Can you imagine Brad Pitt screaming, “I am a golden God”? If yes, then you’ll be happy to know that the Hollywood A-lister was this close to playing the role of Russell Hammond in Almost Famous.
For the first episode of Origins: Almost Famous Turns Twenty, host James Andrew Miller revealed that the beloved cast, made up of Frances McDormand, Billy Crudup, and Kate Hudson, almost featured a different array of actors.
Namely, “in the early stages” of the film, Meryl Streep was considered for Elaine Miller, Natalie Portman auditioned for Penny Lane and, as we mentioned above, Pitt was in the running for Russell Hammond.
“Brad Pitt was on my mind because I had a really good meeting with him around the time of Say Anything,” the film’s director Cameron Crowe shared. “And he was just starting out, and he just really had something.”
According to Crowe, after Jerry Maguire came out, Pitt gave him a call and expressed a desire to work with him.
