Last year’s celebrations for the 20th Anniversary of Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous were toned down because of the pandemic. In fresh celebration of the milestone, star Patrick Fugit took ABC Audio on a walk down memory lane.
Fugit was only 16 when he was offered his breakout role as aspiring rock journalist William Miller, who went out on tour in the 70s with the fictional band Stillwater to profile them for Rolling Stone. The actor got to work with A-list actors including Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
"Frances would give more like sagely advice you know, and sort of be there with me and pass to me the things that she had learned over time," 38-year-old Fugit reminisced. "Billy was straight-up hostile towards me. He’d be like 'Where the hell are you from again?' I’d be like 'Salt Lake City, Utah.' And he’s like 'How old are you?' I’d be like 'Sixteen,' and he’s like, 'God.'"
When it came to working alongside Crowe, Fugit said the director helped immerse him into the sounds of the era, burning him "a bunch of mix CDs that he had put together that were sort of tonal" so he knew what emotion to convey during certain scenes.
The actor also reminisced about one the film’s most beloved sequences -- the bus-ride singalong to Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." Although it took "over two, maybe even three days" to complete, the actor said filming that scene while maintaining that level of energy "was amazing." (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)
To mark Almost Famous' 20th anniversary, Paramount released a newly remastered version of the movie on Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD.