0:15

Pushkin. Hello,

0:20

Hello, Malcolm Glabel here, and welcome

0:22

to what might be the final episode

0:25

in our development hell series

0:27

of Revision's history. Today

0:31

we're talking about Alvis Love

0:34

down on his street. That

0:36

person singing is not Elvias.

0:40

These are the people.

0:42

That's Cameron Crowe. You've seen

0:44

his movies. Jerry Maguire almost

0:46

famous, he wrote Fast Times at Ridgemont

0:48

High, so many more.

0:52

And the guitarist on this song is

0:54

Nancy Wilson from the mega

0:56

nineteen seventies band Heart, who

0:58

at the time was Cameron Crowe's

1:01

wife. And the story we're going to talk

1:03

about today starts back in the summer of

1:05

nineteen eighty six, when Cameron

1:07

and Nancy were on their honeymoon.

1:11

They spent it in a little cabin in the Pacific

1:13

Northwest, a little cabin that would

1:15

become the birthplace for today's

1:17

movie that Never was Blue

1:20

Seattle, a

1:23

loving romp about two songwriters

1:26

trying to write a movie for Elvis Presley,

1:29

A movie about a couple writing a movie,

1:31

written by a couple writing a movie. What's

1:34

not to love? A script so meta

1:36

that it belongs on the big screen. Only

1:38

the big screen wasn't big enough to

1:40

handle it or something like that, because

1:42

one of the things that you might conclude in

1:45

listening to this interview is that for Cameron

1:47

Crowe, it is so much fun talking

1:49

about his lost Elvis masterpiece that

1:52

I think he's afraid that if he actually makes it,

1:54

he'll feel abandoned, like a version of

1:56

screenwriter empty nest syndrome. So

1:59

let's tell the story of Blue Seattle.

2:02

And this interview is different from all the other development

2:04

hell stories we told on the series because

2:07

instead of giving us the script to his movie,

2:10

Cam and Crope gave us the songs he and Nancy

2:12

wrote forty years ago. As

2:14

in every Elvis movie, the best parts

2:16

of the songs to capture a moment,

2:19

that honeymoon bursts of creative inspiration,

2:22

and they tell a story but a young

2:24

couple in love. I've

2:28

been looking forward to this. Let's

2:31

start from the beginning because this is this

2:33

is a story that needs, as you know, appropriate

2:37

setup.

2:38

Well, when we first talked, I

2:41

went down a road that felt very friendly

2:43

and evocative and

2:46

filled with memories. Because you are an Elvis

2:49

guy, your revisionist history on Elvis

2:51

was seminal, and

2:54

this idea of like never

2:57

made projects from the

2:59

heart and stuff. It combined with

3:01

my love of Elvis and a particular

3:03

part of Elvis to

3:06

you just want to like put this in your lap, Malcolm.

3:09

This is this was one that got away.

3:13

Well, let's start with Elvis. So you

3:15

your first concert you ever attended

3:18

as a kid, right, is an Elvis concert?

3:21

That's right? I won tickets on the radio.

3:23

It's your twelve Yeah, something like

3:25

that. Which Elvis are you getting in

3:27

that low period?

3:28

Elvis seventy two,

3:31

Elvis.

3:32

The big, the big high Collers.

3:35

Big high Callers, karate kicks.

3:39

He was a little obsessed with Nixon. In

3:42

my San Diego Sports Arena show, he did

3:44

an imitation of Nixon and

3:46

at one point was on

3:48

his back kind of kicking his legs,

3:51

just having fun. The kid was having fun

3:54

at my show.

3:55

Baroke, it's baro You got Barroke Elvis.

3:58

I got Baroque Elvis. But Malcolm, he

4:00

did. There was one moment where

4:03

it just broke through,

4:06

like his genius really broke through.

4:08

And it was a brief moment of

4:10

sunlight through the clouds, but it was bridge over

4:12

trouble water and I

4:15

felt him connect

4:17

and there was that moment where it was galvanizing

4:20

and giving what he wanted to give,

4:23

and the audience was like mid

4:25

shriek and kind of taking it in. And

4:28

and that was that was the DNA

4:30

you were meant to build up from watching

4:33

the show. Okay, there he is when

4:35

you were feelings,

4:42

it was kind of fun in games Elvis.

4:44

And so this is so

4:47

much of your life's work kind

4:49

of grows, is growing

4:51

from the tiny seed of not the all that

4:54

of that Elvis concert, right, I mean almost

4:56

famous. So this this

4:58

concert had a huge impact on you.

5:01

It did, and also also Malcolm

5:03

because like I took my mom and

5:05

my mom you know, if you if

5:08

you've seen all famous.

5:11

It's unfair that we can't listen to our music.

5:13

It's because it is about drugs and promiscuous

5:16

sex.

5:16

Simon and garfun is poetry, Yes,

5:18

it's poetry. It is a poetry of drugs and promiscuous

5:21

sex. Honey, they're on POTT.

5:24

So that week changes a lot. So

5:26

this was the door that gets cracked open where

5:29

rock and of course my future love

5:32

and that combined with journalism. I

5:34

was on my way, but

5:37

Elvis was there at the gates, you

5:39

know, and

5:42

I still was obsessed with Elvis but I

5:44

was obsessed with the

5:46

corners of Elvis's experience,

5:48

and one of those corners was

5:50

his movies. And

5:52

I loved those B movies.

