Damone’s Take on the Making of Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Alright, folks – sit back and relax. Mike Damone here, your friendly neighborhood ticket scalper, ready to give you the inside scoop on how our Fast Times at Ridgemont High came to be. You want behind-the-scenes dish? I was there, man (well, kind of). This is the story of how a little teen flick with unknown kids and a shoestring budget became a cult classic of the 1980s. And I’ll do it in true Damone style: confident, a bit satirical, and always cool. Class is in session, so pay attention. “Isn’t this great?”

Undercover Origins: A True High School Story

Believe it or not, Fast Times at Ridgemont High started as a true story. The film’s writer, Cameron Crowe, wasn’t some old Hollywood guy – he was a 22-year-old hotshot journalist who went undercover as a high school student for a year. Yeah, you read that right. He actually re-enrolled in a San Diego high school under a fake name (Dave Cameron – real subtle, bro) to gather real tales of teen life. Crowe had skipped grades and graduated young, so this was like his do-over senior year. The result was a 1981 book full of real high school characters and escapades that would become the basis for our movie. Talk about doing your homework! Crowe basically lived the high school life he missed, befriending real students and writing down all the crazy stuff that went down in the halls. The producers snapped up the film rights to his book before it even hit shelves, betting that these authentic stories would make a killer movie. They even kept Crowe on to write the screenplay – who better to script the hall-pass drama than the guy who lived it, right?

Now, every great movie needs a director with vision. Enter Amy Heckerling, a young filmmaker fresh out of film school. Fast Times was going to be her directorial debut, and she was hungry to make it count. Universal Pictures hired Heckerling after seeing a short film she made about – get this – a girl trying to lose her virginity. (Sound familiar? Stacey Hamilton’s storyline, anyone?) So clearly, Amy had the chops to tell honest teen stories. When she first read Crowe’s script, the studio suits saw a simple raunchy teen comedy – easy laughs, a little skin, nothing too deep. But Heckerling thought it could be more than that. She wanted to capture the real heart (and hormones) of teen life, not just the cheap thrills. Word is she told Crowe the script needed more energy and authenticity. Together, they reworked it to make sure every awkward moment and wild adventure rang true. Amy was aiming for an ensemble vibe like American Graffiti – multiple characters, interwoven stories, all within that SoCal high school world. She even decided to center a lot of the action around the mall, since what teen in the ’80s didn’t treat the mall like the place to be? (Ridgemont Mall in our film is basically another character – and as Damone, I can confirm: wherever you are, that’s the place to be.) With Heckerling at the helm, a sharp script by Crowe, and a determination to show teen life uncensored, the stage was set. This wasn’t going to be just another goofy teen flick – it was gonna have soul. In Damone terms, our director called the shots and kept it real, which is why the movie still hits home today.

Casting the (Fresh) Faces of Ridgemont High

Now, let’s talk casting – aka discovering future stars on the cheap. Back in 1982, nobody knew these kids. The studio wanted 18 or older actors (to dodge child labor rules with our edgy content), so most of us were just over high school age – technically adults who looked like teens. In fact, the only actual minor on set was a 17-year-old kid named Nicolas Coppola. Ever hear of him? Probably – he later changed his name to Nicolas Cage. Yep, this was Cage’s first film role, billed under the family name he later ditched. The funny thing is, young Nic originally auditioned to play Brad (the older brother character) but got passed over. Word around Ridgemont was his audition was a little too weird – plus he was under 18, which meant limited work hours. So the filmmakers said, “Sorry, bud, no dice,” and stuck him in as “Brad’s Bud” flipping burgers. To make things more awkward, Nic was Hollywood royalty (nephew of Francis Ford Coppola), and some on set weren’t thrilled about a Coppola crashing our party. The poor guy felt so judged for his famous last name that he decided to start fresh as “Cage” after this film. Can’t blame him – in our halls, you earn respect on your own merit. At least he got to be part of the history, even if it was in the background. And hey, being the only underage cast member didn’t stop him from lying about his age to get the gig. Classic hustle – Damone would approve.

