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[This Just In]

ACCESS HOLLYWOOD
My lunch with Cameron

BY TAMARA WIEDER

I expected a stuffy media luncheon, perhaps a finger sandwich or two, maybe a ginger ale. Polite conversation with other journalist types, a brief glimpse of the celebrity director, then off to a screening of said director’s film.

Instead, I got an intimate table for five. Me. The expected journalist types. And Cameron Crowe.

An hour before a press screening of Crowe’s latest film, the mind-twister Vanilla Sky, there I was, nibbling seared tuna and listening intently as Crowe tried with absolute earnestness not to give away any of the film’s secrets and ruin it for me — the only one at the table who hadn’t yet seen the film — while simultaneously discussing various scenes with our lunch mates, who’d attended an earlier screening.

The director, who’s practically been anointed a celluloid saint for giving the world such films as Say Anything, Singles, and Almost Famous, was charming, low-key, and utterly unaffected as he offered up tasty morsels of gossip on his film’s two stars.

"They didn’t get together until after the film was done shooting," Crowe explained of the now-heated romance between Cruise and Cruz (that’s Tom and Penelope, for those who’ve somehow managed to live completely beyond the reach of pop culture’s tentacles). "But they were very comfortable with each other. He’s a comfortable guy. And she is, too." His reaction to learning about their relationship, said Crowe, was akin to finding out that any two friends had taken things to the next level: "It was like, Bob and Judy are together?!"

And what about the final days of Cruise’s marriage to Nicole Kidman? Crowe had some information on that mess, too.

"Tom separated from Nicole while we were shooting," he told us. "He gathered everyone — cameramen, makeup people, crew — around one day and said, ‘Listen, something’s going to happen.’ I found out at the same time everyone else did. He told us, ‘We’re family on this set, and I want you to know what’s going on.’ "

Soon enough, one of Crowe’s local handlers appeared to usher him around to the other tables where, she said, the rest of the journalist types were feeling neglected. So the director stood, said his goodbyes, and turned to leave.

And I finished my ginger ale and went to the movies.

Issue Date: December 6 - 13, 2001

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