The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 12, 2005, Page 10, Image 10
Crowe’s new film: flop or not?
Bruce flewman
KRT CAMPUS
Life doesn’t imitate art. Not
really. Art just has a way of
flinging big ideas into the air,
and sometimes life forgets to
ddck.
.Take what happened to
Cameron Crowe, the writer
director of “Elizabethtown,”
who was trying to make a movie
“about the redemptive nature of
a fiasco” and, instead, found
himseif in the middle of one.
For sheer buzz kill, it would be
difficult to top last week’s cover
stbry in Entertainment Weekly
that examined whether
“Elizabethtown” would be dead
on arrival when it opens in
theaters this Friday.
The idea that originally
propelled Crowes script was to
look over his shoulder to see if
“Vanilla Sky” was still falling. A
confusing psychological thriller
starring Tom Cruise, “Vanilla
Sky” was widely seen as Crowes
first career stumble. “People
were seeing it and going, ‘What
was going on in your head?’” he
said. So for “Elizabethtown,” he
created a character whose career
as a shoe designer implodes
disastrously, and then did what
anybody trying to fix his life on
screen would do: He cast
Orlando Bloom as a stand-in
for himself.
But when Crowe took
“Elizabethtown” to the recent
Venice and Toronto film
festivals, it was as a sprawling
135-minute “work in progress”
that drew some withering early
reviews. Crowe even used
some of his sessions with
reporters during the festivals to
ask where he should cut the
film. He trimmed about 18
minutes from the final version,
but the cuts left so much blood
in the water that Crowe could
be facing his second helping of
redemptive failure.
Or not.
The thing is, you never really
know. Crowe was forced to cut
several treasured scenes from
“Almost Famous,” his rock ’n’
roll ode to the road that came
out in 2000, and then was
vindicated by critics who
preferred his longer cut on the
DVD. But in Toronto, Crowe
seemed torn between allowing
his story about a career disaster,
a family funeral and quirky
love that’s conducted mostly by
phone to remain unruly — like
life itself — or reining it in.
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year, the garage sale was called a
“vinyl fair” and helped to expand
the fundraising effort. This year’s
event offers more items and live
music.
“Last year, there were at least
250 people, but probably more,”
Stevenson said. “This year we are
expecting about 500.”
Stevenson encouraged
students to come at noon if they
want first dibs on the music,
although she added “there will
be enough to go around, and we
will be putting out new stuff all
day.”
WUSC- is a free-format
alternative station providing
listeners with a selection of
music from all genres.
“We are merely cleaning out
the WUSC library that is packed
full, creating more space for new
music and raising money for a
good cause,” Stevenson said.
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecockfeatures@gwm.sc. edu
Special to THE GAMECOCK
Students browse music at last
year’s WUSC garage sale.
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