Podcast Corner: Hindsight is 2020 vision for Almost Famous anniversary
A scene from Almost Famous.
Almost Famous turned 20 earlier this month.
Oscar-winner Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical Stillwater 'biopic' disappointed at the box office on its initial release but soon became a cult classic, winning over and influencing a whole generation in 2000.
And when it comes to something like a 20th anniversary, the podcast world has it covered.
Origins with James Arthur Miller has been running for six seasons, each covering a wildly different topic from Curb Your Enthusiasm to the 30 for 30 sports documentary series, and Sex and the City.
On its latest five-episode outing it exhaustively covered Almost Famous, going through the casting saga - Brad Pitt was oh so close to committing to the Russell character, which would surely have elevated Almost Famous on its initial cinema run - through Crowe's career, to production, reception, and now, nostalgia.
He's got all the big names, including Billy Crudup, who replaced Pitt and tells of his learning to play guitar, from scratch, with Peter Frampton, who in turns reveals how they made the Stillwater songs we hear throughout the film.
The podcast world keeps turning as Miller himself appeared on the Bill Simmons podcast in July. It's shocking that Simmons' Rewatchables podcast hasn't already covered Almost Famous but this discussion will suffice. It's meta as Simmons breaks down the Origins series, saying that one of the recurring themes on the podcast was people saying "they don't make this movie anymore".
Simmons mulls: "I slightly disagree, I think it does get made. I think it's just a TV show... it's an eight-episode order on one of the streaming services."
One of the omissions from Origins is Marc Maron, whose "lock the gates!" line from his Almost Famous cameo is immortalised on his long-running WTF podcast, on which Crudup recently appeared for the standard runthrough of his career. Their spitballing at the start is great.
Maron: "It's been a while... when did we make that movie, Billy?"
Crudup: "Jee it's hard to remember, some people seem to suggest it was 20 years."
Maron: "Oh yeah that's right, there was that big anniversary that I wasn't invited to."
Crudup: "You were invited man, but you were too busy."
Maron: "That is not true! I could've come and recaptured my amazing two minutes on screen!"
And after all the nostalgia and content, don't worry, Almost Famous still holds up - and is even better knowing the stories behind the making of it.