5:55

Some might even call them C and D

5:57

movies. There he

6:00

comes out of the box hot with Loving You and

6:02

Jail House Rock, but eventually

6:04

he's doing genre things

6:07

for the money that Colonel Parker has put him

6:09

up for. And you know, there's a set

6:12

formula for the Elvis movies that happened.

6:15

And I became obsessed with those movies.

6:18

Yes, yes, And you became obsessed

6:20

with them because I mean,

6:23

one thing I was trying to figure out is I listened to

6:26

the music of the project we're going to talk about.

6:28

Was I was trying to understand your

6:32

intentions and

6:34

your So are you obsessed in a

6:36

kind.

6:36

Of that's so delicately put?

6:39

I love it?

6:40

Is it is?

6:41

It is it?

6:41

Are you winking at Elvis? Are

6:44

you sharing in the fun? Or are you buying

6:46

it?

6:48

All of the above? All I think

6:50

you just you just have to enjoy

6:52

it for what it is, which which is a

6:55

romp. Elvis often

6:59

did three of those movies in a year. You can

7:01

see he's kind of confused by the character

7:03

names they call him by. It's like he's he's

7:06

lost, He's he's

7:08

brilliantly lost. It's just, you

7:11

know, you see so much. It's almost

7:13

watching his face in these movies. It's like a

7:15

diary that he never wrote. You can

7:17

see why am I here?

7:20

You can see glimmers of oh this

7:22

is good, and Margaret Viva las Vegas.

7:24

Wait a minute, she's challenging

7:27

me. So it's all there, hidden

7:29

in this candy colored genre

7:32

romp that the Elvis movies became so all

7:35

of the above.

7:35

Yeah, yeah, sir, So you developed

7:39

early on, in other words, a rich and nuanced

7:41

interpretation of who Elvis was and

7:43

what he stands for. Yes, and

7:45

that's that's Is there any other artist

7:48

who plays a comparable

7:51

role in your in the development of your imagination?

7:56

No, because there's only one

7:58

guy who was or artist who was

8:01

so huge that he was able to make

8:04

thirty throwaway movies that did well

8:06

enough so that he could keep doing it,

8:09

perhaps against his will. Only

8:12

one person that I ever knew about,

8:14

and we'll share this later, did

8:17

ask Elvis, like, why did

8:19

you make all those movies? And he

8:21

gave this one person an answer, But mostly

8:24

he never did any interviews. He never commented

8:26

on it. He just did all those movies

8:28

for fifteen years. They squandered

8:31

quite a bit, you know, as John Lennon would

8:33

would tell you in his interviews, like why

8:36

is Elvis? Why is the King? Just

8:38

like you know, strolling

8:40

around Hollywood sound stages with B level

8:43

stars singing like medium

8:45

decent songs, you know, but that's

8:47

part of the mysteries of Elvis.

8:48

Yeah, yeah, so we have

8:51

this. This is the kind of the

8:53

necessary context, Yes,

8:56

the story that you're gonna tell.

8:58

Yeah,

9:01

okay. So it's the eighties

9:04

and I had written

9:06

Fast Times at Ridgemont High which like

9:09

amazingly kind of found an audience,

9:11

so I kind of had a shot at possibly

9:14

a screenwriting career. And

9:18

in the middle of all this, I perhaps most

9:20

importantly, fell in love with Nancy

9:23

Wilson, the great Nancy Wilson, amazing

9:25

guitarist, half of

9:27

the Wilson sisters who front

9:29

their band Heart. So we

9:32

were together for a while and then decided to get

9:34

married. And it was a beautiful

9:36

time. And Anne Wilson, Nancy's

9:39

sister, had a cabin in Cannon Beach, Oregon,

9:42

and that was where we wanted to go

9:44

for a little honeymoon, you know, just borrow

9:47

the cabin from Ann. Now this

9:49

you must know as a setup is Ann and

9:51

Nancy Wilson. To this day,

9:54

they're like the everly sisters. They sing together

9:57

and it's like, you know, there's

9:59

no thought that goes into it. They have the sibling

10:01

voices that blend so beautifully

10:03

their musical

10:06

twins in a way, and sings.

10:08

Nancy sing a little bit, but mostly

10:10

plays this elegant, beautiful guitar. They're

10:13

a serious duo. So

10:17

ten days into our honeymoon,

10:19

which was how long we wanted to spend at Anne's cabin,

10:22

we decid we want to spend two weeks.

10:24

We want to spend a little bit longer. But Anne

10:27

wants to come to her cabin. So Ann

10:31

Wilson shows up on our honeymoon, which

10:33

is an interesting thing for a small

10:35

cabin. It's like a sitcom

10:37

in a way. Here you have the two

10:40

sisters with you on

10:42

your honeymoon with one of them, and

10:44

what are you going to do in this in this small

10:46

environment in a in a

10:49

you know, coastal town in Oregon where not

10:51

much is going on. Well, we're

10:53

going to do a project, a musical project

10:56

that will involve all three of us. Whose

10:58

idea was this mine

11:01

because I love

11:03

watching them sing together. And

11:07

Nancy would later score my movies

11:09

and stuff, and so we worked really well

11:11

together and AND's

11:13

a lot of fun. Now, all all of this

11:15

being said, I was working loosely on a

11:17

book I wanted to do about Elvis movies, So

11:22

so that was on my mind.

