Tag Archives: Exclusive

Fast Times at Ridgemont High: 29 Years Ago Today…

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The Scene That Wore Out VHS Tapes…

Can you believe it? . . . 29 years ago today marked the theatrical release of Fast Times at Ridgemont High in North America. Hopefully you picked up the new Blu-ray earlier this week, but regardless, it would be a great time to celebrate the film in any format (VHS, Beta, LaserDisc, DVD, HD-DVD, iTunes, etc.). All those different formats just validate Fast Times and its staying power. Maybe someday, the outtakes and deleted scenes will show up in somebody’s garage, but for now, we can always watch them during those TBS showings, right?

Cameron Makes His Mark

To celebrate the occasion, I’m sharing this insightful L.A. Times article I recently came across from December, 1981. Writer Paul Rosenfield was invited on set (after midnight) as filming had just begun. He captures the excitement of all these relative unknowns making a feature film for the first time (Amy Heckerling, Cameron Crowe, most of the cast, etc.). You’ll find  some great quotes from Cameron and Art Linson and it’s an enjoyable read.

Cameron (with sweet mustache) plays “Doug” in a promo shot that wasn’t used in the film

Please share your memories about Fast Times? When did you first see it? Was it back in 1982 or more recently? Chime in with your thoughts!

 

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Aug 13, 2011

Inquire Within: Missing “Mandalay Again”?

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Welcome to another edition of Inquire Within… Through your submissions, Cameron will answer your questions in his own words. The goal is to have a new question and answer posting every week or two leading up to the releases of Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall and The Union early next year.

James Clark: Like your good-self, I am a huge Elton John fan and cannot wait to see your new documentary The Union.  I’m so grateful to you for giving fans like myself an opportunity to see Elton (and Leon) doing ‘their thing’ in the studio. Why was “Mandalay Again” left off the main release?  It’s such a beautiful song I actually think it’s one of Elton and Bernie’s best… ever!  I’m assuming here that you were privy to the conversations that lead to it being left off the album and was hoping that you may be able to shed some light.  I’d also love to hear your thoughts on the song.

Cameron: Like all of us who worked on the film, we loved “Mandalay Again.” LOVED the song.  It was a surprise to us when Elton John decided that it didn’t quite fit in the specific tone of The Union.  I think his reason was that it was a little too much in the “classic” vein of Bernie and Elton’s later work, and maybe not necessarily representative of the Union sessions as a whole.  Glad he decided to release it as part of the deluxe edition of the album.  We also loved the demos for many of the “Union” songs, and use “Never Too Old” in demo form quite liberally in the finished film.  Nice question.  To paraphrase Steely Dan, only a true fan could ask that.

The Union doc debuts on HBO in January.

Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…

 

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Jul 25, 2011

Exclusive: Cameron On Music – PJ20, We Bought A Zoo & More

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I’m very excited to share a recent interview that I conducted with Cameron on all things music entitled “Music Matters”. We chatted about a variety of musical topics including Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, Todd Rundgren, Led Zeppelin, the best guitarists he’s seen live and much more. Then the questions turned to the musical aspects of both Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought A Zoo. Another in-depth interview will occur this Fall and cover more specifics around the films, but today’s interview is all about the music…

 

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Jul 19, 2011

Inquire Within: Singles Extended Cut or Blu-ray?

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Welcome to another edition of Inquire Within… Through your submissions, Cameron will answer your questions in his own words. The goal is to have a new question and answer posting every week or two leading up to the releases of Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall and The Union early next year.

Justin Noszek: Singles is my all time favorite movie.  Will there ever be an extended version released?  Failing that, what about a Blu-ray? It would be a perfect tie in to Pearl Jam Twenty?

Cameron: I’m with you, Justin.  Andy Fischer, who works with me running Vinyl Films, is digging into the vaults at Warner Brothers to see where the footage resides.  We have all the concert footage – including KILLER stuff on Alice in Chains – but the outtake scenes themselves are waiting to be discovered.  Some of Chris Cornell’s unreleased score will be in PJ20 – which is great because he’s a natural scoring artist and did GREAT stuff for the movie that was never used.

Citizen Dick wants a Singles Extended Cut!

Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…

 

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Jul 4, 2011

Inquire Within: Manic Pixie Dream Girl

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We are back with another edition of Inquire Within… Through your submissions, Cameron will answer your questions in his own words. The goal is to have a new question and answer posting every week or two leading up to the releases of Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall and The Union early next year.

