Almost Famous Page #3

12 INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY12

Anita stands in the living room. The song continues playing

on the stereo.

ANITA:

I want to play you a song that explains

why I'm leaving, and try to listen.

ELAINE:

We can't talk? We have to listen to

rock music?

13 EXT. FRONT LAWN -- DAY13

William watches sadly. Anita's good-looking boyfriend DARRYL,

a dead ringer for young Stephen Stills, loads her suitcases

into a large turqouise Chevy. The suitcases are adorned with

plastic stick-on flowers. All coolness is leaving William's

life. Mom watches nearby, worried and helpless. (Their house

is more austere, less "fun" than the other front lawns.)

WILLIAM:

Take good care of her in San Francisco,

man.

Darryl gives the kid a sub-human look. He's invisible, too

young to converse with.

ELAINE:

How can she leave such a loving family?

Anita turns and heads towards them. She focuses on William,

placing her hands on his young shoulders. Her face is very

close to him now, as she delivers this sage prediction of the

future.

ANITA:

One day you'll be cool.

He nods stoically, hopefully. He is utterly lost. She leans

forward and whispers in his ear.

ANITA (cont'd)

Look under your bed. It'll set you

free.

Anita shakes hands with Mom, and exits. As the car takes off:

ELAINE:

She'll be back.

In the distance we hear the whoop of her daughter.

ANITA:

YEAHHHHH-HOOOOOOOO.

ELAINE:

Maybe not soon...

William watches wistfully. He moves away from his mother.

She pulls him closer. Shot moves in on his slightly fearful

face.

14 INT. DARRYL'S CAR - DAY14

Anita looks back at the receding American Gothic-image of her

mother and brother. Sister waves to brother. She feels for

him. Music now shifts to The Who's "Sparks."

15 INT. BEDROOOM -- NIGHT15

William locks the door. He reaches under his bed. It's a

black leatherette travel bag, with tartan design. He unzips

the bag -- it's filled with albums. He flips through the

amazing, subversive cache of music. Cream's Wheels of Fire...

the seminal Bob Dylan bootleg Great White Wonder... the Rolling

Stones' Get Yer Ya Ya's Out... The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds...

Abraxas by Santana... Jethro Tull's Stand Up... The Mother's of

Invention's We're Only In It For The Money... Led Zeppelin...

Crosby, Stills and Nash... Miles Davis' B*tches Brew... and

The Who's Tommy... with a note taped to it.

ANITA (V.O.)

"Listen to Tommy with a candle burning

and you will see your entire future..."

The heady effect of all these albums registers, as we see him

lighting a candle.

TITLE:
1973

DETAIL SHOT OF NOTEBOOK

A blue school notebook, with ballpoint pen renderings of the

names of groups like the Who and Led Zeppelin, complete with

carefully drawn thunderbolts. Also, the name LESTER BANGS.

16 INT. JOURNALISM CLASS -- DAY16

William, now 15, sits in class with book, Adventures in

Journalism. His hair is shoulder-length. A dedicated teacher,

PATRICIA DEEGAN, walks the aisles. Music continues.

17 EXT. FOOD MACHINES - DAY17

William presses the food machine button, pulls an orange from

a vending container. He still looks younger than most of the

students... and these days, especially the girls.

18 EXT. LUNCH COURT -- DAY18

William sits apart from all the others, under a tree. He reads

intently, happily, as he eats the orange. It's a copy of Creem

Magazine. Music continues.

CLOSE ON PHOTOS IN MAGAZINE

Camera moves across the photos, catching the expressions and

fashions of the rock heroes of the day. Ian Anderson of Jethro

Tull, eyes wide and hair flying as he plays flute. Neil Young,

enigmatic with perfectly patched Levis. The Southern Rock Royalty

of The Allman Brothers Band, posing and laughing in front of

massive stacks of amps. Marc Bolan of T. Rex, his ringlet-hair

backlit by stage lights. David Bowie in skin-tight Japanese one-

piece attire, onstage with The Spiders From Mars. Pete Townsend

of the Who, slashing windmill-style at his guitar.

Drift down to a by-line - by Lester Bangs.

19 EXT. PARKING LOT - DAY19

William walks through the parking lot after school. Everybody

now congregates around the new arrival of their lives - their

own cars. Arms suddenly clap William on the back, friendly

faces smile strangely, laughing. He takes a few steps and

looks up to see... a school official is hurriedly removing

something from the high-school marquee.

HIGH-SCHOOL MARQUEE

which reads:
WILLIAM MILLER IS TOO YOUNG TO DRIVE (OR F***)

All are laughing. He laughs with them, and turns as his face

goes slack. He shrugs, marches on.

20 EXT. DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO RADIO STATION -- DAY20

The song we've been listening to is ripped off the turntable by

a highly-active man in a red promotional t-shirt proclaiming the

greatness of The Guess Who. He is a ferocious, lumbering, music-

driven presence, and he fills this small radio studio to the

very brim. This is LESTER BANGS, 25, the rarely-seen God of a

then new art-form -- Rock Journalism. A Disc-jockey with long-

long hair watches helplessly. William views all this through a

glass window. He stands on the corner of a downtown side

street, halfway up a steep incline. He is the only person on

the streets this early Saturday morning. Reveal that he is

watching a live radio show, audible to us through the small

p.a. speaker overhead.

DISC-JOCKEY

Quite an honor to have the World's

Greatest Rock Critic... and editor of

Creem Magazine, back Home in San Diego

for a few days -- Lester Bangs.

LESTER BANGS:

What is this hippie station?! Where's

Iggy Pop? Don't you have a copy of

Raw Power?!

DISC-JOCKEY

Lester, isn't it a little early for

this?

Bangs searches for the album -- vinyl flying everywhere now,

with no regard for album jackets.

BANGS:

Found it!!

21 EXT. RADIO STATION -- DAY21

William watches intently. Bangs thuds the needle onto a copy

of Raw Power. We're rewarded with a blast of Iggy and the

Stooges' "Search and Destroy." A closer shot on William now

watching the whirlwind of anarchy inside. Lester does an Iggy

Pop impression, acting out a story for the d.j. that we cannot

hear, never noticing the kid soaking in everything from the

other side of this double-glass window.

22 EXT. RADIO STATION -- DAY -- LATER22

Bangs walks with William on this sharply inclined San Diego

street. It's early, the streets are silent. Bangs is about

fifteen beer pounds overweight. His jeans are loose, his

paleness and messy moustache an emblem of the long days and

nights spent writing. In there somewhere is a good-looking

guy. His hands are thrust deeply into his pockets, and he

takes big sweeping steps.

BANGS:

So you're the one who's been sending

me those articles from your school

newspaper -

WILLIAM:

I've been doing some stuff for a local

underground paper, too.

BANGS:

What are you like the star of your

school?

WILLIAM:

They hate me.

BANGS:

You'll meet them all again on their

long journey to the middle.

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