11:24

And like any idea that you believe is good,

11:26

it's built on the things you love, and

11:29

Elvis was one. Playing

11:33

music with my wife was

11:35

another, and s

11:38

c TV and Martin Short was

11:40

a third element. I loved Martin

11:43

Short, that great that great comedy show s

11:45

c TV.

11:45

Remember I'm Canadian.

11:47

So here comes this idea

11:50

for a kind of and this is

11:52

the cousin of what you're doing, Malcolm. It's like lost

11:56

masterpieces. What's What's What's

11:58

something that like a movie

12:01

that almost got made? And it's

12:03

built on the burning fever

12:05

inside your gut that this is the idea

12:08

of all time. So I started building this

12:10

idea of the great Elvis

12:12

movie that never got made and

12:15

what's the story behind it? And I

12:17

decided that it was like you

12:19

had Goffin and King, who are like a great

12:22

couple songwriting their

12:25

legends. They'd written all these great songs. The Beatles

12:27

did some of them. I thought, like, what about a

12:30

much lesser Goffin and King, Like,

12:32

what about a couple who's the songwriting

12:35

team They haven't

12:37

gotten in the door. And

12:39

it's Parnell and Zix

12:42

was their name, Linda Parnell

12:44

and Louis Zix. And Louis Zix of

12:46

these two songwriters, is obsessed with

12:49

writing. He hears Elvis may do one

12:51

more movie, and he's

12:53

gonna write with with with his songwriting

12:56

partner wife, they're gonna write this song

12:58

cycle for the ten songs of an Elvis

13:01

movie that they're gonna pitch and

13:03

make. And this is the beginning

13:05

of Blue Seattle, which

13:07

is their song cycle

13:10

Malcolm, that they're gonna try and sell to Elvis

13:12

himself. And so here

13:15

on our honeymoon, I began to write

13:17

these Elvis songs that were

13:19

fleshed out with Ann and Nancy Wilson

13:21

of heart and and and un

13:24

ironically, really mostly we

13:26

were gonna do these songs that that captured

13:29

all the elements of the

13:31

Elvis movie formula.

13:34

Now, before we get into the songs themselves,

13:36

which I have to say, are genius?

13:39

I want you to define you said all

13:42

the elements of the eleph

13:45

movie formula. Break it down from before we start.

13:48

What what are the elements, the crucial.

13:49

Elements, okay,

13:52

the the the Elvis

13:54

elements of this. First of all, he has to have a name that

13:56

sounds like a fist, you know, nothing

13:59

too complex, just kind of like deep

14:01

Rivers was one Buck

14:04

Thomas, you know, so like we

14:06

we thought, you start with a name that's

14:08

like, you know, Mike

14:11

Davis something like that. And

14:13

and Elvis must always

14:15

have workplace

14:17

pride. He needs to do a

14:19

couple different things in an Elvis movie

14:22

of this era, but like

14:24

they're often a strange combination of things,

14:26

like he can be a veterinarian who's

14:28

also a race car driver who

14:31

also works in a county

14:33

fair somehow living

14:36

you know, a little kid should appear at

14:38

some point looking for kind of some kind of

14:40

mentorship, which he provides, usually

14:43

in the form of a song. Dancing

14:49

girls must appear.

14:52

In the Garden of Paradise, Noble Master.

14:55

So like that. It's worked in a fight,

14:58

at least one fight, and

15:06

a thoughtful moment over

15:09

a pet. Come on, Albert, don't be a faint.

15:12

A good album because, of course Elvis.

15:15

Yeah, I mean his dog, his love of

15:18

dog. I mean the seminal of what was the seminal dog

15:20

in Elvis's life. I've now forgotten the one

15:22

that song he used to sing over and

15:24

over and over again as

15:26

a teen was a song about a dead

15:28

dog, Shep.

15:32

Yes, wasn't it.

15:32

I think it's Shep. Yeah. These are the

15:34

kind of stations of the Elvis cross that you've.

15:37

Us the stations of the cross. You can't

15:39

say it any better.

15:42

There's a lot going on in these movies.

15:46

And he lined them up, man, he lined them

15:48

up and did them. But then ultimately we end up

15:50

at a place where Elvis's

15:53

nobility is protected. He

15:57

either gets the girl or he doesn't get the girl,

15:59

and there's a there's a rave up song that

16:01

sends you out feeling good.

16:03

Yeah.

16:04

Yeah, and that's the Elvis movie.

16:05

Did you have you watched all the album Elvis

16:07

movies?

16:08

Yeah, definitely. And as long

16:10

as you have these elements,

16:13

you're in the ballgame. Yeah. And of course

16:15

the songs are written

16:18

outside of Elvis's experience, and usually

16:20

they come to him and at some point and they play him

16:22

the songs, and you know, legendarily

16:24

he's like, no, no, okay,

16:26

I do something with that. Okay, No, okay,

16:28

now I'm tired, you know, Like,

16:31

and they bring more songs another day. And

16:34

these are songs that the songwriters have

16:36

like killed themselves over because they know they're

16:38

gonna have a session with Elvis,

16:41

you know, yeah, yeah, And this

16:43

was the songwriting couple in the story, my fictional

16:45

story for lu Seattle, Like their

16:48

dream is that they will one day be able

16:50

to play these songs for Elvis

16:52

and pitch this movie.