On the flip side, we had a dude who everyone would know soon enough: Sean Penn, cast as the one and only Jeff Spicoli. Legend has it Sean didn’t even formally audition. He strolled in to chat with the director and instantly vibed that surfer-stoner energy. They basically said, “This is our guy.” And boy, he did not break character. Penn went full method – all Spicoli, all the time. I’m talking he insisted everyone call him “Spicoli” off-camera and would ignore you if you used “Sean.” Total commitment. He showed up to work in character every day, embodying that blissed-out, righteous dude to a T. Only on the final day of shooting did he drop the act, walk up in a plain jacket, and go, “Hey, I’m Sean,” like he hadn’t just spent months thinking he was Jeff Spicoli. We were like, whoa, Spicoli has an actual last name! It’s the kind of dedication that paid off – Penn launched to superstardom (and even snagged a couple of Oscars down the road), all starting with him living and breathing our favorite surfer.

But it wasn’t just Penn. Our cast was stacked with newbies who’d become big deals. Forest Whitaker, who plays the soft-spoken giant Charles Jefferson, was in his very first film here – fresh out of a college music conservatory, believe it or not. He actually came to the audition straight from singing opera, then transformed into a fearsome football linebacker on screen. Talk about range! Future comedy icon Eric Stoltz? First film. Anthony Edwards (goose from Top Gun and future TV doctor)? First film. Fast Times was a launchpad for a whole generation. We even had the nephew of a Beatle in the mix (okay, slight exaggeration – one of the side characters was played by Pamela Springsteen, kid sister of Bruce Springsteen, making a cameo as a Ridgemont cheerleader). It was a cavalcade of “Hey, I know that face!” in hindsight.

And let’s not forget our leading ladies. Jennifer Jason Leigh was only 19 when she played Stacy Hamilton, the sweet girl next door with a not-so-innocent secret life. To prep for the role, Jennifer went undercover in her own way: she actually got a job at the real mall pizza joint where we filmed Stacy’s workplace scenes. That’s right, she served slices at Perry’s Pizza in Sherman Oaks Galleria, blending in with real mallrats to nail that vibe. Now that is dedication – working a minimum-wage job just to get into character. Respect. Her on-screen bestie, Phoebe Cates (Linda), was a model-turned-actress who brought serious glam to the group. When casting Mr. Hand – the grumpy history teacher who’s had it with Spicoli’s nonsense – the team initially approached Fred Gwynne (you might know him as Herman Munster from The Munsters TV show!). Old Fred took one look at our script and balked – too much teen sex and drug talk for his taste. He basically said, “Whoa, this is obscene, I’m out.” His loss, because veteran actor Ray Walston stepped in and owned that role as Mr. Hand, creating one of the most memorable teacher characters ever. (You think your teachers were tough? Mr. Hand would tear up your tardy slip and hand you a quiz instead. No fooling around in his class – “You’re on dangerous ground here, bub!”).

It helped that Heckerling wasn’t afraid to hire people she personally trusted, too. She famously cast Judge Reinhold as Brad Hamilton not just for his audition, but also because – get this – he was her upstairs neighbor in her apartment building. Sometimes it’s all about who you know in Hollywood, and in this case living a floor above the director had its perks. Amy even snuck in her ex-husband’s band to play at the school dance scene (that groovy band playing “Sleeping In The Log” at prom? Those guys were literally the director’s ex and his buddies). And that cute blonde in the hotrod who laughs at Brad’s pirate costume in traffic? That was Nancy Wilson from the rock band Heart – who happened to be Cameron Crowe’s girlfriend (and later wife) at the time. Talk about keeping it in the family! Everywhere you look in Fast Times, someone involved had a personal connection. It gave the set a tight-knit, almost homemade vibe. We were just a bunch of young unknowns having a blast playing teenagers – some of us were teenagers – with a director who treated us like an ensemble of equals. No big egos, no big stars throwing tantrums in their trailers. Just a group of fresh faces ready to make something gnarly and new.

