POTD: Read Jimmy Fallon’s Alternate Titles For ‘Almost Famous’
If you don’t loveAlmost Famousas much as most of the staff of /Film does, then you might not know that the original title for the film wasUntitled. If you watch “The Bootleg Cut” (or director’s cut) that was released on DVD back in 2001 and re-released on Blu-ray in 2011, you’ll see the real title appear, as it was preferred by directorCameron Crowe(who is the one doing thehandwritten opening creditsas well).
Before the titleAlmost Famouswas settled upon, there was a time when Cameron Crowe was trying to figure out what else he could call the movie, sinceUntitledwas not the most desirable name for the studio to sell. One person who tried to help Cameron Crowe figure out a satisfying alternate title was supporting starJimmy Fallon, and the director recently revealed the full list of options he was presented with by the man who would go on to hostThe Tonight Show.
Here’s Jimmy Fallon’s full list ofAlmost Famousalternate titles revealed on Twitter:
from the archives: when the studio refused to release “almost famous” under the original title “untitled”…@jimmyfallonsent theseideas.pic.twitter.com/oTOS9TQymC
— Cameron Crowe (@CameronCrowe)June 03, 2025
My favorites from this list areI’m With The Band, The B-SidesandThe Vinyl Years. There’s something that I like aboutNothing Up My Sleeve (Except for My New Record), but that’s probably best saved for a stand-u comedy album of some sort. There are plenty of choices on here that are clearly jokes, including a trilogy ofDoin' Itmovies.
So where did the titleAlmost Famouscome from?
CNN anchor Jake Tapper actually asked this very question to Cameron Croweon Twitter, to which Crowe responded, “It was David Geffen’s idea… but it wasn’t his first choice. He really liked My Opening Farewell.” David Geffen was one of the co-founders of DreamWorks, who producedAlmost Famous.
For my money, I thinkAlmost Famousis a solid title, and it says a lot more about the movie thanUntitled, but it’s not hard to understand why Cameron Crowe was so attached to the title to begin with. We’re just glad that eventually we got to see the director’s cut of the movie that the studio wasn’t willing to distribute in theaters.