16:56

Are we going to hear some of those songs, dear listener,

16:58

Oh yes we are. After quick Break,

17:00

Cameron Crowe is going to play us

17:03

some of the music from Blue Seattle.

17:13

So you sat down, you're there.

17:15

How long did it take to write these

17:17

ten songs?

17:18

Like four or five days? Because I remember we made

17:20

this cassette that we're going to

17:23

listen to mercifully a little bit of yes,

17:26

maybe a lot, but there's I

17:28

remember we listened to it on our way back from the honeymoon.

17:31

We were like, this is really

17:33

pretty good.

17:36

Yeah, wait, why don't we let's play

17:38

that one? I actually I

17:41

think you're being far too modest. I have another one

17:43

I want to recommend, but we'll get to that one. Just

17:45

play just to get us in the mood. Let's

17:47

listen to your favorite of the ten songs you

17:49

wrote.

17:50

It's going to be My People, My People.

17:52

Let's listen to My People.

17:54

Let me set it up. We wanted to bring Elvis

17:56

this movie in

17:59

the late sixties because

18:01

this is kind of the period where post

18:06

Elvis has started to develop a little bit of

18:08

a social conscience. So the idea

18:10

is Elvis plays a cab driver

18:12

in this who is a man

18:15

kind of of the people. And so like the idea

18:17

of Elvis roaming the streets in Seattle

18:19

and like Pike Place and all that stuff.

18:21

We loved it. And so there

18:24

is a moment where he realizes

18:26

he he must return

18:29

to the relevance of the street where

18:31

he was once this cab

18:33

driver, and

18:36

he leaves this relationship that has kind

18:38

of belittled him in

18:40

some ways. And so he's like going back to his

18:43

roots, and he's singing this song from

18:45

behind the wheel of his cab, My People,

18:47

And it's always good. I'll just add this, It's always

18:50

good when you have a little bit of a of

18:52

a Spanish kind

18:55

of castinette,

18:58

you know.

19:02

Clove down in his street

19:06

watching from my seat. These

19:09

are the people, my

19:14

people in

19:19

the city. Raid, I

19:23

seem to know my these

19:26

are the people, my

19:31

people.

19:35

I'm just an afty.

19:39

How did mine.

19:42

My review?

19:43

Mar excuse

19:48

me in my crime?

19:51

I must be seeing my bride.

19:56

For the people, the people of people people.

20:02

A little bit.

20:03

You're a moment in there, and

20:07

now another one.

20:13

He's gonna be clapping, even though he has danse

20:15

hands on the wheel simp figure.

20:17

It out

20:20

almost.

20:26

To the people.

20:28

People you

20:37

can. Actually, it's funny. That's

20:40

like totally believable. Wasn't Elvis song?

20:44

If Alvis? Have I heard that on an Elvis album? I'm

20:46

not thinking twice about it.

20:48

I've come such a long way to hear you say

20:51

that.

20:52

No, I mean I'm not I'm not blowing smoke

20:54

here.

20:55

No, I felt that too at your time. Almost

20:58

sell that to to to Elvis. Yeah,

21:01

for one of those movies.

21:02

Yeah, who's playing guitar on that?

21:06

Nancy and Ann are both playing guitar and singing,

21:09

and I'm like attempting to

21:11

do an Elvis voice?

21:12

Yeah, which is it's not that the

21:15

wake link for sure, it's

21:17

not your range.

21:19

Fantastic. You know, they can play

21:21

anything at the drop of a hat, and their harmonies

21:24

are so cool.

21:25

Wait, let's so let's start from the view. So Blue

21:28

Seattle is set's the is

21:30

the first song sets the tone

21:32

here, and we we're

21:34

what are we? What are we doing?

21:35

What do we?

21:36

What are what are we trying to do? Narratively with Blue

21:38

Blue Seattle.

21:40

Usher you into uh an

21:42

Elvis world of time and place

21:44

and character. Yeah, where

21:46

fun will perhaps abound.

21:48

Yeah, let's let's play a little,

21:51

just the first half of it, and then just

21:53

to get a kind of feel we get in the mood,

21:56

Let's let's hear a little bit of it.

22:10

Leathers always in LUs.

22:18

Green mountains, a

22:23

maple.

22:36

This is the native influence was thing through.

22:43

I'm going back to the place where

22:46

I'm.

22:49

A pretty little ship of warm man. Just

22:52

kg.

22:57

The sticks

22:59

are rare boom. I

23:01

thought the opening this

23:04

should be the theme for Seattle. First

23:06

of all, Blue Seattle. Seattle

23:09

needs to call itself blue because everyone thinks

23:11

they're gray Seattle, so as a

23:13

marketing campaign to remind us that

23:15

the skies are blue in the mountains are green is

23:18

like. And secondly, just those opening

23:21

this place made the town made for love. I

23:23

mean, come on, why is the city not

23:25

make this just that those three opening

23:27

lines. That's the That

23:30

should be the official tagline for Seattle.

23:34

Everything takes its time. I'm

23:36

realizing to come to this

23:38

crossroads with you is really meaningful.

