Go fishing Cameron Crowe's mother, Alice, said on a sunny September day in 2019.
Crowe, the Oscar-winning screenwriter and director, was reluctant to go fishing. A few days earlier, Alice, age 97, had fallen out of bed, and he wanted to be on hand in case she needed anything. But he had a day off from grueling rehearsals for anew musical he was about to open at the Old Globe Theatre in his hometown of San Diego, and he’d planned to take some colleagues out on a boat.
“I’m going to be fine,” his mother insisted. Have fun with your people. And this year—it’s going to be great. I’m so happy.”
So he went fishing. There was no cell service out on the Pacific, but when the boat came in to dock, Crowe’s phone lit up. His mother had gone into cardiac arrest and was in the hospital. The prognosis wasn’t good, but attendants told Crowe, This woman is a fighter.”
That he knew. There’s a play about to open at the Old Globe about just how much ofa fighter she is,” he told them.
“Then we ve got to keep her alive,” an attendant said.
The play was Almost Famous, a musical adaptation of Crowe’s 2000 autobiographical movie about a 15-year-old aspiring rock journalist Crowe, in 1973, (freelancing for Rolling Stone); Stillwater, the band he’s profiling; and the teenager’s loving but fiercely protective mother, a widow who fears rock and roll will trap her son in a hell of drugs and degeneracy.
This story is from the December 2022 - January 2023 edition of Vanity Fair US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 2022 - January 2023 edition of Vanity Fair US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Ayo Edebiri – Funny Girl
The Bear made Ayo Edebiri a Hollywood darling. Now she's making Hollywood worth our attention.
THE HIT MAN
Between Anyone but You and the upcoming Twisters, GLEN POWELL has seen all kinds of action on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's hottest young stars
TAKE NO PRISONERS
The State Department's hostage point man, Roger Carstens, works to free US citizens from captivity, whether they're being held by Vladimir Putin or Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. ADAM CIRALSKY embeds with America's top negotiators through 15 months of rescue efforts with the highest of stakes: liberty or death
Bibbidi Bobbidi WHO?
Disney is on the hunt for a new CEO to replace the legendary Bob Iger when he retires (again) at the end of 2026. Inside a $200 billion kingdom looking for a new king or, for the first time ever, a queen
Magical Thinking
GABRIEL GARCÍA MÁRQUEZ's One Hundred Years of Solitude has never been faithfully adapted for the screen partly because he wouldn't allow it in his lifetime. With a Netflix series now in the works, VF tracks the long journey of a masterpiece
Shots in the Dark
The Ozempic weight-loss miracle has a dark side: As desperate patients contend with shortages and skyhigh prices, a world of criminals and con artists are filling the void with lifethreatening counterfeits. KATHERINE EBAN investigates our alarmingly active pharmaceutical underground
The Writing on THE WALL
The promise of poststrike opportunities kept TV writers from losing hope last year. Now a new season of bleak financial realities is testing their resolve all over again.
JUSTICE Without Borders
Inside the effort to prosecute Russians for Ukraine war crimes in Argentina
Beyond a BOUNDARY
With sped-up matches and a bevy of big-money backers, cricket is pitching an American resurgence
VANITIES
NICHOLAS GALITZINE kicks into high gear