The Story Behind The Shot: Elton John and the unity of ‘Almost Famous’ on the bus
“You are home”. There’s a kind of magical, once-in-a-lifetime quality to the dreamy nostalgia and bittersweetness that is captured in Cameron Crowe‘s Almost Famous; a film that both warms and breaks your heart, a film you turn to in your lowest and highest moments.
It reminds you of all the good in the world, then turns on its heels and snatches it away from you, leaving the remnants of a distant memory and the feeling that our best years are behind us. Few films have this power, and perhaps the moment that captures this energy the most, is the ‘Tiny Dancer’ scene.
Almost Famous is about a teenage boy named William. He’s somewhat of an outcast, someone who, after being lied to about his age for the majority of his life, has the strange aura of a person who is too old for himself. However, his lack of ‘coolness’ and acceptance by other kids his age don’t really bother him because his life is dedicated to something much bigger than popularity—rock ‘n’ roll.
After being given an assignment by legendary music critic Lester Bangs (played by the late and always captivating Philip Seymour Hoffman) about Black Sabbath, William inadvertently finds himself touring with Still Water, a fictional up-and-coming rock band that is struggling with fame in the newfound face of stardom. William finds himself at a host of parties, gatherings and concerts that only occur as ‘pinch me’ moments in the dreams of teenagers and audiophiles, becoming increasingly distracted by the goings on of the group and struggling to write the now headline article that he has now been tasked with by Rolling Stone magazine.
In the strange state between reality and wherever it is that rock stars live, director Cameron Crowe showcases the strength of the human spirit and the transformative power of community and passion, all culminating in one scene that takes place on the Still Water tour bus, a scene that took nearly two days to film and the studio insisted be cut entirely. However, it is this scene that later went on to be one of the most famous moments in the entire film.
The ‘Tiny Dancer’ scene occurs after lead guitarist Russel (played by Billy Crudup) drunkenly gatecrashes the house party of a teenage fan and sends his fellow bandmates into a frenzy. The guitarist has been imbibing as many narcotics as he can get his hands on and has been, largely, embarrassing himself. After eventually locating him, they shove Russel onto the tour bus and drive off into the early hours of the morning, with the disgruntled musicians and band’s aids sitting in the air of an awful mood. But when Elton John’s ‘Tiny Dancer’ begins playing on the radio, they all start to sing along, forgetting to maintain their anger as the infectious song sweeps over them, melting away the tensions that were there and once again reuniting them in their shared love of the music – the reason they are all there to begin with.
In the 20-year reunion discussion of the film, Crowe explained that at this point in the shoot, they were running behind schedule, and the studio had warned him away from including the scene. But Crowe knew that it was absolutely essential to the heart of the project that it be shot perfectly – that the moment was an encapsulation of everything that mattered in the story: the sense of belonging and unity and joy as these people can’t help but sing along, even when they’re supposed to hate each other.
Crowe stated of the filming of this scene, “We were doing shots travelling from one to the other. And it felt a little bit like we were on an exotic journey with that short scene. But man, from the first second we started showing that scene to people, it was the beachhead, it was the thing.”
While Crowe was hell-bent on capturing the specific magic of this one moment, not everyone shared his enthusiasm, with Noah Taylor hating the song and by the time they’d shot the scene, Crowe said “…you can see two days of angst in his eyes as he sang along with that song. He hates ‘Tiny Dancer’”.
And right at the end, when you can’t imagine that it could be any more perfect, Kate Hudson (who plays the iconic Penny Lane) has one of her most famous lines, which she later revealed was improvised after being so swept up in the euphoria of the moment. After William tells her that he needs to go home, she replies, “You are home”. As one of the most memorable moments of the entire project, it feels odd that it almost wasn’t included.
Crowe’s insistence on shooting this scene with warmth, care, and time is a blessing we can collectively be grateful for. I cannot imagine a world without this scene; it is a glorious and heart-warming moment that shows how the power of music transcends the ‘real world’ and the true meaning of the currency we share with those who are also deemed ‘uncool’.
