THE SOUND OF ROMANCE SONGS, STORY LINE INTERTWINE TO MAKE BEAUTIFUL MUSIC IN CAMERON CROWE'S 'ELIZABETHTOWN'.Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer As he showed us a few years ago in ``Almost Famous,'' Cameron Crowe was a teenage rock 'n' roll rock 'n' roll: see rock music. journalist before he became the respected writer-director of ``Say Anything,'' ``Singles'' and ``Jerry Maguire This article has multiple issues: * It does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by citing reliable sources. * It reads like a personal reflection or essay. .'' So it's no wonder that pop music plays a key part again in his latest effort, ``Elizabethtown,'' opening Friday. So do autobiographical elements and traveling across this great, goofy Goofy bumbling, awkward dog; originally named Dippy Dawg. [Comics: “Mickey Mouse” in Horn, 492] See : Awkwardness country of ours, as is also part of ``Famous.'' Perhaps less joyfully, some late-in-the-game editing was performed on both movies. But if Crowe's ever-cheerful and enthusiastic manner is any indication, these were hardly the traumas reporters make them sound like. If anything bugs him, it's the fear that his signature style of carefully marrying classic and obscure rock songs to the emotions of a scene has become so commonplace, it's getting harder to make a real Cameron Crowe movie. ``I just sort of fear that everybody does it now,'' the filmmaker, 48, says. ``Everything's hip, every commercial's hip. It almost makes you want to do a Mancini-type score, because nobody's doing it. It would set itself apart more than a pop score now. So the goal was, in this movie, to try some different things.'' These include an all-night, sometimes three-way cell phone conversation set to music - some composed by Crowe's wife, Heart guitarist Nancy Wilson Nancy Wilson may refer to:
Then there's the climactic road-trip sequence. After partially coming to terms with his father's death in the title Kentucky town, Orlando Bloom's West Coast shoe designer Drew takes a journey to points of historic and spiritual interest throughout the Midwest. His personal AAA/DJ is Claire (Kirsten Dunst Kirsten[1] Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982) is an American actress, known for her roles in (for which she received a Golden Globe nomination), The Virgin Suicides, Marie Antoinette, and Bring It On ), the flight attendant he's fallen for. She's not only planned his route but mixed CDs of precisely the right songs for Drew to listen to along the way. ``Hopefully I've done it, not in a pretentious way, but just as a cinematic mix,'' Crowe says of making his most ambitious movie soundscape sound·scape n. An atmosphere or environment created by or with sound: the raucous soundscape of a city street; a play with a haunting soundscape. yet. ``It is kind of a flourish. I didn't know if it would work. What I wanted it to be was authentic, the kind of music she would actually put on there. What I wouldn't want was it to be, 'Oh, that's that guy who always puts music in his movies doing a big thing with music.' I wanted it to be that girl's taste. ``And yeah, she would put 'Pride (In the Name of Love)' on it. You do go for some obvious stuff when you make a mix tape because it reinvents itself.'' Besides the U2 perennial, there's the requisite Crowe movie Elton John Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March, 1947) is a five-time Grammy and one-time Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. classic (``My Father's Gun''). And how could you set a movie in the South without doing something funny to a Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd) (or IPA pronunciation: [lɛ'nɝd skɪ'nɝd]) is an iconic U.S. Southern rock band. anthem? For the most part, though, Crowe tried to make ``Elizabethtown'' a showcase for newer, underexposed un·der·ex·pose tr.v. un·der·ex·posed, un·der·ex·pos·ing, un·der·ex·pos·es 1. To expose (film) to light for too short a time or to light or radiation insufficient to produce normal image contrast. 2. recording artists. The kind who are making music like the literate rock that hooked him in his San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. youth - and doesn't get heard on the radio anymore. ``It was always meant to be a tribute to the American singer-songwriters working now, because there are so many great ones and they don't get played,'' Crowe explains. ``I mean, Internet radio Listening to audio broadcasts via the Internet. There are more than 4,000 broadcasts available on the Internet that can be streamed and played by a software media player in the computer or in a stand-alone Internet radio with the software built in. , which is basically a guy with his iTunes putting it over the computer, is the only way you're going to get true eclectic music programmed. So I just wanted to use the movie to play some of these great people like Patty Griffin and Ryan Adams David Ryan Adams (born November 5, 1974) is a prolific American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Raised by