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Part 3 of our 5 part Rock ‘n Roll series

Release date:  11/9/1998

Miramax Films

Directed by

• Todd Haynes

Produced by

• Christine Vachon
• Michael Stipe
• Bob Weinstein
• Harvey Weinstein

Written by

• Todd Haynes
• James K. Lyons

Cast

Ewan McGregor

• Curt Wild

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

• Brian Slade

Christian Bale

• Arthur Stuart

Toni Collette

• Mandy Slade

Eddie Izzard

• Jerry Devine

Initial comments by the hosts:

Darrell isn’t a big fan of “flash-back” story telling but he liked this movie and thought it offered a nice little history of glam rock.  Jill loved it, thought it had a lot of layers but didn’t see it as a historical piece.  She looked at it not to look back at history but to look forward to where we are now.  David thought he would hate it, but he really enjoyed it because it wasn’t about the music itself, it was about the human interaction.  Tony liked all the pieces of the movie but wasn’t blown away by it as a whole.  He thought that acting, the music and the visuals were great.  Jill, being a big David Bowie fan, said she constantly finds new references every time she goes back to watch this movie again.

The hosts get into an interesting discussion regarding whether culture today embraces the different musicians/styles/visuals the way that Britain did in the early 1970s, and specifically whether America did versus the way Britain adapted to that style.  They also agreed that the movie is more about Arthur’s (Christian Bale) character than either of the musicians.

Jill liked how the music was used to push the narrative along with abstract music video pieces, performance pieces and soundtrack pieces.  It was also impressive that both Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers both sang for this movie.

Tony brought up that he found the story line very similar to Eddie & The Cruisers in that the lead character faked his death and a reporter tries to figure out what really happened, but the similarity pretty much ends there.  The story itself is more about the reporter trying to figure out who he is, his experiences, and how he related to that movement.

David appreciated that this movie tackled relationships not in a childish way, which he tends to see in music-themed movies, but in a more realistic way that shows relationships as “complicated, messy, and broken.”

It was agreed that all of the acting was outstanding, with extra kudos to Eddie Izzard for stealing every scene he was in.

David brought up the question of whether music played an integral part in your development as a person.  Jill emphatically said “yes” and followed it up by saying that this movie is an indictment of the United States in that the cultural references die away in this country, more so than others.  David stated that, which he has specific memories tied to some music, he doesn’t have any emotional connections to music.  Jill found that this movie resonated with her in that you can be an “alien” and find a world of other aliens/alienated people, through music.  David would have been perfectly fine if this movie had removed the soundtrack because the human narrative spoke more to him than the music did.

The parallel of podcasting is brought up, and both Tony and David talk about how podcasting (though not necessarily in the genre of movie reviews) is an essential part of their lives at this point.  The friendships that have been gained over the years through this shared forum are often closer and/or stronger than friendships gained through childhood.

It was brought up that there were a lot of critical complaints about this movie that there was no real completion to the story lines.  The hosts disagreed with those complaints; arguing that there were, in fact, completed story lines (What happened to Brian Slade?) and also arguing that there didn’t need to be a completion regarding Arthur Stuart’s character.  You don’t know what will happen next with him, you just know that he will move on, move forward, and he’ll be fine.

Jill asked about the similarities between this movie and last week’s movie, Almost Famous.  Tony correlated Russell Hammond and Stillwater to Curt Wild.  One is about being the musician that they want to be and the other is about striving to be an iconic figure/performer that the fans will adore.  Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee, Almost Famous) is the one who wants to be an icon, while Hammond just wants to play his music.

A few trivia bits and pieces:

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ewan McGregor sang their own songs, but a few of Rhys Meyers’ songs were overdubbed by Thom Yorke (Radiohead).

A great deal of the dialogue stems from the writings of Oscar Wilde.

The name of Brian Slade’s persona, “Maxwell Demon,” and his band, “The Venus In Furs”, are references to two of glam rock’s biggest artists: Maxwell Demon was the name of a band in which Brian Eno performed in England in the 1960s, and “Venus In Furs” is a Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground song.  Both artists are on this film’s soundtrack.

Curt Wild’s character is largely inspired by David Bowie’s relationships with Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.  Iggy Pop hailed from Michigan and, for a time, had long blond locks, while Reed was forced to undergo shock therapy for bisexuality as a teen and was also rumored to have had an affair with Bowie before their later falling out.

When Brian first sees Mandy, he asks “Do you jive?” This is what David Bowie reportedly said when he first saw his future first wife, Angela Bowie.

