Trivia
The roles of Russell Hammond and Penny Lane were originally set to go to Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley. Polley dropped out to work on her own project, a low-budget Canadian movie The Law of Enclosures, and Pitt, for whom writer/director Cameron Crowe had written the part of the "guitarist with mystique", 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.
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The original title for Almost Famous was actually "Untitled", however Dreamworks would not allow this, so Cameron Crowe called the bootleg edition of Almost Famous on DVD "Untitled" instead.
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Philip Seymour Hoffman's schedule only permitted him to be on set for four days, and he had the flu the whole time.
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To look like a real rock band, the four actors in Stillwater rehearsed for four hours a night, five nights a week, for six weeks.
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Stillwater's songs were written by Peter Frampton (who also had a small part in the film), Cameron Crowe and his wife Nancy Wilson of the rock band Heart, a fact indicated early in the credits although the music acknowledgments credit Russell Hammond and Stillwater as if they were real authors and performers.
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Penny Lane asks William if he'd like to go to Morocco with her. He says, "Yes... ask me again." According to director Cameron Crowe, "ask me again" was Patrick Fugit stepping out of character and asking Kate Hudson to repeat her lines for another take. But Crowe liked the take as-is and kept it in the final cut.
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The old records William looks through at the beginning are actually Cameron Crowe's, saved from his younger years.
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Unusually, Billy Crudup actually was on the other end of the telephone line in the scene where Frances McDormand's character reprimands him.
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At the party, when he is on acid, Russell Hammond cries out, "I am a golden god!" This is a reference to Robert Plant of the band Led Zeppelin, who is purported to have said the same thing (sober) while looking over Sunset Strip from a hotel balcony.
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Fairuza Balk's exclamation, "Does anybody remember laughter?" is a reference to an additional lyric Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin) would often insert in live performances of "Stairway to Heaven".
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References to The Allman Brothers Band:
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- In the opening scene, we briefly see a ticket stub from an Allman Brothers concert
- Later, we see a black-and-white photo of the fictional band Stillwater that echoes the Allman Brothers' famous "Live at the Fillmore East" album cover
- The character Red Dog is named after one of the Allman Brothers' famous roadies, Joseph L. Campbell (aka The Legendary Red Dog), played by Zack Ward
- We also hear the Allman Brothers' music on the tour bus
- At the end of the movie when Russell is in William's bedroom, he can be seen standing in front of a poster of the Allman Brothers' "Live at the Fillmore East" album cover.
When Penny Lane is driving William to the hotel to meet Stillwater, there is a reflection on the windshield that resembles the cover of 'Pink Floyd''s album "Dark Side of the Moon".
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The shot of the crowd at the start of the first Stillwater concert (with the roses on the stage and fan flashing a peace sign) is based on the cover of Neil Young's "Time Fades Away".
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At the age of 18, director Cameron Crowe wrote the liner notes to the "Frampton Comes Alive!" album by rocker Peter Frampton. Frampton returns the favor here by acting as a music consultant for the film.
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In the scene where the tour plane hits turbulence, Russell starts to sing "Peggy Sue". This is in reference to Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash while on tour. Russell then continues "Whoa baby!", referencing The Big Bopper, who died in the same plane crash.
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The film is director 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 was the one who distrusted him and kept asking if he was a narc.) Crowe's real-life near-fatal plane crash happened while traveling with The Who. The character of Russell Hammond is based on Glenn Frey of Eagles.
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The school shown for a few seconds at the beginning of the film is the University of San Diego High School (USDHS), Cameron Crowe's alma mater. Crowe also cast his former journalism teacher from USDHS, Daniel Wilson, for a cameo during the high school graduation scene. The concert scenes that open the film were filmed down the road from USDHS at the San Diego Sports Arena.
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Jason Lee said he emulated moves of Paul Rodgers, lead singer of Free and Bad Company, to accurately portray rock star Jeff Bebe (his aim was "not to be a parody").
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Featuring over 50 songs, the film's music budget was $3.5 million. Most music budgets for films are less than $1.5 million.
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According to Cameron Crowe, he had sent the script around town to see if he could get anyone to respond to it, including Dreamworks Studio where one of its principal founders is director Steven Spielberg. Spielberg had read Crowe's 172-page script over the weekend and called Crowe on Monday saying, "Direct every word". Crowe has stated that he did film almost all of the script.
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In the Continental Hyatt House, Vic the Led Zeppelin fan has a T-shirt with song lyrics on it. On the front is "To be a rock and not to roll", which is from "Stairway to Heaven". On the back it says "Have you seen the bridge?" which is from "The Crunge".
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The scene where Cameron Crowe's character is pulled into the pre-performance huddle is based on an occasion when Eddie Vedder pulled Crowe into Pearl Jam's huddle before performing one of their Lollapalooza shows.
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During the opening credits, the hand that's writing on the notepad belongs to Cameron Crowe.
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When William finally makes an appearance at Rolling Stone's San Francisco office, a Hunter S. Thompson "Freak Power" poster can be seen on the wall. William's editor also mentions Thompson in an earlier phone conversation.
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The photo on the T-shirt that Stillwater are disappointed about is a close replica of the cover from Bad Company's 1977 album, "Burnin' Sky".
