It was like something that was really small
and it was getting me, I was getting,
we were all getting flustered
because of the pressure
and I even had to be like, I just need a second
because now I'm not getting any words right.
And I walked away
and everybody was like, "He's under a lot of pressure."
And we were all kind of.
I said to Cameron, I'm like, "I'll do this
for as long as you want me to do it,
but I promise you, I promise you,
I gave it to you in that second take.
I promise." And...
So you had a couple of years,
let's call it, practicing,
and then you got Almost Famous.
Yeah.
Can you remember the kind of, I mean,
not how you got Almost Famous,
but at the point when you took that on,
did you feel like you knew what you were doing?
Well, it's such a good question.
I probably did, but I probably didn't, you know?
In my mind, I probably felt like
I was ready for it, you know?
But I mean, there's no time like that.
Like, those beginning moments in your career where you think,
you know, like, I'm so ready for this and then,
So you did multiple auditions for this one.
You really went for it. I did.
Why did you really want it?
Like, why did you want her? Oh.
Because you don't read parts like this.
Like, I think because I grew up reading my parents scripts
that you know a good role when you read it, you know?
And you know the roles that you're like,
"Well, maybe I could make something out of that."
And I was 19 and I read this part
and it was magic on the page.
I mean, she was so great and
layered and mysterious and...
And connected to music in a way
that I feel very connected
and have always felt very connected to music.
So when I got the part of the sister
because I was supposed to play the sister.
I, of course, just want to work with Cameron Crowe,
and then when Sarah Polley dropped out,
I called Cameron and I was like,
"Please, you know, please can I audition for Penny Lane?"
And he at first didn't want me to.
Um, "I see you as this sister, you know?"
And I was like, "no, no, Cameron.
I'm the only one attached to your movie.
Just like. Like, you know, still, like,
let me audition."
And he did.
And then it was, I think, four auditions.
And then I got the call.
And there's a real Penny Lane.
There is. But she's really
sort of an amalgam of different women.
But there is, there is a real Penny Lane,
I think she lives in Oregon and -
But you never met her?
Oh, no, I did. I met her after the fact.
Right.
Yeah.
Bet she was thrilled that you took her on.
I hope so. I hope.
I hope she feels good about it.
Can you remember things that you did then
to kind of get into the part, you know,
like what was your process?
Yeah.
What were the things you did to unlock her?
For Penny there was a bunch of things.
Well, first of all, we did rock school for like a month,
So we all, yeah, Cameron...
The boys were all playing in the band
and us Band Aids we'd hang out and do things for them, you know?
And I would cater to Billy's needs, Russell.
And then really, for me, Penny...
Yeah, I guess I could tell you my secrets.
Honestly, what I worked with a lot
with Penny Lane was that she was psychic
and that she could see into people
and their future and...
And not that it was really
what was going on with Penny, but I felt like
she was like a healer almost.
And that was her purpose.
And, you know, obviously, towards
the end of the movie, she reconnects them
and she leaves and goes off.
And I saw her as like, you know,
she had these little projects in her life
and her job in her mind as this,
like young girl was to just heal
whatever needed to be healed.
And that was something that I worked with a lot.
As well as that she was probably not very
close with her family and
sort of a real kind of, more nomadic.
And during that time, like, she probably left home
at like 14, 15 and didn't really have
parents that cared to know where she was.
That was the other thing.
And did he...
How fixed was Cameron Crowe about the script and the character?
I mean, how much were you able to bring?
Very fixed.
Cameron is interesting
because you have these moments where he sets the stage
and you just sort of float in it like,
you know, like the,
you know, in the Palladium when we shot that,
it was the end of the night and everybody was done
and we had done a big rock scene
and he loved the way that the floor looked.
And he was like,
"will you push your call like 5 hours
so we can do a shot of you dancing?
And the thing, and that I mean he -
I mean, I'm like the person that's like, "of course!"
And we just shot that, like, on a whim, you know?
And he's like just move and dance and feel the, you know, the...
So there is a lot of that.
But then when it comes to his dialogue,
he's very specific.
And it was defining in my career because, for me,
just my confidence
working with a director and wanting to
you know, be collaborative. And like...
Sometimes I think directors can feel
an immense amount of pressure
and sometimes not know if they have something or not.
And that was this moment for me with Cameron.
We had a like a half a day to shoot that scene.
We were losing light.
John Toll was yelling at us, amazing DP.
And that was I think the second take
the "What kind of beer?"
And Cameron -
I kept fucking up this one line
and it was like an it versus a the.
It was like something that was really small
and it was getting me, I was getting,
we were all getting flustered
because of the pressure
and I even had to be like, I just need a second
because now I'm not getting any words right.
And I walked away
and everybody was like, "He's under a lot of pressure."
And we were all kind of.
I said to Cameron, I'm like, "I'll do this
for as long as you want me to do it,
but I promise you, I promise you,
I gave it to you in that second take.
I promise." And...
He felt like we didn't have it.
So when I left that day,
it was such an important scene, I was like,
"no, he's going to watch it back.
I know I gave it to him." I felt it was the first time.
I wasn't like, "Oh, my God, he's going to hate me."
And I didn't give him what he wanted because that was a big,
that was a big moment.
And two days later, after seeing the dailies,
he came to my trailer and knocked on the door.
And he was like,
"Oh, we got it.
You were right. We got it."
I was like, "Oh, my God! Thank God!" You know?
But that was a big moment because I wanted to feel
like I wanted to hold it together, you know?