into new territory. The track will be primarily Crowe with some interspersed comments from Tom Cruise and Nancy Wilson, but that’s not the big news. During the running commentary, Nancy will be providing “live” musical accompaniment as she plays tunes on her guitar! Very cool! In addition, Cameron will call up people who worked on the movie and see if anyone’s home. I’m told this track is his best yet!
Here’s some more information about the two featurettes which will be included. The first one entitled “Prelude To A Dream” runs about 6 1/2 minutes and is really a montage of the entire Vanilla Sky process. You’ll see glimpses of the script being worked on, rehearsal footage, wardrobe, behind the scenes, etc. This was edited by Vinyl Film’s guru Scott Martin and should be great.
The other featurette “Hitting It Hard” is a 9 1/2 minute look at Cameron’s world wide press tour (with Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz). The big news here is that they are also working on a longer version of this (60 – 90 minutes) which should hopefully see a release in a year or so. There was a very short window for the gang to cull everything they wanted for the DVD and it just couldn’t happen. With a May 21st release, they really only had a few months to get it ready, so we can look forward to a separate DVD release of additional things (such as the longer “Hitting It Hard”, deleted scenes, etc.) ala The Matrix Revisited or possibly in a Super Duper 2 Disc Special Edition (like the Untitled DVD). Be patient, this will get done when it’s done, so don’t expect anything for awhile (like 12 – 24 months). The Photo Gallery will include an audio introduction from Neal Preston and should include some 200 images. Lastly, Cameron was very involved with the DVD Artwork and is very happy with the final cover. Again, what a year for Cameron Crowe DVD’s. But there’s more….
