Almost Famous

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Almost Famous (disambiguation).
Almost Famous
Theatrical release poster
Directed byCameron Crowe
Written byCameron Crowe
Produced byCameron Crowe
Ian Bryce
Starring
CinematographyJohn Toll
Edited byJoe Hutshing
Saar Klein
Music byNancy Wilson
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • September 8, 2000 (2000-09-08) (TIFF)
  • September 22, 2000 (2000-09-22) (United States)
Running time
122 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$60 million[1]
Box office$47.4 million[1]

Almost Famous is a 2000 American comedy drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It tells the story of a teenage journalist, played by Fugit, writing for Rolling Stone magazine in the early 1970s, touring with the fictitious rock band Stillwater, and writing his first cover story on the band. The film is semi-autobiographical, as Crowe himself was a teenage writer for Rolling Stone.[2]

The film performed poorly in theatres, grossing $47.4 million against a $60 million budget.[3] Despite the financial shortfall, it received widespread acclaim from critics and received four Academy Award nominations, including a win for Best Original Screenplay. It was also awarded the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Roger Ebert hailed it as the best film of the year and the ninth-best film of the 2000s. It won two Golden Globe Awards, for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture (Hudson). It has since become a cult classic and, in a 2016 international poll conducted by the BBC, Almost Famous was ranked the 79th greatest film since 2000.[4][5] In a Hollywood Reporter 2014 list voted on by "studio chiefs, Oscar winners and TV royalty", Almost Famous was ranked the 71st greatest film of all time.[6] A stage musical adaptation of the film opened on Broadway in November 2022.[7]

  1. ^ a b "Almost Famous (2000)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 10, 2009.
  2. ^ "Biography," The Uncool: The Official Website for Everything Cameron Crowe. Accessed Dec. 14, 2014.
  3. ^ "Box-Office Fizzle of 'Almost Famous' Stirs Bad Blood". Los Angeles Times. 13 October 2000.
  4. ^ "The 21st century's 100 greatest films". BBC. August 23, 2016. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  5. ^ "Cameron Crowe on the 20th Anniversary of 'Almost Famous': 'It's Never Been as Popular as It is Now'". Rolling Stone. 20 August 2020.
  6. ^ "Hollywood's 100 Favorite Films". The Hollywood Reporter. 25 June 2014. Archived from the original on 2016-08-28.
  7. ^ Huston, Caitlin (2022-06-02). "'Almost Famous' Musical Sets Broadway Run". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2022-06-02.