Mall Rats and Midnight Shootings

If Ridgemont High feels authentic, that’s because a lot of it was filmed in our natural habitat: the mall. Specifically, the real Sherman Oaks Galleria in Los Angeles became our Ridgemont Mall. Now, here’s something you might not know – the Galleria was still a functioning, busy mall at the time. Shoppers cruising for the latest Van Halen records, kids hitting the arcade, the whole scene. So how do you shoot a movie in a mall that’s open for business? You wait until closing time. That’s right, all the mall scenes – the food court chats, the clothing store flirting, the escalator shenanigans – were filmed in the wee hours of the night. We’d start rolling cameras after the last shops shut their gates and wrap up before the morning mall-walkers showed up. It was basically the graveyard shift of filmmaking. Director Amy Heckerling joked that we weren’t the first to do this (George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead crew famously filmed in a closed mall too), but at least we didn’t have to worry about zombies crashing the set – just the occasional curious security guard. Filming all night sounds tough, but c’mon: what teenager doesn’t love staying up late at the mall with friends? We had the run of the place like it was our own giant playground. It kept the energy high and the vibe legit. By day, Sherman Oaks Galleria went back to real-life mall business; by night, it transformed into Ridgemont High’s social HQ. So when you see Stacy and Linda having girl talk by the fountain or Damone hustling concert tickets by the arcade, know that it was probably 3:00 AM and we were running on pure adrenaline (and a lot of fast-food burritos).

Speaking of the mall, remember that little business called All-American Burger where Brad Hamilton worked (until he took an unscheduled bath in customer soda)? That was a real burger joint location dressed up for the film. And the movie theater where Rat worked as an usher – also part of the Galleria complex. We wanted Ridgemont to feel like a real community, and using a real mall did the trick. It was one-stop shopping for all our set pieces. Plus, as a bonus, whenever we had downtime on set, we literally had an entire mall to explore. Talk about perks! Need a new pair of checkerboard Vans like Spicoli’s? We knew exactly where to find them.

One more nugget: our mall scenes might feel bustling on screen, but behind the scenes it was a bit of a ghost town (thanks to the midnight schedule). So how did we keep the background lively? Extras, extras, extras. Loads of local teens were hired to hang around as Ridgemont Mall patrons – many probably thrilled to be out past curfew. If some of those “shoppers” look half-asleep, now you know why. But hey, the show must go on. We turned those late nights into an advantage – giving the mall a kind of dreamy, fluorescent vibe that you couldn’t get during daytime. Next time you watch, notice how the mall scenes have this slightly surreal, empty-chairs feeling – like the world truly revolves around our small circle of characters. That’s not an accident; that’s the magic of filmmaking at odd hours. Damone’s tip for aspiring filmmakers: act like wherever you shoot is the place to be, even if it’s a deserted mall at midnight. The camera will believe it, and so will the audience.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering: yes, Jennifer Jason Leigh really did serve pizza at that mall while undercover prepping for her role. So some of those pizza-parlor scenes were basically her living her actual part-time job. Life imitates art, my friends. If a method approach like that sounds intense, well, Fast Times was all about capturing the real thing, no matter what it took.

Rock ’n’ Roll High School: Music and Pop Culture

What’s a teen movie without a killer soundtrack, right? Being the entrepreneurial music aficionado I am (concert tickets, anyone?), I take personal pride in the Fast Times tunes. Our movie is packed with songs from the era – we’ve got the Go-Go’s, Oingo Boingo, Tom Petty, the Cars… practically a who’s who of late ’70s/early ’80s rock and pop. Fun fact: the producers didn’t bother hiring a composer for a fancy original score. Nope, no original music was written for Fast Times. Instead, they pulled tracks from Universal’s vault of pre-recorded music and licensed a bunch of popular songs that real teens were blasting on their car stereos at the time. The result is a soundtrack that feels like someone’s awesome mixtape for the summer of ’82. Every time you hear Jackson Browne crooning “Somebody’s Baby” over Stacy’s poolside romance, or The Cars’ synthy “Moving in Stereo” during that pool scene (more on that in a sec!), you’re instantly in the Ridgemont groove. We didn’t need orchestral swells – we had Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Buffett setting the mood. It’s like riding with Damone in his Chevy Camaro, radio cranked up – pure, authentic vibe.

