William Miller Quotes in Almost Famous (2000)

Lester Bangs: Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.

William Miller: Well, it was fun.

Lester Bangs: Because they make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.

William Miller: I know. Even when I thought I was, I knew I wasn't.

Lester Bangs: That's because we're uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don't have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter.

William Miller: I can really see that now.

Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love... and let's face it, you got a big head start.

William Miller: I'm glad you were home.

Lester Bangs: I'm always home. I'm uncool.

William Miller: Me too!

Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.

William Miller: I feel better.

Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.

Penny Lane: How old are you?

William Miller: Eighteen.

Penny Lane: Me too! How old are we really?

William Miller: Seventeen.

Penny Lane: Me too!

William Miller: Actually, I'm sixteen.

Penny Lane: Me too. Isn't it funny? The truth just sounds different.

William Miller: I'm fifteen.

William Miller: I have to go home.

Penny Lane: You are home.

Russell Hammond: If something should happen... maybe I never said this enough. I love all of you.

Dennis Hope: I once hit a man in Dearborn, Michigan. A hit and run. I hit him and just kept on going. I don't know if he's alive or dead... but I'm sorry. Not a day goes by I don't see his face.

Leslie: Oh my God!

Dick Roswell: Look, I love you all too. You're like a family to me. Especially since Marna left me. And listen, fellas... I just want you to know, if I took an extra dollar or two here and there... it's because I knew I'd earned it.

Russell Hammond: Yeah. I slept with Marna, Dick.

Jeff Bebe: I did too.

Larry Fellows: I waited until you broke up with her, Dick. But me too.

Jeff Bebe: [to Russell] I also slept with Leslie, when you were fighting.

Russell Hammond: [to Leslie] You slept with Jeff?

Leslie: Yeah, but it didn't count. It was the summer we decided to be free of all rules.

Russell Hammond: [to Jeff] And you say you love me!

Jeff Bebe: I don't love you, man. I never did. None of us love you. You act above us. You always have.

Larry Fellows: Finally, the truth.

Jeff Bebe: You just held it over us, like you might leave. Like we're lucky to be with you. And we had to live with it, man. I had to live with you, and now I might die with you, and it's not fucking fair!

Russell Hammond: Please, enough!

Jeff Bebe: And I'm still in love with you, Leslie.

Leslie: Oh, I don't wanna hear any more. Shut up, Jeffrey!

Dick Roswell: It's all happening.

Russell Hammond: What the fuck! Whatever happens, Bebe, you're dead.

Jeff Bebe: Don't be self-righteous, Russell. Not now, man. You were sleeping with Penny, that fucking groupie, last summer up until yesterday. Why don't you tell Leslie that?

Russell Hammond: Shut up!

Dennis Hope: I quit!

Russell Hammond: I'm gonna kill you!

Dennis Hope: I quit!

William Miller: "That groupie"? She was a Band-Aid! All she did was love your band. And you used her, all of you! You used her and threw her away! She almost died last night while you were with Bob Dylan. You guys, you're always talking about the fans, the fans, the fans; she was your biggest fan, and you threw her away! And if you can't see that, that's your biggest problem. And I love her! I love her!

William Miller: Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song? Do you have to be in love to write a love song? Is a song better when it really happened to you? Like "Love Thing," where did you write that and who was it about?

Russell Hammond: When did you get so professional?

Lester Bangs: So, you're the one who's been sending me those articles from your school newspaper.

William Miller: I've been doing some stuff for a local underground paper, too.

Lester Bangs: What, are you like the star of your school?

William Miller: They hate me.

Lester Bangs: You'll meet them all again on their long journey to the middle.

[Finally getting his interview with Russell Hammond]

William Miller: So Russell... what do you love about music?

Russell Hammond: To begin with, everything.

Penny Lane: Call me if you need a rescue, we live in the same city.

William Miller: Sometimes I think I live in a different world.

Russell Hammond: And you can tell Rolling Stone magazine that my last words were... I'm on drugs!

[crowd cheers]

William Miller: Russell! I think we should work on those last words!

Russell Hammond: I got it, I got it. Last words - I dig music.

[a few claps]

Russell Hammond: [beat]

Russell Hammond: I'm on drugs!

[crowd cheers]

Russell Hammond: Your mom kind of freaked me out.

William Miller: [places hand on Russell's shoulder] She means well.

William Miller: [on meeting Stillwater] Russell. Jeff. Ed. Larry. I really love your band. I think the song "Fever Dog" is a big step forward for you guys. I think you guys producing it yourselves, instead of Glyn Johns, was the right thing to do. And the guitar sound... is incindiary. Incendiary. Way to go.

[He turns to leave. The band members regard one another for a moment]

Russell Hammond: Well, don't stop there!

Jeff Bebe: Yeah, come back here! I'm incendiary, too, man!

Penny Lane: I've made a decision, I'm gonna live in Morocco for one year. I need a new crowd. Do you wanna come?

William Miller: Yes! Yeah.

Penny Lane: Are you sure?

William Miller: Ask me again.

Penny Lane: Do you wanna come?

William Miller: Yes! Yes.

William Miller: I love you. And I'm about to boldly go where... many men have gone before.

Penny Lane: Maybe it is love, as much as it can be, for somebody...