During the scene where we’re first introduced to Curt Wild’s character, during the Festival scene, Ewan McGregor was only supposed to moon the audience.  He had been so inspired by Iggy Pop that he improvised and dropped his pants to his ankles and began to jump around the stage.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jill
• David

This episode was recorded: 4/11/2012

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Part 2 of our 5 part Rock ‘n Roll series

Release date:                           9/15/2000

DreamWorks and Columbia Pictures

Directed and Written by         Cameron Crowe

Produced by                            Cameron Crowe

                  Ian Bryce                   

Cast

Billy Crudup                           Russell Hammond

Patrick Fugit                           William Miller

Frances McDormand              Elaine Miller

Kate Hudson                           Penny Lane

Jason Lee                                Jeff Bebe

Initial comments by the hosts:

Before discussion of the movie began, the hosts talked about how difficult it was to find Almost Famous in streaming form.  It’s available for rental, and even that is limited, and the movie is also broken up into 12 parts on You Tube.

This is a semi-autobiographical movie of how Cameron Crowe got his start and you really get the sense that this movie feels a biopic, even though it’s a fictional story.  Darrell points out that there are lots of little inside jokes in the movie (some of these will be listed at the end of the notes).  Darrell thought it was funny that, only in the 1970’s, could a 14 year-old boy get a job with Rolling Stone Magazine, go on tour with a band and his mother does NOT completely freak out over this.

Lena (from the chat room – watcher of the You Tube version) noted that it was nice to be reminded that Kate Hudson is actually talented.

Tony thought Frances McDormand was fantastic; her character was a force in this movie.  He also was impressed with the acting talent throughout the movie, not only of the main stars but also of the background/secondary characters, such as Fairuza Balk and Anna Paquin (The Band Aids), Zooey Deschanel, Jimmy Fallon, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, to name just a few.  Every character had a distinct voice and Crowe did a very good job at capturing and realizing these different people.

Billy Crudup did a very good job at portraying Russell Hammond, the lead guitarist of Stillwater, who struggles through his ascent from musician in an up and coming band to a Rock God.

Two of the favorite “quirks” of controlling single mom Elaine Miller (McDormand) was her referring to Simon and Garfunkel as the devil’s music and her making her kids celebrate Christmas in September, “when it’s not commercial.”

Jason Lee was good at portraying Jeff Bebe as the leader of Stillwater, both insecure and someone who knows what to look for, what can (and eventually does) cause a rift in the band.

Patrick Fugit, as William (Billy) Miller, was able to capture the innocence of a teenager in the 70s, the excitement of a fan travelling with a band and the eye-opening breaking through from adolescence to adulthood as he begins to see what life is really like outside of the world his mother created for him.

The critical scene, near the end of the movie, shows not only the band members crumbling under the threat of their plane crashing, but also Billy Miller’s transformation from boy to man when he confronts the band about how they treat their fans… specifically their biggest fan, Penny Lane (Kate Hudson).

Trivia notes for this movie (this is only a small selection):

This film was Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical account of life as a young Rolling Stone reporter. The actual group that Crowe first toured with was The Allman Brothers Band (Gregg Allman kept asking him if he was a narc).  The near-fatal plane crash happened while traveling with The Who, and the character of Russell Hammond is based on Glenn Frey (Eagles).

The roles of Russell Hammond and Penny Lane were originally offered to Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley.  Polley dropped out to work on her own project, and Pitt worked with Crowe for months before finally admitting, according to Crowe, “I just don’t get it enough to do it.”  Kate Hudson, who took over the role of Penny Lane, had been originally cast as William’s sister.

Crowe wrote the liner notes (at age 18) to the “Frampton Comes Alive!”, and Peter Frampton returned the favor by acting as a music consultant for the film.

Frampton taught Billy Crudup how to play the guitar for the concert scenes.

Stillwater’s songs were written by Frampton, Crowe and Nancy Wilson (Crowe’s wife and member of the band Heart).  This was mentioned early in the credits, although the music acknowledgments credit Russell Hammond and Stillwater as if they were real authors/performers.

Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) provided the guitar track for Stillwater’s songs.

Not only did Patrick Fugit’s voice break during filming, but he also grew three inches, forcing Billy Crudup to wear platform shoes.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell

This episode was recorded: 4/4/2012

Note: Six years ago today, we released the first episode of Fanboy Smackdown… which became Back Seat Producers.  Thanks for 6 great years.  Let’s ROCK!

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