23:41

So yeah, once he did. It happened at the World's Fair

23:43

in Seattle. So this is like a reunion

23:46

with uh, with an Elvis city that's

23:49

like undervalued as an Elvis city.

23:51

But wait, yes, Elvis. Elvis plays

23:54

Seattle during the expo.

23:58

He makes a movie. It happened at the World's Fair.

24:01

I forget who the co star is, but like the

24:04

space needle is on the poster

24:06

for it.

24:07

It's a good nastic oh oh

24:09

wow, a little kind of a little a

24:11

little a little phallic imagery to add

24:13

to the we

24:16

then we come to pay the fair. Yeah,

24:18

and as you said earlier,

24:21

in the kind of like in the Elvis

24:23

movie taxonomy that you created,

24:25

he needs to have multiple jobs, but

24:28

one of them has to be a kind of keeping it

24:30

real, that's right. And

24:32

so the keep it real job we have here. We understand

24:34

that he's a cab driver.

24:36

He's a cab driver, looking

24:38

for love.

24:39

Looking for course. Yeah, let's do

24:41

let's do it. Let's do a minute of let's do a minute

24:43

of of pay the fair.

24:45

We'll see the little girl.

24:48

I'll stand a rod over there, maybe

24:52

forty.

24:55

Understand she's

24:59

a watch.

24:59

He's a watch.

25:00

He's a watch. He's a wall.

25:05

A fair.

25:09

Yuh, that little

25:11

girl a little

25:14

lot of like you. But das

25:19

and they sound and Nancy sounds

25:21

so good on this, they don't.

25:23

I know that the thing that makes this genius is

25:25

because understanding that we have the Wilson sisters

25:27

doing the do do Do Do Do Do.

25:28

Do right.

25:38

Came when you when you're doing this project?

25:42

Are they what's there?

25:44

They as into it as you are? There?

25:47

I mean A we're

25:49

bored, yeah, but

25:52

b it's it's a it's a great

25:54

question. There was mist there's

25:57

like waves crashing on the below

25:59

these little cliffs where we're staying,

26:02

and in the middle of this we're just like howling

26:05

through these Elvis songs. It was amazing.

26:07

Honeymoon is there

26:11

Is there a lot of weed involved or not?

26:15

Not really? Not really. I think

26:17

a lot of beers. I think we were just like

26:19

lining up beers doing some of this stuff.

26:21

Yeah, yeah, I think

26:23

I think we would have lost

26:25

our hard Elvis

26:27

edge if we'd gone to the weed too much. That

26:30

would be the later Elvis movie, that's

26:33

right. So Hiccups is the one's

26:36

there's usually a novelty song that's completely

26:39

embarrassing.

26:39

Oh that's what Hiccup is doing.

26:42

Yeah, where Elvis is asked to do something

26:44

that's really kind of beneath him and

26:46

he knows that. You can always see it in the

26:49

movies when he's asked to do this, to

26:51

play patty Cakes with a little kid,

26:54

or or do a move like that, he

26:56

usually, if you're really looking at it with a microscope,

26:59

he has a little fun and then it gets

27:01

old because they're asking him to do a number of

27:04

takes you can usually tell. And so

27:06

by the end of the novelty song in the movies,

27:08

he's so ready to move on. But

27:12

but it's important that he bonds with a child

27:14

and a pet.

27:15

Yeah, yeah, those are crucial.

27:19

You know.

27:20

It's just impossible not to be filled

27:23

with sympathy for Elvis.

27:26

I would want no part of his life. It just said. Everything

27:28

about it just sounds he's

27:31

locked up in this gilded cage and he just sounds

27:33

like he's desperately unhappy almost

27:35

all the time.

27:36

Yes, and the further

27:38

you go into the movies, you see

27:41

the anguish start to turn up. You

27:44

can see the anguish build and

27:48

sometimes for whole movies he's annoyed,

27:54

kind of just wondering

27:56

why he's there while he's doing

27:59

these lines.

28:00

Yeah, yeah, it's so. It's

28:02

so heartbreaking, it is, but

28:04

still a little bit of hiccups, just so we understand

28:07

this the novelty because now that you say that, it

28:09

made I was puzzling. I was listening. It's like, why is hiccups

28:11

here? That's here?

28:18

Part this partlet a

28:20

rhyme, the hiccup, No

28:22

friend of mine, there's no

28:25

way to rid yourself.

28:27

Oh this a little scat hellup,

28:33

yeah, big.

28:40

Big.

28:41

I was humming this to myself after a

28:44

mile around.

28:45

Now this year. Right, this is a heartbreak. This

28:47

is like the guy who was truly dangerous

28:50

is now doing the hiccup song.

28:52

Yeah.

28:52

Yeah. Culturally, my

28:55

and.

28:56

That line at the end, my prescription is

28:58

simply love. When he goes to yeah,

29:01

when he goes to all the cures for the hiccups

29:03

and then he comes as to the only one that works for me

29:06

is love, which by the way, is like so

29:08

poignant and so true. The one thing he was

29:10

lacking was love.

29:12

Right, That's

29:15

a truer line has really been written of Elvis

29:17

that he got every other drug in

29:20

quotes offered to him and none worked.

29:23

The only thing you need it was Yeah, it

29:25

was.

29:26

Super well said, and there was buried

29:28

in the Hiccup song.

