Cameron Crowe has made one bad film, a trio of great ones and a mediocre one - his last flick, Elizabethtown was the bad film. He's back on the horse, though, and is putting the finishing touches to his book adaptation, We Bought A Zoo. He has explained why he changed the setting from rural UK, to California on his official website TheUncool.com, where he also interacts with fans. He responded to one such query with:
"The story was set in Boston when I first read Aline’s script, and she really made it sing as a universal story. I watched Benjamin Mee’s (who also wrote the book) BBC documentary, and read his great book a few times and knew that Ben’s story (while very much set in the UK) was largely a personal one. I also knew a ton of places in ‘inner’ California that felt like my ‘Dartmoor’… places that felt far removed and would support a struggling zoo. Then we found the Greenfield Ranch location, outside Westlake Village, and we all fell in love with the property. Plus, I wanted to work with Matt Damon, and I think he gets things done pretty well with his natural accent… so we started casting American actors, reading with them, setting the story here in California… and the real Benjamin Mee gave us a thumbs up… and that’s a mighty thumbs up. We filmed in ‘out of the way’ California, places that don’t normally turn up in the movies. (Though Jamie Foxx had a place in the hills across the way and the rumour was he was tracking our movie through binoculars. Hey Jamie!)"
I really love Cameron Crowe when he's at his best. Orlando Bloom was the worst thing about Elizabethtown, but the film never clicked the way it should have. We Bought a Zoo has a great cast and a heartfelt, real life plot. Very much looking forward to it.
