George Pimentel/Jeffrey Mayer/WireImageAs a celebrity outpouring continues to swarm the shocking death of David Bowie, former journalist-turned director Cameron Crowe is reflecting on the deeply personal six months he spent with the musical chameleon more than four decades ago.
When he was just 16 years old, the Almost Famous director mimicked his future film when he vied for an interview with the evolving star in 1973, the same time Bowie was challengingly not accepting interviews.
During a press tour for his upcoming Showtime series, Roadies, Crowe described how he had interviewed several of Bowie's friends and mentioned to them that he wanted to get in touch with the elusive performer.
"I was sitting in my bedroom in San Diego and the phone rang one night and it was David Bowie and he said, 'I'm on a train, and I'm on my way from New York. I've just split with my manager. I don't know that many people in Los Angeles. I'll be getting in in a couple of days and would you like to do an interview with me?'" Crowe revealed. "I said, 'Yes, I would. I really, really would.'"
The Academy Award nominee didn't hold his breath for a return call from the private star—until the phone rang again.
"He said, 'Come up here. I'm staying at this house. Let's meet, and let's spend some time together,' and I spend six months straight with David Bowie... Basically, I was in this whirlwind with him in the period between Young Americans and Station to Station," Crowe continued.
"Thank goodness I kept notes on every aspect of it. There were no limits. Everything was discussed," the director added. "He said, 'Ask me anything. Watch me create. Watch me produce. Watch me sad. Watch me happy'...It was an incredibly vital experience because he said, 'You can do this story for whoever you want.'"
After all this time, the accomplish journalist has nothing but compliments to pay to the wildly generous star.
"He was the most generous and exciting interview subject that I was ever allowed a lot of time with and that all came from David Bowie," Crowe praised.
While Bowie's death was tragic and premature, Crowe insists the spirit of the legend will live on in the hearts of aspiring musicians rising up in the ranks.
"David Bowie's impact is so huge in that he presents himself now as a role model to artists that may need to remember that it's not about branding. It's about a restless need to be creative and to continue being creative," he said. "For a young musician or artist of any kind, anybody coming up, it's great to look to Bowie and see that seismic effect he's had on people, not because he kept doing the same thing that worked again and again, but because he always shook it up and he always served the gods of creativity."
"That was the lesson I got from him then and today."