29:30

But the way, what's hilarious continuing hilarious

29:32

is I said before the contrast

29:34

between two of the great guitar

29:37

players of our generation.

29:39

And then it's a good Elvis

29:42

impression. But as you say, you if you

29:44

are the weak, you

29:46

could only be you could only be though in this company.

29:49

That's that's true. It's true. And and of

29:51

course story wise, which we'll

29:53

we'll get to.

29:55

It.

29:56

These are the demos that the songwriting

29:58

team within the story are going to present to

30:00

Elvis. So this would be they're

30:03

recording these themselves present

30:06

to him, which which i'll

30:08

you know, we'll talk about in a second. Yeah, yeah, I'll

30:11

be brief.

30:12

I want to I want to play I want to play

30:14

One Chance to Love and then we listen, let's talk

30:16

a little bit more about about about context.

30:19

This this is this is where in this

30:22

functions how.

30:24

I think this is kind of the looking

30:26

over his shoulder at the romantic

30:29

landscape of Blue Seattle.

30:32

He kind of steps out and it's

30:34

a single man in the spotlight Roy Orbison

30:37

kind of song. Yeah, that

30:39

allows him to uh, you know, flex

30:42

his his vocal Elvis chops.

30:45

And this time I think we should listen to the whole

30:47

song. I think it's a lovely song. Yeah, just

30:49

do the whole thing.

30:51

H m,

30:58

Dom,

31:01

I've known you.

31:07

And yet I've loved you. No old

31:13

as many greedy men.

31:16

With hands and gloves.

31:20

But I just want one.

31:23

One chance too

31:26

loud.

31:30

What I

31:35

want you to know? I am everything, yea

31:39

Christ. I

31:41

don't have a lot to give, but I'm giving it

31:43

all here.

31:45

You coming man.

31:55

So helpless.

31:59

Would ask for.

32:05

Chances to look what

32:08

I means.

32:10

No, I'll take my chid.

32:14

I'll take my chance of just one.

32:18

What chance?

32:49

There's only one chance, There's

32:51

not two, there's only one.

32:57

I just think s great. I just

32:59

I just love this one.

33:03

We're building We're building this olf, Yeah.

33:25

We're we're we get the Wilson Sisters

33:27

at the end.

33:28

You can't beat it.

33:29

We have real singers at.

33:31

The end, but the situation forgot

33:33

what real city is like.

33:35

It's the least demo.

33:36

Ish mm hmmm mm hmmm.

33:39

It feels like by the end of this you're your

33:41

enthusiasm for the project is increasing.

33:44

You're exactly right.

33:46

That is the most Elvis, that's

33:49

the most pure. If you played

33:51

that for anyone and said who

33:53

would be the ideal singer for that? Everyone everyone

33:55

would say Elvis, that's an Elvis song.

33:58

I'm so close to it, you know, I'm When

34:00

you're the artist, Malcolm,

34:02

it's hard to look outside the character you're

34:05

playing. Sometimes. No, that's

34:07

amazing, Thank you. I

34:09

still one chance to love.

34:10

Yeah, Okay, now

34:12

that you've heard the songs, I think you understand

34:15

why I needed to see this movie.

34:17

We're gonna take a short break. When we come back,

34:20

we talk about how the story of the film turns out

34:22

and what it all means. So

34:39

we've we've we've got our ten songs,

34:42

and now we're this is the core

34:44

of a of a narrative. You want

34:46

to do you want to do this kind of tongue in cheek

34:49

Elvis movie, Yes, pretending

34:52

to.

34:52

Tell the story of how it

34:55

almost happened? Or yeah,

34:58

could have happened that that idea

35:00

is what kind of landed for for this.

35:03

So to go back to the screenplay, did you actually

35:05

write a screenplay around those songs?

35:07

I did? I did?

35:09

So how does it begin with those two characters

35:11

dreaming about writing an Elvis movie?

35:14

Yeah, and enjoying enjoying

35:17

one of the movies and trying

35:19

to be productive in their

35:22

own little songwriting career. And

35:25

I got the feeling story

35:27

wise that Elvis

35:29

had done the Comeback Special and just

35:32

maybe he had two more

35:35

movies that he did after that. I think he did.

35:38

I could be wrong. I think he did. He

35:41

did a movie called let

35:43

Me See Chautauqua was the

35:45

name of it, and it was kind of like a sought after

35:48

property. And he does this movie

35:50

Chautauqua, but by the time it comes out,

35:52

they've changed the name to The Trouble with

35:54

Girls and how to get into

35:56

it? So so dashed

35:59

again or his you know, dying

36:02

embers of an acting career. And then

36:04

he goes into the last one, which

36:07

is Change of Habit, which he does with

36:09

Mary Tyler Moore, and of course he plays

36:11

a doctor.

36:13

In a movie with Mary Tyler Moore.

36:16

The last one, it's the last

36:18

one. So I got the idea

36:20

that our little songwriting duo

36:23

gets a shot. That's the dream to

36:25

get the shot with Elvis. They're they're ushered

36:27

in and they have a moment in his trailer where

36:29

he's in his doctor uniform.