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In William's final interview with Russell Hammond, William asks "What do you love about music?" and Russell replies "To begin with..." and William laughs. "To Begin With..." is the title of Stillwater's (fictional) first album, seen briefly on an 8-Track in the opening sequence, and more clearly in The Making Of, on the DVD.
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Cameron Crowe says he got Billy Crudup's line, "Well, yeah, on my better days, I am Russell from Stillwater," directly from John Cusack's response to a girl in a bar who asked, "Aren't you Lloyd Dobler?" (his character in Say Anything...).
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Kirsten Dunst was nearly cast as Penny Lane instead of Kate Hudson. Cameron Crowe chose Hudson because he felt Hudson seemed more like a "free spirit", but Crowe promised Dunst he would cast her in a future film of his. Four years later, he kept his promise by casting Dunst as the leading role in Elizabethtown.
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In the scene where the band finds out that William is using "everything" in his Rolling Stone article, Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee) is wearing a T-shirt that says "Jeff Bebe" on it, but the picture above it is of Russell Hammond's (Billy Crudup) face. This is a sly allusion to the feud between them, and ties into the line from the "Untitled" version where Jeff says to Russell, "I'm the you they get when they can't have you."
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The legal disclaimer at the end of the film (which, for most films, merely states that all characters and events are fictional, with any real-life similarities being coincidence), in fact notes that the character of Penny Lane was "loosely based" on a real individual. Cameron Crowe has stated the character of Penny Lane is based on his friend in real life, Pennie Trumble, who actually does go by the name of "Pennie Lane". She now lives in Portland, Oregon, and is involved in the music industry.
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Cameron Crowe's mother appeared on the set for a cameo, and Crowe made every effort to keep her away from Frances McDormand, who was playing a character based on her, apart. This was so that McDormand's interpretation of the part wouldn't be swayed, but when he left the set for a few minutes on the first day of shooting, he returned to find McDormand and his mother having lunch together.
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Patrick Fugit grew three inches while filming and consequently, co-star Billy Crudup had to wear platforms to balance it out.
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The character of Ben Fong Torres, like the character Lester Bangs, was not a work of fiction, but in fact a one-time senior editor and writer for Rolling Stone, who was with them from near the beginning through to the early eighties. During his time with Rolling Stone he famously interviewed Bob Dylan and The Doors, amongst many others, and since leaving he has published a number of books, including "The Doors by The Doors" (in collaboration with The Doors), and "Hickory Wind", a Gram Parsons biography.
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Marti Frederiksen provided the lead singing vocals for Jason Lee as Jeff Bebe. We do, however, hear Jason Lee's actual voice singing the song "Cover of the Rolling Stone" when Jeff Bebe learns that Stillwater will make the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
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The type of plane Stillwater uses in the latter half of the film is a Lockheed model 18-56. This was verified by checking the FAA aircraft registry website.
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According to the commentary on the director's cut, Noah Taylor stayed in character as the band's manager during breaks in filming.
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The song "Fever Dog" written by Peter Frampton is similar to the opening song "Four Day Creep" on Humble Pie's live album "Rockin' The Fillmore" (Frampton was lead guitar in Humble Pie).
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Penny Lane dancing in the empty, debris-strewn Cleveland auditorium is Cameron Crowe's favorite scene in the movie.
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Lawrence Kasdan is given a "special thanks" credit. It was Kasdan who encouraged Cameron Crowe to revive his often-discussed personal project and get the movie made.
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The other bassist, or guitarist, who leads them off singing "Tiny Dancer" on the tour bus is Mark Kozelek, lead singer of Red House Painters and who also has many solo albums produced.
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Rainn Wilson's character at Rolling Stone, David Felton, seems to be loosely based on Hunter S. Thompson, down to the cigarette holder.
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When Russell walks into William's bedroom, a poster of the band 'Pink Floyd' is seen on the wall adjacent to the headboard of William's bed.
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In the opening credits there is a turquoise, blue and white cigar shaped aerosol can labelled "Ozium" - an odor masking product smelling like light oil, used to hide the smell of pot from authority figures.
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At the very beginning of the movie, when the production titles are going, you can hear the sound of a needle starting a vinyl record. At the end of the movie, after the final credits roll, you can hear the sound of a record ending and the needle returning.
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Brittany Murphy, Mena Suvari, Anne Heche, Neve Campbell, Jenna Elfman, Bridget Moynahan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rose McGowan and Rebecca Romijn auditioned for the role of Penny Lane.
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Cameo
Peter Frampton:
member of the road crew for Humble Pie. In real life, Frampton was a member of Humble Pie from 1969 to 1971.
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Alice Marie Crowe:
the director's mother appears in the graduation scene as a teacher handing out diplomas.
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Cindy Crowe:
the director's sister (portrayed in the movie as Anita), and her husband and three daughters as the startled family in the elevator when David Bowie is hustled into it by his manager.
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Jann Wenner:
When William runs out of the NY party after Penny and is checking the cabs the man in the back of the cab he looks into is Jann Wenner. He is listed near the end of the movie credits as Legend in Cab.
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Director Trademark
Cameron Crowe:
[To Kill a Mockingbird]
Immediately after the opening credits, William Miller and his mother are having a discussion about Atticus Finch, the protagonist of "To Kill a Mockingbird".
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Spoilers
The only line that actor John Fedevich, as Stillwater drummer Ed Vallencourt, speaks during the movies entirety is the under-duress announcement that he is gay.
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