Script To Screen: “Almost Famous”

A terrific movie Almost Famous (2000), written and directed by Cameron Crowe. One of the keys to creating drama is to put characters under pressure. Here is a classic example.

Setup: Members of the rock band Stillwater, troubled by underlying tensions, find themselves on a small plane which hits a horrible storm and seems destined to crash.

PUSH IN ON WILLIAM

Just shaking. Nearly in tears. Hyperventilating.

RUSSELL
If something should happen. I love
all of you. I don't think we have to
do the secrets thing.

The plane shakes. Now lightening strikes very close. A
flashing wall of electricity rolls through the plane and
evaporates with a burning smell still in the air. In the
darkness:

DENNIS HOPE
I once hit a man in Dearborn, Michigan.
A hit-and-run. I hit him and kept on
going. I don't know if he's alive or
dead, but I'm sorry.

LESLIE
(gripped with fear)
Oh my God.

The plane wildly rises, and falls. It stops for a moment. A
strange smooth patch.

DICK
I love you all too, and you're my
family. Especially since Marna left
me. But if I ever took an extra dollar
or two, here and there, it was because
I knew I'd earned it.

RUSSELL
I slept with Marna, Dick.

JEFF
I did too.

LARRY
I waited until you broke up with her.
But me too.

JEFF
I also slept with Leslie, when you
were fighting.

RUSSELL
You... slept with Jeff?

LESLIE
Yes, but it didn't count. It was the
summer we decided to be free of all
rules.

RUSSELL
(to Jeff)
And you say you "love me."

JEFF
(the truth)
I don't love you, man. I never did.

RUSSELL
Please. Enough.

JEFF
NONE of us love you. You act above
us. You ALWAYS HAVE!!

LARRY
Finally. The truth.

JEFF
You just held it over us, like you
light leave... like we're lucky to be
with you. And we had to live with it.
I had to live with you, and now I might
die with you and it's not fucking fair.

William watches, catatonic.

RUSSELL
(to Larry and Ed)
You hate me? You too?

Larry stares at him. Ed says nothing.

RUSSELL (cont'd)
All this love. All this loyalty.
(incredulous, giddy)
And you don't even like me.

JEFF
And I'm still in love with you Leslie.

Bam. The plane is pulling sideways, and dropping altitude.

LESLIE
I don't want to hear anymore. Shut
up! Shut up! Shut up!

RUSSELL
(to Jeff)
Whatever happens, you're dead.

JEFF
Don't be self-righteous, Russell, not
now. You were sleeping with Penny,
that groupie. Last summer, and up
until yesterday. Why don't you tell
Leslie THAT?

Russell tries to get up and attack him. The force keeps him
in his seat. He yells. Loud.

DENNIS
(freaking out)
I quit.

The turbulence worsens. William finds his mouth saying
emotional words he cannot control.

WILLIAM
"That groupie?" She was a Band-Aid.
All she did was love your band. And
you all -- you used her, all of you.
You used her and threw her away. She
almost died last night, while you were
with Bob Dylan. You're always talking
about the fans, the fans, the fans.
She was your biggest fan and you threw
her away. And if you can't see that,
that's your biggest problem.

Russell and Jeff stare at each other. The plane is rocking
very very hard. Leslie is crying.

ED
I'm gay.

They all turn to the silent drummer. (It's his first spoken
dialogue of the movie.)

Then.

The plane pops out from below the clouds. Sunshine spikes
through the embattled windows of the plane, as they float
downwards to the city of Tupelo, Mississippi. A very very
uneasy silence fills the plane. Out bursts the Co-Pilot, giddy with victory. CO-PILOT
Thank God above, WE'RE ALIVE!! WE'RE
ALIVE!! WE'RE GONNA MAKE IT!!

Shot of all the occupants, ending with Russell.

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.

How does the script compare to the movie version? Any differences? Significant changes?

One of the single best things you can do to learn the craft of screenwriting is to read the script while watching the movie. After all a screenplay is a blueprint to make a movie and it’s that magic of what happens between printed page and final print that can inform how you approach writing scenes. That is the purpose of Script to Screen, a weekly series on GITS where we analyze a memorable movie scene and the script pages that inspired it.

For more articles in the Script To Screen series, go here.