The ‘Virtually’ In Virtually Well-known: How Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, & Natalie Portman Virtually Starred The Face Of Cameron Crowe’s Basic

Think about Brad Pitt screaming, “I’m a golden God,” because the charismatic Russell Hammond in Virtually Well-known. Sounds ironic, proper? However consider it or not, that near-moment nearly occurred. In a throwback, director Cameron Crowe revealed that Pitt was initially tapped to play the lead guitarist of the fictional rock band Stillwater. As a substitute, Billy Crudup in the end introduced the position to life, however the casting course of was far more star-studded than you would possibly assume.

Within the early phases, Crowe had his sights set on Pitt. The 2 had an simple connection after a rare assembly throughout Say Something, and when Crowe began engaged on Virtually Well-known, Pitt was his first alternative. Crowe recalled, “Brad Pitt was on my thoughts… he simply actually had one thing.” For months, they labored on the character, even studying with none apart from Natalie Portman, who was within the working for the position of Penny Lane—the band-aid (or groupie) who steals the center of younger journalist William Miller. However alas, neither Pitt nor Portman ended up in these roles, and Crowe was sad.

“I wept,” Crowe admitted. “I knew that [Brad Pitt] had by no means totally fallen in love with the character. He had fallen in love with the thought of the character, however perhaps there simply wasn’t sufficient on the web page.” Pitt’s hesitation seemingly stemmed from the uncomfortable age hole between Russell and Penny Lane, which didn’t sit proper with him. The proficient Billy Crudup finally crammed the position of Russell, and the remaining is historical past.