Cameron Crowehas (possibly) finished a draft of his newest project.
How do I know this before you?
He sounded upbeat and ready to hang out after all of that writing.
On February 9, Paramount Pictures re-releasedElizabethtownfor the first time on Blu-ray.
If you need a refresher, let’s quickly recap the movie that brought Crowe and I together.
What follows is an equally personal conversation between a fan and a director that I hope feels universally accessible.
Image via Paramount Pictures
If you’re a fan of Crowe’s, you loveElizabethtown(or both), then keep reading.
He was really anxious to championElizabethtown(we didVanilla SkyandAlmost Famouspreviously).
He was always the one saying, “Well, we gotta doElizabethtowntoo.”
Image via Paramount Pictures
[Elizabethtown] was for my dad.
I’m really proud.
But it was polarizing, you know, it’s a little bit of a polarizing movie.
Image via Paramount Pictures
COLLIDER: I do want to touch on that in a bit.
How did you arrive at Knife on a bike and Im going to have my protagonist build this thing?
CROWE: There was a whole other movie I was working on.
Image via Paramount Pictures
So, I’m on the tour bus and I’m stuck on this other thing.
I’m just watching the Heartland go by outside of this bus.
We put a couple of contraptions intoVanilla Skyand it’s always so fun.
Image via Paramount Pictures
(I still have the bike in a little storage unit.
Like I’ll never give that bike up.
I love that contraption!)
Image via 20th Century Studios
Sometimes they’re even greater than the path you’re on.
That was kind of the idea.
Well, that’s what made Orlando such a great choice.
Image via TriStar Pictures
It was unexpected for what he was doing at the time.
The role was really able to draw some interesting new shades out of him.
He definitely soaks up music and that was an important part of it.
Image via Paramount Pictures
So many of the actors that came in for the part were just really amazing.
In those moments it was a fascinating process.
It was really fun to take Orlando to Kentucky.
He was at one of his early career peaks at the time.
It’s like bringing Legolas to Frankford, Kentucky.
It was just a blast.
There would be screaming fans and then Kentucky residents that hadn’t even heard of him.
So that stew was amazing to drop him into.
COLLIDER: This brings me to another question I have.
So, the scene where Drew finally makes it intoElizabethtownand he’s driving and he’s greeted by everyone.
Everyone has this mythical all-knowing energy about Drew without him knowing it.
Because some of those reactions seem genuine.
CROWE: Such a good question.
In fact, it is half and half.
But he, he wasn’t aware of all the stuff that was going to be there.
They knew me through my dad’s letters and photos.
We’re in the back of a car, I think following him and I’m playing music.
I think it’s what you hear in the movie.
He was supposed to write an end-credit song that’s likethe songthat they say is the song written forElizabethtown.
I just got blocked.
I couldn’t write the title song.
I made a whole album for you."
He’s put some of this stuff out, some of it has never come out.
It’s just incredible.
I love that band.
Then the filming turned into a road trip.
I love that shot on a bridge where [Drew has] one hand waving free.
You know what I mean?
It’s like, you love that person.
I wanted to be a little bit of that person in a way.
That’s why I did it."
And it comes afterher monologue about failing big.
Is that shot purely coincidental?
Or was it intentional to see Drew take the path of “Failure” to Claire?
CROWE: Allie, you get the prize.
Most careful viewer ofElizabethtownever.
It has a purpose.
It’s a big deal and thank you for seeing it.
COLLIDER: Yeah, because that always struck me as a beautiful thing.
CROWE: This is, this is true.
And you know, you just, you’re able to’t give up.
That was our family motto and still is.
I try and give that to my current family, which is just “Never give up.”
That’s really was the lesson of my mom.
So,Elizabethtownis kind of like a sister/brother ofAlmost Famous.
So, I just felt, you know, that I wanted to do a movie for my dad.
COLLIDER: Earlier you had touched on the reactions out of TIFF whenElizabethtownfirst showed.
Or is there any desire to bring the original ending back?
CROWE: What happened?
Well, its a key question.
Those were the only two festivals where we showed the longer cut, I think.
It strained people’s patience; it was too long.
Or, you might say, “Forget it, that’s what it is.”
I felt like there was stuff that could be cut [while] watching it with an audience.
That became the finished cut ofElizabethtown.
Hopefully, with the extended version, you might kind of see with some of those scenes.
I actually prefer the longer version of the movie for that.
I always love doing that.
I thinkElizabethtownwas just too long for the people in those early audiences.
I learned a lot from that movie.
I’m really glad that I made it.
The people that love it are meaningful in such a deep way.
We Bought A Zooas a movie, for example, that had a curious reception because of the title.
But over time I hear about that movie a lot andElizabethtownsimilarly.
I think that some of it depends on the time it’s released.
I mean,Vanilla Skycame out just after 9/11.
So there are all these things you’ve got the option to never plan for.
Overnight you’ve got the option to be either tarred and feathered or celebrated.
Then over time, it switches, and then it switches back.
WithFast Times at Ridgemont High, when we put it out people were just aghast at that movie.
I feel protective of her."
Well, Jennifer Jason Leigh was the biggest advocate for the stuff that was controversial.
She had an artistic vision even then that was really, you know, a breakthrough.
Ebert came back later and said, “You know what?
So, I dig the rhythms that go in and out like the waves hitting the beach.
COLLIDER: You’ve been bringing up some titles from your filmography.
Is that ever something you’d entertain?
Returning to one of your movies to continue the story?
I’m still interested in what happened to Lloyd Dobler and Jerry McGuire.
I always thought it should be Marcy and Rod.
You dont want to see Regina King do Marcy Tidwell?
Id do that in a second.
I do like going onto the new stuff.
It’s interesting thatSay Anythingis the one that I would revisit if I ever could find a way there.
CROWE: I haven’t, but thank you.
I mean, I love that you would even ask that question.
I really just love characters and you know, those characters can be wonderful.
I grew up lovingThe Dark Knight, for example.
People don’t really think of me for that stuff, but that’s okay.
I love Edgar Wright’s stuff.
I think Edgar Wright has a beautiful kind of combination of vitality and action and character stuff.
He was fantastic to direct inElizabethtown.
Life is good.”
Elizabethtownis now available on Blu-ray, with new bonus features including never-before-seen deleted scenes and an alternate ending.