Now, eagle-eared fans have noticed a little musical goof in the film – or so they think. Let’s clear this up: In one scene, I, Mike Damone, share my timeless five-point plan for wooing the ladies with my buddy Rat. The final (and most crucial) step: “when it comes down to making out, put on side one of Led Zeppelin IV.” Solid advice, right? But then, in the very next scene, what does Rat do while driving Stacy? The knucklehead plays “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin… which is on Physical Graffiti, not Led Zeppelin IV. D’oh! So, did the editors mess up? Did Rat grab the wrong album in his nerves? Here’s the scoop: we couldn’t get the rights to the actual Led Zep IV songs we wanted. Zeppelin are picky about their music in movies, and apparently they said no to our first choices (I guess Stairway to Heaven was a stairway too far). Cameron Crowe later explained that rather than scrap the reference, they deliberately put in “Kashmir” and left my line about Led Zep IV as-is – implying that Rat fumbled his big date by playing the wrong record. In other words, Mark Ratner blew it! Classic Rat move, if you ask me. So it wasn’t an editing error; it was an inside joke. Damone gives gold-plated advice, and Rat still finds a way to botch it. Thanks for making me look bad, Rat! But hey, at least Zeppelin let us use some song – “Kashmir” is a pretty sweet track to mess up to.

Beyond Zeppelin, there are tons of musical Easter eggs. My character name-drops bands like Cheap Trick and Earth, Wind & Fire when scalping concert tickets – all part of capturing that early ’80s teen culture where music was currency. We even had a live band perform in the graduation dance scene (remember the band playing at the prom? That was a real group, and as I mentioned, connected to our director personally). And of course, who can forget Spicoli’s iconic dream sequence: saving Brooke Shields and blowing reward money on hiring Van Halen to play his birthday party. Fun trivia: the original book had that dream sequence being Jeff Spicoli interviewed by Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. The filmmakers actually tried to get Carson (and other talk show hosts) to make a cameo for it – but no late-night host wanted to touch our crazy teen comedy. So they rewrote the fantasy to the one you see – which, honestly, is even more on-brand for Spicoli. A rock star party with Van Halen and flying pizzas? Way cooler than a talk show, dude. Adapt and overcome – that’s how we rolled.

Pushing Boundaries and Going Too Far?

For a comedy that’s ostensibly about teens cutting class and chasing fun, Fast Times didn’t shy away from some serious topics and risky scenes. I mean, we dove into stuff that other teen movies wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot bong. Losing virginity, casual drug use, teen pregnancy and abortion, plus a healthy dose of profanity – we were keeping it real. Our director Amy Heckerling was adamant that the messy side of teen sexuality be shown honestly, not glamorized. When Stacy gets pregnant after her tryst with me (Damone, you dog…), the film actually follows through: she deals with getting an abortion and the emotional fallout, and we see how my character totally flakes on her (not my proudest moment, I admit). It was frank and true to life – and in 1982, that was pretty daring for a teen comedy. Some audiences were shocked that a movie with goofy stoners and cute mall scenes also went there. But that mix of sweet and harsh is exactly why Fast Times has bite. High school is full of laughs and lessons, bad decisions and growth. Heckerling knew you can’t have the tasty waves without some turbulence.

