Most people first read about Cameron’s book, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, in the September 1981 excerpt published in Playboy magazine. I’m pleased to announce that its been added to the site. Check it out here.
Tag Archives: Fast Times at Ridgemont High
What Teenagers Really Watch
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During Cameron’s research for Fast Times, he was approached by TV Guide to document how teenagers felt about TV. In this story published back in January, 1982 he interviews various “Ridgemont” graduates for their thoughts. Among the interesting observations: the popularity of Leave It to Beaver (also glimpsed in the ending sequence of Vanilla Sky), the lack of “real” television, comments from Ellen Russell (who worked at a doughnut shop and must have partially inspired Lea Thompson’s character in The Wild Life) and his Hawaii Five-O obsessed geometry teacher (Mr. Hand).
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Mar 14, 2003
Save A Scene: Fast Times – Spicoli, Highway to Hell & More
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Here’s a very funny (and rarely told) story about Cameron’s many attempts to save a scene from Fast Times from the June, 1990 issue of American Film. It involves Jeff Spicoli, Johnny Carson, Tom Snyder, David Letterman and more… Read the story…
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Dec 21, 2002
Fast Times Book Intro
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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).
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Oct 2, 2002
Fast Times – 20th Anniversary Reunion
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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.
Filed under News
Mar 19, 2002