his mother and grandmother, Adams dropped out of school at age 16 and performed with several local bands before moving to Raleigh and .'' For at least one of his youthful stars, working on a Crowe set was a wonderful musical education. ``He's got an incredible, obviously, eclectic taste in music,'' the English Bloom, 28, says of the director. ``Tom Petty's got some amazing anthems that I've been introduced to. Iron & Wine was a band that we went to see when we were down in Louisville, which I really admired. A lot of country stuff, real Americana.'' Though five years Bloom's junior, Dunst says she was already familiar with most of Crowe's playlist A file that contains an index to a selected group of music files on the computer. Using digital jukebox software such as iTunes and Winamp, playlists are created by the user by dragging and dropping titles from a master index. The software may be able to create a playlist automatically. . What was new to her was not just the way he used songs in the movie, but while making the film as well. ``He played music a lot to set a tone,'' the ``Spider-Man'' actress says. ``Or interrupt a take. Sometimes I loved it, and sometimes I'd be, like, I don't want any music, I need to be quiet. It was like a different approach every day.'' Creating a Cameron Crowe movie is, apparently, as free-flowing as music from the very beginning. Though not as autobiographical as ``Almost Famous,'' ``Elizabethtown'' does reference his own father's death in, and the son's subsequent journey to, the Bluegrass bluegrass, any species of the large and widely distributed genus Poa, chiefly range and pasture grasses of economic importance in temperate and cool regions. In general, bluegrasses are perennial with fine-leaved foliage that is bluish green in some species. State. What to reference and what to make up, though, was a constant question. ``I've done some of the same things that Orlando does in the movie, for sure,'' Crowe admits, then slyly adds, ``but there's a striking lack of physical similarity, I must say. ``The thing was always, as every story you write has a built-in problem, was: Was it too personal,'' Crowe says of the writing stage. ``That was the thing I wondered about for a long time. Oddly enough, it's often the personal stuff that people come up to you later and say about it, 'I can't believe you put that in a movie. That happened to me.' And sometimes, the thing that you make up happened to no one.'' Although Dunst and Bloom report that there's little improvising once a Crowe script starts shooting, the editing process is a long process of trial and error. ``There are so many different themes and characters and worlds within the movie,'' Crowe says. ``Lo and behold, we find that the editing of all those little strains in a movie can be really difficult. I didn't want to start cutting out characters wholesale and savaging the many different performances. Over time, showing the movie became the only way to figure out how it was all rhythmically working.'' When ``Elizabethtown'' was screened to unimpressed journalists at the Venice and Toronto film festivals last month, Crowe was already well into cutting a shorter, tighter version. ``I asked that the movie be characterized as a work-in-progress, which it was,'' he explains. ``Little did I know that work-in-progress is a code for many things. In a press situation, it can mean the movie's not going to come out. It can mean the movie's not going to change at all, but if you don't like it we'll change it. Or it can mean the truth, which is it's a work-in-progress. ``I started to hear that the press screenings had some grumbling over length. That really didn't bother me too much because I was already on to another cut. It's pretty much 18 invisible minutes shorter, and one big two-minute scene that came out toward the end. But other than that, it's just a rhythm thing.'' Crowe says that the pressure to make the film play better comes entirely from him, not its distributor, Paramount Pictures. He also plays down the widely held perception that DreamWorks insisted he cut ``Almost Famous'' from 159 to 122 minutes for its theatrical release. The longer edition became a very successful ``bootleg'' DVD DVD: see digital versatile disc. DVD in full digital video disc or digital versatile disc Type of optical disc. The DVD represents the second generation of compact-disc (CD) technology. . ``I knew 'Almost Famous' wasn't playing in theaters at that long length,'' Crowe explains now. ``And really, it wasn't one of those terrible squabbles that you read about, where people want to change their name or anything. Our toughest discussion was, did Kate Hudson dance too long? It wasn't that big of a deal.'' Unlike most individualistic filmmakers, Crowe wants his work to have as wide an appeal as possible. ``I'm proudest of the fact that I've been able to make a few movies in the studio system that are slightly unorthodox and personal,'' he says. ``But it's never quite as easy as you dream that it could be.'' And it isn't getting