Great Scene: “Almost Famous”

Sometimes it’s a great idea to put your story’s characters together in a situation that ‘rattles their cages’ — and that’s certainly what happens in this great scene from Almost Famous (2000), written and directed by Cameron Crowe. The movie’s premise per IMDb:

William Miller is a 15 year old kid, hired by Rolling Stone magazine to tour with, and write about Stillwater, an up and coming rock band.

In this scene, Miller (Patrick Fugit) accompanies Stillwater on an airplane to the band’s next gig. Other key players in the scene are the two leaders of the band Russel Hammond (Billy Crudup) and Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee). Tension between the two about the band’s direction and their own personal lives has been simmering for a while and what transpires in this scene raises the stakes.

Here is the scripted version of the scene:

Here is the movie version of the scene:

What a great idea to get the truth out: stick the characters on a seemingly doomed plane so they feel like there’s no reason not to tell the truth. But the point of the scene is really William’s outburst. Followed up by this moment:

William’s defense of Penny offers him a clarity of perspective, serving as a junction point for him… to leave the tour.

I talk a lot about the External and Internal Worlds of a story universe, that while something is going on in dialogue and action, there should be something else going on underneath in characters’ subtext and intentions. There are times when you want all that ‘stuff’ in the Internal World to erupt into the External World. Putting your characters under pressure is an excellent way to foment moments of explosive emotional honesty — just like this great scene from Almost Famous.

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