Rodrigo Rothchild (Austin, Tx): How do you feel about Kirsten Dunst’s character in Elizabethtown being the source of the term ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’? (Greg’s note: this phrase coined by film writer Nathan Rabin, has become part of the pop culture vernacular over the last few years. more details can be found here)

Cameron: I dig it.  I keep thinking I’ll run into Nathan Rabin and we’ll have a great conversation about it.  Every MPDG he’s assigned to me has been based on a real woman, though, so they’re not really “cinematic creations” to me.  Often that persona is a front, and every true man’s job is to dig beneath the surface and really come to know the woman he finds himself in love with.  Still, the coinage is hilarious.  I love it.

Manic Pixie Dunst Girl?! – Claire Colburn

Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…

 

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Jun 27, 2011

Inquire Within: Zoo Homework

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We are back with another edition of Inquire Within… Through your submissions, Cameron will answer your questions in his own words. The goal is to have a new question and answer posting every week or two leading up to the releases of The Union, Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall.

The Uncool: What films were required viewing this time around for your cast and crew before you started filming We Bought a Zoo?

Cameron: Local Hero and the Sigur Ros documentary Heima.  Both had a warmth and a feeling of getting lost in another world, a place you might never want to leave.  At this point, I’ve ordered so many copies of these two films, if Amazon had a button that just said — “AGAIN” — I would press it.

Fun Fact: Heima was even used on the signs to guide people to the set of We Bought a Zoo!

Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…

 

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Jun 11, 2011

Singles – Nine Deleted Scenes

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More brand new (well 20 years old actually) content for you today. We’d like to share with you nine deleted scenes from 1992’s Singles! These were from Cameron’s script dated January 4, 1991. What I found most interesting when I read the script was how much of it is presented in a different order than the finished film. This speaks to previous comments where Cameron said he was going for Manhattan vignette approach. This made it easy to shuffle scenes around, but still maintain continuity. In addition to the two deleted scenes (Bailey’s French Club Fantasy and Advice to Lovelorn Steve) that can be found on the Singles DVD, we present an animated sequence, Elvis talk, the debut of Mirror Guy #1, a Janet/Dr. Jamison romantic subplot, a Debbie Hunt marathon monologue and much more with Bailey.

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Jun 2, 2011

Inquire Within: Zoo Origins

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Today is the debut of a new feature entitled Inquire Within… Through your submissions, Cameron will answer your questions in his own words. The goal is to have a new question and answer posting every few weeks leading up to the releases of The Union, Pearl Jam Twenty and We Bought a Zoo this fall. I’ll kick it off with a question around We Bought a Zoo and how it came to his attention.

The Uncool: How did We Bought A Zoo come to your attention?

Cameron: We Bought A Zoo came to us from Fox Studios, and producer Julie Yorn. It was immediately interesting, a true story that really stayed with me. I loved the book. There was also a wonderful script by Aline Brosh McKenna and a documentary that the BBC produced on Benjamin Mee’s story. It was rich with characters and had a strong beating heart in the tale of Benjamin and his family’s quest to bring the Dartmoor Zoo back to life. Gail Levin (our longtime casting director) also read all the materials and said “let’s have a blast.” Which we did. So happy to have had a chance to work with these actors, each one different and each one so committed.   It’s the kind of movie that they say doesn’t get made much anymore – a big story without a lot of fancy fireworks. Just strong actors, a great cinematographer in Rodrigo Prieto, and a chance to tell a human story with every emotion built into it. I could have never written this out of thin air – it all happened to Benjamin Mee – but I related so much to his journey.  I felt like it was my job to bring it to life.   I told Clay Griffith, my friend and production designer, “get ready to build a zoo.”  And so it began…

Please send in your questions for Cameron and maybe yours will be part of a future installment of Inquire Within…

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Jun 1, 2011

David Crosby: Remember My Name-Out Now on DVD/Blu-ray & Digital!

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  • Almost Famous- Paramount+

  • Aloha- Starz, DirecTV

  • David Crosby- Starz, DirecTV

  • E-Town- FUBO

  • Fast Times- TUBI

  • Jerry Maguire- Netflix

  • Say Anything...- FUBO,Paramount+,MGM+

  • Singles- Vudu

  • Vanilla Sky- Prime Video,Pluto TV

  • We Bought A Zoo- Disney+