FILMMAKER CAMERON: CROWE HANGING OUT WITH MY HEROES

IN A NEW MEMOIR THE JERRY MAGUIRE AND ALMOST FAMOUS DIRECTOR LOOKS BACK ON HIS STAR-STUDDED LIFE AND CAREER

- CARLY TAGEN-DYE

CREDIBILITY BOOST Crowe directed Tom Cruise in 1996's Jerry Maguire (below right, with Renée Zellweger) and 2001's Vanilla Sky (left).

Most kids can only dream of meeting their favorite stars, but before he even had his driver’s license, Cameron Crowe was spending time with them at their most vulnerable. As a teenage journalist for outlets like Rolling Stone and Creem, he logged quality face time with some of rock’s greatest legends throughout the 1970s.

Crowe joined Led Zeppelin on tour for a 1975 Rolling Stone cover story (and class credit at San Diego City College), spent a whirlwind 18 months with David Bowie in the mid-’70s and in 1979 won over “beautiful rebel” Joni Mitchell during what he still calls his best interview—experiences that later inspired his 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous, which he wrote and directed. “My mom always used to say, ‘Seek out your heroes. What’s the worst that could happen?’” he says.