It‘s been 20 years since coming-of-age music flick Almost Famous debuted, and, to mark the monumental occassion, the Cameron Crowe classic is getting a 4K restoration, as well as a bootleg cut containing 40 extra minutes of footage. If that wasn’t enough, actor Patrick Fugit, who played highschooler and fledgling Rolling Stone writer William Miller, has finally revealed what happens between his character and Penny Lane after the movie ends.
In an interview with IndieWire, Fugit explains that Crowe actually envisioned his character ending up with Penny’s pal Polexia Aphrodisia (portrayed by Anna Paquin), as opposed to Kate Hudson’s free spirited Penny. According to Fugit, Crowe told him that William falls in love with Polexia years after their time together on the road, despite declaring his love for Penny while on tour with Stillwater.
Fugit said: “(Cameron Crowe’s) like, ‘But what William will discover is Polexia a few years down the line, and they will have a relationship. They will have this amazing chemistry that they didn’t really track (before) because, obviously William was infatuated with Penny Lane and Polexia was doing her own thing’. The idea (with Penny) was like, ‘Nope, it’s just this thing that happened, and it’s this fond memory, and it’s the first love and all that sort of thing, but it’s never going to manifest’.”
Although we don’t get to see that romance play out in the HD bootleg cut, Fugit did confirm that he shares more screen time with Paquin in the extended edition.
The bootleg cut is also set to feature an additional scene where Stillwater and the rest of the crew are part of a disastrous radio interview with Tenacious D’s Kyle Gass as a DJ named Quince. Describing the film, IndieWire wrote: “Quince nods off, leaving the band alone on-air, hot mics and all. What follows is a silly sequence that soon turns much more serious, as Russell and (character) Jeff start off ribbing each other, before revealing how they really feel about each other.”
In celebration of the anniversary, the original cast and crew reunited for a special five-part podcast last year – here’s six things we learned.