36:33

There's a guitar in his trailer. He's

36:35

on a break doing you know, change

36:37

of habit, and he and he

36:40

ushers them in and they're

36:43

kind of nervous. Our

36:45

guy, the main guy who's

36:48

who's like an Elvis fanatic and has

36:50

like really studied Louis Zix

36:53

has studied Elvis. But anyway, they run through the

36:55

songs. But before they do, Elvis

36:57

says, you

37:00

know, not real talkative, totally

37:03

charismatic, bronze in

37:05

his doctor outfit. He

37:08

says, I

37:11

always wanted to be in a good movie.

37:13

I don't know I'm gonna I'm gonna do this very much

37:15

anymore, maybe never go

37:17

ahead. So with having

37:20

led with I'm not really doing this stuff

37:22

anymore. These guys earnestly

37:25

run through the songs, and

37:28

Elvis listens and

37:31

he says, let me, let me, let me, let

37:33

me have the sheet music for the

37:35

the Cab Driver my People song. And

37:39

there's one guy that's written the songs, plays

37:41

the guitar his Elvis's guitar and accompanies

37:44

him, and Elvis sings My

37:46

People in that little trailer, and

37:50

then a guy comes to get him to do a scene

37:53

and he's leaving, and

37:56

our guy, Louis says, Elvis,

38:00

why'd you do all those movies? And

38:03

I used the line that I had heard from

38:05

the actual story where somebody asked him that, and he

38:07

said, hey, man, last thing I remember

38:09

I was driving a truck. And

38:12

he laughs and

38:14

leaves, and we're left

38:16

with the songwriting couple, and the wife

38:19

of Louis says, I

38:22

think he said no. And

38:26

Louis says, yeah, but what

38:30

a no? That's like the greatest

38:32

no ever. And she says, sometimes

38:34

a no is maybe even

38:36

better than a yes. And

38:39

that's that's the end of Lost Masterpieces,

38:41

the movie that never gets made. Elvis

38:44

never makes another movie, but

38:46

they have that moment in

38:48

the trailer that

38:52

that where it all came to life for one minute

38:54

while he sang the.

38:56

Song, yeah that truck. Last

38:58

thing I remember, I was driving a truck.

39:01

Yeah, I'll tell you where it came

39:03

from. Leon Russell, the

39:05

great you know, pianist and member

39:08

of the Wrecking Crew and stuff. Besides

39:10

being you know, genius solo artists,

39:13

he played on so many records, and he played on a bunch

39:15

of Elvis records. And he was in the RCA

39:17

studios in the hallway and

39:20

he sees Elvis coming down the hallway

39:22

and they hadn't seen each other since playing on a session,

39:25

and Leon Russell described it as he kind

39:27

of like developed Elvis Turett's

39:30

you know, he just like, what do you say to him? And he

39:32

ended up blurting out, Elvis,

39:34

why'd you make all those shitty movies? Just

39:38

yucking it up in a studio hallway,

39:40

and Elvis said, last thing I

39:42

remember, I was driving a truck and like

39:45

walks on, you

39:47

know, driving a truck in Tupelo basically,

39:50

and then the hurricane.

39:53

His whole life is just a blur.

39:55

That's what he means.

39:56

Oh, that's what he means.

39:58

But yeah, but.

40:00

Cameron, well, once again, it's

40:03

just it's so heartbreaking.

40:05

It is heartbreaking the idea that.

40:07

He would confess. He's essentially confessing

40:09

to the fact he's had no agency over his own

40:12

career, which we know is the truth of his own career.

40:15

Yeah, that he just completely surrendered

40:17

all decision making to somebody out to this

40:20

kind of bad surrogate father.

40:23

Yeah, and clearly,

40:27

in what little research I've been able to do in

40:29

the years passed our little novelty

40:32

project here, he

40:34

didn't appreciate his movies. He

40:38

never apparently had the

40:40

moment of watching him at two or three

40:42

in the morning and saying, like, shit, it's

40:44

kind of good. I think he mostly

40:47

became ashamed of them.

40:49

Yeah, But also the

40:52

idea of doing this kind

40:54

of bittersweet Elvis, who's

40:57

aware of his own kind of loss

41:00

and failure

41:02

in some sense, and who

41:05

you know, they're coming to him and they're confronting

41:08

him with more of the kind

41:10

of falsehood, you

41:12

know, like a kind of act, and like that's

41:14

and he just he can't do it anymore.

41:16

Driscilla Pressley said, there's a version of Elvis

41:19

that few people ever saw. And they would go to

41:21

the outskirts of town to like gospel

41:23

festivals, and Elvis would

41:25

sit at a piano with with like a

41:27

gospel group who was just like kind

41:29

of an amateurish gospel group,

41:31

and he'd sing at this piano and she

41:33

would say that was

41:36

the purest Elvis that

41:39

was him just connected to his

41:42

own heaven. That was it.

41:44

And she said, like, if you're going to do something

41:47

about Elvis and not have that in, you're

41:50

not seeing the real guy. So

41:52

I felt like that moment in

41:54

the trailer he actually

41:57

there was. There was just a love of music

41:59

and there was something in that song that like touched

42:02

him enough to want to sing it. And he who is

42:04

he if not a singer? And

42:06

so he takes a spin. He

42:09

takes it for a spin, and that

42:11

was his goodbye. It's like.

42:15

In the screenplay, how much of Alvis

42:17

had we seen prior to the trailer?

42:21

Oh? Nothing, He's like Wolfman Jack in

42:23

American Graffiti or something. It's like,

42:26

so we have a brief.