easier. Movies, much like the music business, seem to grow less personal and more commercially compromised with each passing year. But like we said, Crowe is an irrepressibly upbeat guy. At the very least, he sees the humor in the situation, no matter how sad a comment it is on an art form he loves. ``It used to be, like, the sanctity of rock was that you could never let a song of yours be used in a commercial,'' Crowe recalls, chuckling. ``It was like, 'Oh man, we'll never let our music be exploited that way.' Now they'll call you up and say, 'You gotta use this song in your movie, man. It's the new VW ad! People love it.' And you realize, boy, have times changed.'' Bob Strauss, (818) 713-3670 bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com The music of 'Elizabethtown' Yes, Cameron Crowe has peppered the soundtrack of his latest film, ``Elizabethtown,'' with old favorites such as Elton John and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. But he wanted this one to emphasize modern American roots music. So keep an ear out for such fine young acts as Kathleen Edwards, Ryan Adams and the Kentucky outfit My Morning Jacket My Morning Jacket is an American rock band known for their reverb-heavy sound, their eclectic mix of indie rock, country rock, psychedelic, and jam band styles, and enthusiastic and energetic live shows. , which makes a surprise appearance as a hilariously precise cover band during the big memorial scene. Here are most of the songs with performers listed on the credits for the film, not all of which appear on the album. ``Jesus Was a Crossmaker'' - The Hollies ``You Can't Hurry Love'' - The Concretes ``Shut Us Down'' - Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American guitarist and singer with the musical group Fleetwood Mac. During his career he has also done some independent recording since he first became a member of Fleetwood Mac. ``I Can't Get Next to You'' - The Temptations ``It'll All Work Out'' - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ``io (This Time Around)'' - Helen Stellar ``Big Love'' - Fleetwood Mac ``My Father's Gun'' - Elton John ``Where to Begin'' - My Morning Jacket ``Same in Any Language'' - My Morning Jacket ``Come Pick Me Up'' - Ryan Adams ``Jack'' - Tom Petty ``Funky Nassau'' - The Beginning of the End ``Passing'' - Ulrich Schnauss Ulrich Schnauss (b. 1977) is an electronic musician and producer based in Germany. Biography Ulrich Schnauss was born in the northern Germany seaport of Kiel in 1977. ``Learning to Fly'' - Tom Petty ``Dance Studio Drizzle'' - Craig Berkey ``First Dance Number'' - Georges Auric Georges Auric (February 15, 1899 – July 23, 1983) was a French composer, born in Lodève, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France. He was a child prodigy and at age 15 he had his first compositions published. ``Free Bird'' - Ruckus ``That's Life'' - James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3 1933[1][2] – December 25 2006), commonly referred to as "The Godfather of Soul" and " ``Hard Times'' - eastmountainsouth ``Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)'' - The Hombres ``Purcell: Rondeau rondeau One of several formes fixes (fixed forms) in French lyric poetry and song of the 14th–15th century, later popular with many English poets. The rondeau has only two rhymes (allowing no repetition of rhyme words) and consists of 13 or 15 lines of 8 or 10 (Abdelazer)'' - Sir Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner (born April 15, 1924) is an English conductor and violinist. Marriner was born in Lincoln and studied at the Royal College of Music and the Paris Conservatoire. & Academy of St. Martin in the Fields The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields is an English chamber orchestra. The group was founded in London by Sir Neville Marriner, attracting some of the finest players in London, many of whom considered themselves as refugees from conductors. ``Sugar Blue'' - Jeff Finlin ``Yeah Man'' - Eddie Hinton ``Pride (In the Name of Love)'' - U2 ``Words'' - Ryan Adams ``Don't I Hold You'' - Wheat ``What Are They Doing in Heaven Today'' - Washington Phillips ``Square One'' - Tom Petty ``English Girls Approximately'' - Ryan Adams ``Same in Any Language'' I Nine ``Summerlong'' - Kathleen Edwards ``Promised You a Miracle''- Simple Minds ``Moon River'' - Patty Griffin - B.S. CAPTION(S): 4 photos, box Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) GETTING THE PERFECT MIX (2) no caption (Cameron Crowe) (3) Flight attendant Claire (Kirsten Dunst) and West Coast shoe designer Drew (Orlando Bloom Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom[1] (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He had his break-through role in the early 2000s as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings[2] and blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean ) find romance, set to music, in ``Elizabethtown.'' (4) My Morning Jacket Box: The music of `Elizabethtown' (see text) |
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