William Miller: Somebody who sold you to Humble Pie for fifty bucks and a case of beer! I was there! I was there!... Look- I'm sorry.

Penny Lane: [sniffs] What kind of beer?

Polexia Aphrodisia: [to William watching Penny Lane] Act One, in which she pretends she doesn't care about him.

Polexia Aphrodisia: [sees Russell strumming his guitar and staring at Penny] Act Two, in which he pretends he doesn't care her, but he goes right for her.

Polexia Aphrodisia: [Russell goes to Penny] Act Three, in which it all plays out the way she planned it. She'll eat him alive.

William Miller: We gotta stop them!

Polexia Aphrodisia: Stop them? You... were her reason for coming here.

Penny Lane: When we go to Morocco, I think we should have completely different names and be completely different people.

William Miller: What will our names be?

Russell Hammond: [high on acid; laughingly, to Dick] Look at him, he's taking notes with his eyes.

[Violently grabs William and shouts to his face]

Russell Hammond: How do we know you're not a cop, huh? The enemy! Stop fucking looking at me!

Dick Roswell: [calming Russell] He's your guardian angel, alright?

[to William]

Dick Roswell: Don't worry, he only means half of what he says.

William Miller: [to himself] Which half?

William Miller: Please don't give him any more acid.

William Miller: [on the phone with Dick, talking about Russell] Dick, I got him. He's okay. He is on acid, though.

[pause]

William Miller: I can't really tell. How do you know when it's kicked in?

[Cut to Russell standing on the roof, screaming "I am a golden god"]

William Miller: [to Penny, who is on the toilet] I thought maybe we could hang out, you know, do some stuff back home like... like regular stuff, get to know each other a little bit better, and *then* I'd see you pee.

Penny Lane: You're too sweet for rock and roll.

William Miller: Sweet? Where do you get off? Where do you get sweet? I am dark and mysterious, and *pissed off*! And I could be very dangerous to all of you! You should know that about me... I am *the enemy*!

Russell Hammond: And you can tell Rolling Stone magazine that my last words were... I'm on drugs!

William Miller: Russell! I think we should work on those last words!

Russell Hammond: I got it, I got it. Last words: I dig music. I'm on drugs!

William Miller: When and where does this "real world" occur?

Lester Bangs: You like Lou Reed?

William Miller: The early stuff. In his new stuff he's trying to be Bowie, but he should just be himself.

William Miller: You said we were going to go to Morocco. There is no Morocco. There's never been a Morocco. There's not even a Penny Lane. I don't even know your real name.

Beth from Denver: Don't worry William, I've seen the future and this all works out reasonably well.

William Miller: Reasonably well?

William Miller: What about your mom?

Penny Lane: She always said, "Marry up. Marry someone grand". And that's why she named me "Lady".

William Miller: She named you "Lady?"

Penny Lane: [makes a face] Lady Goodman.

Polexia Aphrodisia: Do you have any pot?

William Miller: No. I'm a *journalist*.

Polexia Aphrodisia: Well, go do your job then. You're on the road, man. It's all happening! Get in there. Go talk to 'em!

William Miller: Don't you have any regular friends?

Penny Lane: Famous people are just more interesting.

Elaine Miller: Keep the small bills on the outside and call me if anyone gets drunk.

William Miller: I will call you if anyone *anywhere* gets drunk.

Sheldon the Desk Clerk: Are you Mr. Miller?

William Miller: Yeah.

Sheldon the Desk Clerk: [politely] You have a message from Elaine, your mother.

[pause]

Sheldon the Desk Clerk: She's a handful.

William Miller: I know.

Sheldon the Desk Clerk: [seriously] She freaked me out.

William Miller: I kept thinking I was gonna go home the next day.

Dick Roswell: Yeah. So did I... fifteen years ago.

Estrella Starr: Who are you with?

William Miller: Me? I'm with myself.

Estrella Starr: No, who are you with; what band?

Lester Bangs: What are you listening to?

William Miller: Stillwater.

Lester Bangs: Stillwater?

[to himself]

Lester Bangs: Fucking kid's doing drugs.

Ben Fong-Torres: There's a mojo at the "Daily News" they'll let us use.

William Miller: A "mojo"?

Ben Fong-Torres: A mojo. It's a very modern machine that transmits pages over the telephone. It only takes 18 minutes a page.

Penny Lane: Vic is a Zeppelin fan.

William Miller: I picked that up.

Penny Lane: He tours with them, but not, you know, with them.

Penny Lane: Hey, when we go to Morocco... I think we should wear completely different clothes... and be completely different people.

William Miller: What will our names be?

Penny Lane: [to William, who is on the phone with his mother] This is Beth from Denver. She's one of the legendary, original Band Aids - she's clairvoyant!

Beth from Denver: I can't read your mind or anything. I mean, I pick up things here and there. Estrella says hi - She says I can stay in your room.

William Miller: Sure.

Beth from Denver: Great. I've got some... hydroponic pot!

[William covers the phone]

Vic Munoz: It's all happening. They're here. Zeppelin are here. They are here. They're at the Plaza. Sapphire and Miss Penny Lane are there too. They're all staying under the name Emily Rugburn.

William Miller: Wait. Penny Lane is here?

Vic Munoz: [walking away] Emily Rugburn!