42:29

That he has that cameo right at the very

42:31

end.

42:32

Yeah, they're just jamming like we're on the honeymoon.

42:34

They're trying to like it's the joy

42:36

of their creation that the songwriters

42:39

the whole story really is. They're living

42:41

in it and experiencing it like we did on

42:44

our honeymoon. But but I think

42:46

that line is is cool

42:49

because maybe maybe

42:52

his partner realizes that the act

42:55

of actually doing it and

42:57

pulling el of us back into a place

42:59

that he was obviously leaving, and

43:02

like, how will the songs really turn

43:04

out? And are they out of step with the times?

43:06

Like these are all challenges that they don't

43:09

have to face. They got

43:11

to see it, and

43:14

damn it was good.

43:16

Yeah yeah, oh man,

43:19

Cameron, Why have why

43:22

have we been denied this? This is

43:24

so much more interesting than I imagined I

43:26

thought what you were doing because

43:28

all I had was the songs you sent me, the

43:31

songs. I didn't have the story, and

43:33

I thought, oh, this is like a goof

43:37

I just thought, oh, you're just like someone

43:39

loves Elvis is doing a little goofy Elvis.

43:42

But now I understand, as is

43:45

the case with so many of your movies, when

43:48

we get to the core of it, there's there's

43:50

something really emotionally

43:54

resonant there, like painfully,

43:56

painfully emotionally.

43:59

So it's that happy

44:01

sad feeling that you know, like the

44:03

songs we love so often

44:05

tap into the happy sad feeling

44:08

of you know, the

44:10

ying and yang, and you get to feel it all.

44:13

So did you pitch this script anywhere?

44:17

No?

44:17

I kind of wrote it and enjoyed

44:21

it and moved on to something else.

44:23

Why didn't you pitch it?

44:25

I hadn't started directing yet

44:28

really, and by the time by

44:30

the time that I did, I was

44:32

already off on another journey. But I

44:35

mean, I always loved the idea of the

44:38

dream that almost happened. And this, this

44:40

is what you're digging into right now.

44:43

There's there's an incredible kind

44:45

of like happy said, melancholy

44:47

about you know, some

44:50

of some of the Christopher Guests stuff

44:52

in the way that that it was

44:54

influencing me around this time and later

44:56

too, Like I just loved the humanity

44:58

and the humor and the mix of that. I

45:01

don't know it just maybe someday I'll circle back

45:03

to some version of this. But I did love

45:06

the idea of a portrait of these artists, just

45:08

like scraping for something true

45:11

and a different truth comes

45:13

out of it.

45:18

On this season's development Hell series,

45:20

we've heard stories about my brush with Hollywood

45:22

Glory science fiction tales never

45:25

were chimped forward Michael Jackson

45:27

biopics. But I wanted to tell

45:29

you about Blue Seattle at the end of it all, because

45:32

this conversation was my ticket out

45:34

of development. Hell

45:36

Crow and Nancy Wilson got divorced

45:38

some time ago. We didn't talk about that,

45:41

but I think it was part of the happy sad

45:43

feeling I got listening to these songs they made together

45:46

right when they got married. Crow

45:48

is the king of happy sad on film, the

45:51

kind of instant nostalgia. It's

45:53

all about feeling joy while knowing it will

45:55

pass, that all things fade, but

45:58

not if they never exist in the first place. That's

46:01

the beauty of development. Hell I thought it

46:03

was all about missing out on projects the world deserves

46:05

to see, and for some films, like say

46:08

Bubbles, it really is. But it's

46:10

also about ideas so perfect

46:12

that realizing them on screen might do

46:15

them a disservice. Will anyone's

46:17

elbows be better than Cameron Crowe singing

46:19

with Nancy Wilson ten days after they got

46:21

married? How could you even shoot

46:23

the scene with the songwriters run through all the

46:25

songs they've written in a trailer? How's

46:27

Elvis gonna clap his hands while

46:30

driving his cab? Would it look ridiculous?

46:33

Maybe that's not the point. Does

46:36

it sound amazing? Absolutely?

46:39

And does it come to life in our imagination?

46:42

Yes?

46:42

It does.

46:44

It's like Louis's wife says, sometimes

46:47

a no is better than a yes.

47:02

This episode of Revision's History was produced

47:04

by Nina Bird Lawrence and Ben and Alfhaffrey,

47:07

with Talian editing Sarah

47:09

Nix, original scoring by Lubiskarra engineering

47:12

by Echo Mountain. Our executive producer

47:15

is Jacob Smith. Thanks to the Pushkin

47:17

Crew, Greta Cone, Christina Sullivan,

47:19

Sarah Nix, Nicole upten Bosch,

47:22

Eric Sandler, Sarah Bruger and Kerry

47:24

Brody. An extra special thanks of course

47:27

to Camera Crow. I'm Malcolm Glappa.

47:29

One too

47:31

loud?

47:36

What I

47:45

love?

47:51

Ye man, There's

48:01

so.

48:01

Many of us who

48:05

that's what one.

48:10

Whatever?

48:10

Let the chances to look, but

48:14

not me.

48:14

Donald. No, I'll

48:16

take my shot.

48:19

I'll take my chances.

48:21

Just what chance?

48:25

It's true?

48:31

What's it?

48:52

Chimes

49:18

one sends to

49:24

Chans to