New Picture From ‘We Bought A Zoo’
To say that Cameron Crowe has been busy would be an understatement. The director, returning to the cinema world after a long absence following 2005’s “Elizabethtown,” has had an insanely busy 2011. This spring he premiered his Elton John documentary “The Union” at the Tribeca Film Festival which you’ll get to see on HBO in January; just this week saw the release of his comprehensive “Pearl Jam 20,” an indepth look at the iconic alternative band on their twentieth anniversary and in December, he’ll unveil his first feature length movie in six years, the Matt Damon starring, Jonsi scored “We Bought A Zoo.” But if you think Crowe might take some time in 2012 to grab a nap you’d be mistaken. If things go according to plan, he’ll be shooting his next film a lot sooner than you think.
Asked by the New York Times in a recent profile if he’d once again take a break between movies (in the past he’s gone about four years between each flick), Cameron said, “Not anymore, baby.” He then went to tell the paper he’s just finished writing his next movie, and it will be a comedy that he hopes to shoot in March. But this isn’t the first time Crowe has been talking up his next effort.
Last month, Crowe revealed that he had been writing something new even as he was shooting “We Bought A Zoo” and it was inspired by the kids he met during the casting process for the film. “This woman that I work with, Gail Levin, is a great casting director. She’s always finding new faces,” he said. “The kids she found for ‘We Bought a Zoo’ are so exciting. We met with all these actors, and they would leave the room and it was a situation where I would turn to Gail and say ‘They’re not right for this one, but I want to write something where we can work with that person.’ That was the genesis for writing a whole new script which I’ve been working on while we were doing ‘We Bought a Zoo’ and finishing this Pearl Jam movie.”
We suppose this means developing projects like the Marvin Gaye biopic “My Name Is Marvin” and “Deep Tiki” (if that’s even still on his plate) are on the backburner, though ever the tease, Crowe says he already has a movie he wants to make after his next one. We’re just glad to see the man making up for some lost time. “He’s always writing, even when he’s in the middle of production,” James L. Brooks said about Crowe. “He’s the only writer I know who avoids writing by writing.”
Well, as long as he keeps generating material that’s fine by us. “We Bought A Zoo” opens on December 23rd. Check out a new image from the film below.