Tag Archives: Vanity Fair

Happy Birthday Tom Cruise!

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Tom Cruise turns 52 today and it seems like the perfect time to honor the man with a few interviews that he did with Cameron. The first one with Interview magazine back in 1986 was his most in-depth to date. They discuss his early years, Top Gun, The Color of Money and much much more. We also recommend that you check out Cameron’s Vanity Fair interview with Tom from 2000.

Lastly, have you seen Edge of Tomorrow yet? In my humble opinion, it’s a perfect Summer movie. Very entertaining and funny too. Do check it out.  Happy Birthday Tom!

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Hot Shot in Top Gun

It has been three years since Tom Cruise made his starring debut as Joel Goodsen, the awakening young capitalist in Paul Brickman’s “Risky Business.” The movie was a perfect showcase for Cruise’s style – equal parts comic vulnerability and dramatic strength. When the family egg tumbled through the air at the end of “Risky Business”, audiences everywhere felt the full weight of Joel’s predicament. By the time it landed, Cruise had arrived.

Now 24, Cruise has worked steadily since that memorable turn, but due to a combination of lengthy schedules and production delays, he hasn’t been seen since 1983′s “All The Right Moves.” That hiatus is about to end. This year will see the release of three high-profile Cruise releases. First comes Ridley Scott’s long-awaited “Legend.” The summer blockbuster, “Top Gun” will hit theaters this month, and due in December is “The Color of Money,” Martin Scorsese’s sequel to “The Hustler.” Cruise stars as the pool playing protégé/nemesis of Fast Eddie – Paul Newman.

I spoke with Tom Cruise at the Columbus Dynasty Restaurant on New York’s Upper West Side. A model of manners, Cruise rarely missed an opportunity for a “sir” or “ma’am.” When our talk was over, he thanked the waitress, hoisted his backpack onto his shoulders and disappeared into a crowded subway, looking a lot like Joel Goodsen a long way from home.

Cameron Crowe: You’re someone who is associated with a lot of people’s adolescent thoughts and fantasies…

Tom Cruise: Yep, I’ve been laid just about everywhere. On the train, in the bedroom, on the stairs….[laughs]

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Jul 3, 2014

Rockin’ The Role – Extended Vanity Fair Story

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Here’s an exclusive treat. This is the extended version of the story that ran back in the January, 2013 issue of Vanity Fair. It’s nearly 1000 words longer and digs a bit deeper into the subject. We hope you like it.

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Apr 8, 2013

Vanity Fair Gets Funny

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Vanity Fair has released their first comedy issue with guest editor Judd Apatow (with three unique covers). Contributers to the issue include Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien, Lena Dunham, Zack Galifianakis, the making of the Blues Brothers and much more. Cameron shares a new article entitled “Rocking the Role” about musicians who shine in acting roles. We will have that piece in the near future. In the meantime, check out the January Vanity Fair issue on store shelves now.

 

 

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Dec 7, 2012

PJ20 Interview with Vanity Fair

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Cameron with Mike McCready

Cameron reunites with longtime friend and rock writer Lisa Robinson for an interview about Pearl Jam Twenty for the September issue of Vanity Fair. I’ve also included a scan of the interview below (courtesy of the amazing PJ site, Two Feet Thick).

Hot Tracks – Cameron Crowe’s New Documentary

Drugs, death and disaster are indigenous to rock ‘n’ roll. But according to Academy Award-winning filmmaker Cameron Crowe, director of the new documentary Pearl Jam Twenty, this band survived all the aforementioned dramas. The two-hour film, which opens in theaters this month and airs on PBS’s American Masters in October, was directed by Crowe from 3,000 hours of new interview material and archival footage. Both the film and forthcoming book, also called Pearl Jam Twenty (to be published by Simon & Schuster, with an introduction by Crowe), celebrate the band’s twentieth anniversary. Here, Crowe – director of such films as Singles, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, and the forthcoming We Bought A Zoo – talks to Lisa Robinson about “my little sketch of a rare American band that didn’t break up.”

Lisa Robinson: Why did you back to the band’s beginnings as Mother Love Bone with their first lead singer, Andrew Wood?

Cameron Crowe: I wanted to tell that story of lightning striking twice. Nobody believed there was going to be a future for those guys after Andy Wood died, and it’s kind of a rock miracle that Eddie [Vedder] – who was living in California at the time – sent in an audition tape.

L.R. What do you think Eddie brought to the band?

C.C. He brought promise, and also a challenge to their Seattle, set-in-their-ways community. Eddie, as a guy, wants to fit in, but he also wants to tilt against the windmills. That combination of push and pull really helped them. Andy was ready to play arenas with no guilt, and I think Eddie wanted to stay close to fans and build it slowly. He was both an insider and an outsider.

L.R. Do you think Eddie is the conscience of the band?

C.C. I do. And I think in a way Kurt Cobain was too – in that he kept [Pearl Jam] honest. Kurt was vocal and said, “Are we watching careerism here?” Of course, [with Nirvana] Kurt was his own careerist. But what ended up happening was that Pearl Jam actually swung the other way, and became more idiosyncratic than they would  have been if Kurt hadn’t been there [initally] saying Pearl Jam was more Guns N’ Roses than the Melvins.

L.R. But doesn’t every band that steps onstage want to be really big?

C.C. Of course. Now you can look back on it and see that they’re all dying for a spot on the big stage. But the Pearl Jam situation was helped by the fact that they were in Seattle – it wasn’t New York or L.A., it was around the corner. To me, that was the heart of Seattle – it was a pretty small community, and all these people played together. There’s not a lot of other stuff to do. The cliche is, because it rains a lot, you stay inside and you play music and you get high. And in the movie, [guitarist] Mike McCready especially is pretty up-front about this former drug problems.

L.R. Pearl Jam protested against Ticketmaster, claiming it was a monopoly. What was the long-term effect of that protest?

C.C. They were out there touring without any help from other bands, trying to find places in the middle of nowhere to play. No other bands would come out to the sticks and play like Pearl Jam was forced to, and that became the basis of a whole new layer of fans for them. When you go see them now, it’s a celebration of people who stuck it out with them. That’s why their shows have become such a communal thing.

L.R. How much control did you have over the film, and how did the band react when they saw it?

C.C. I had final cut, and when we showed the movie to the band, especially the part where Mike said it used to be Stone [Gossard]’s band and now it’s Ed’s, there was no oxygen in the room. They had talked about that stuff to us, but not to each other.

L.R. How do you feel about the finished film?

C.C. When we got to the final reel of the film, it was the greatest feeling to turn it up and watch [the band perform”Better Man”] live on a big stage with the music sounding right. I make movies to get that transcendent feeling from time to time, and if we got it right in P.J. Twenty, I’m the happiest guy in the world.

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Aug 15, 2011

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.

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Mar 19, 2002

Crowe with Cruise – Man On A Mission

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As promised, I’ve added Cameron’s extensive interview with Tom Cruise from the June 2000 Vanity Fair. They discuss Cruise’s entire career and there’s even a description of Cruise reading the Lester Bangs part, so Cameron could hear it aloud. It’s a great interview, so check it out.

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Jul 27, 2001

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


  • 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+