Now, about those racy scenes: Let’s just address the Phoebe Cates pool scene in the room. You know the one – red bikini, slow motion, Cars music playing – arguably one of the most iconic “pause button” moments in movie history. As scripted, it’s actually a daydream sequence of Judge Reinhold’s character Brad fantasizing about Linda (Phoebe). On set, filming that was… well, let’s just say nobody on the crew called in sick that day. In fact, rumor has it a couple of camera guys volunteered to work overtime. Shocking, I know. The scene was done very professionally, of course – closed set and all that – but still, it was a, uh, popular day on location. That moment of Linda emerging from the pool in all her glory became the talking point for generations of teenage boys (and some girls too). Heck, the urban legend is that so many people rented the VHS and paused it at Phoebe’s topless reveal that the tape would get worn out and show a little static at that exact spot. I can neither confirm nor deny wearing out a copy or two in my day… Hey, I’m only human! (And yes, director Heckerling herself believes that legend. Totally true in her mind.) The irony? That steamy scene wasn’t what got us in trouble with censors – it’s relatively tame by R-rated standards (a quick flash and done). The real headache was a different nude scene – one involving yours truly and Stacy.

See, Amy Heckerling had this bold idea: in our love scene in the pool cabana – me and Stacy – she wanted to flip the script on typical movie nudity. Instead of just having the female nude, she shot a take where the camera would show male frontal nudity too (yup, meaning me, Damone, in the buff). Equality, right? If Phoebe’s going to bear it, why shouldn’t I? It was a statement: teenage sexuality on equal terms. Well, the old dudes at the MPAA (the ratings board) were not ready for that much equality. When they screened the film, that blink-and-you-miss-it shot of my, er, equipment earned Fast Times an initial X rating. X-rated, as in “no one under 17 allowed, and basically your movie will die in theaters.” For a teen movie, that’s a death sentence – our target audience was teenagers! The studio execs freaked out; they weren’t about to let this film get buried with an X. There was some pushback (Heckerling argued, rightly, that it was a double standard – female nudity was fine, but one glimpse of a guy and it’s game over?). In the end, though, pragmatism won. They trimmed or blurred the offending frames of Damone Jr. and cut down a few other spicy seconds to appease the censors. Voilà, we got our R rating instead and could actually play in theaters for high-schoolers to see. I like to joke that my brief “cameo” almost tanked the movie – the world wasn’t ready for that much Damone, I guess. C’est la vie.

Interestingly, there was another notorious scene that didn’t get cut but easily could have: the infamous bathroom masturbation scene with Judge Reinhold. You know, where Linda catches Brad… um, “taking care of business” with a fantasies-of-Linda assist. We filmed that in a pretty comedic way – nothing explicit shown, just good awkward fun. But here’s a tidbit: as a prank, Heckerling shot one take for the studio execs where the camera actually panned down to reveal that Judge Reinhold had donned a hilariously oversized prop you-know-what. A fake, of course – an absurdly large one, purely for shock value. When the execs saw that cut, their jaws hit the floor – and then they apparently burst out laughing once they realized they’d been had. Needless to say, that take never saw the light of day (except maybe at some wrap party?). It did, however, give the suits a scare. After that, the relatively modest version in the final cut probably seemed tame. Well played, Amy… well played.

All these near-scandals just show how ballsy Fast Times was willing to be (sometimes literally). Our filmmakers fought the battles to keep the film as honest as they could. Teen life isn’t sanitized, so why should a teen movie be? In the early ’80s, that was a revolutionary thought. Sure, we had to rein it in a bit to avoid the dreaded X, but by and large Fast Times stayed true to Crowe’s book and the real stories it was based on. We didn’t glamorize the consequences – if you act like a jerk (looking at you, early-movie Damone), you get called out; if you risk going too fast, you deal with the outcomes. That dose of reality amid the laughs is what elevates this film above your average teen romp. It’s also what made some studio execs nervous…

“Totally Awesome” Aftermath: From Low Expectations to Cult Classic

You’d think a movie that hits all these notes – comedy, drama, boobs, rock ’n’ roll – would have the studio cheering, right? Not exactly. Universal Studios, our distributor, was kinda skittish about Fast Times before it came out. To them, it was a quirky little flick made by a bunch of unknowns, based on a niche book, dealing with edgy content. The brass weren’t convinced a teen movie (without any big adult stars headlining) could make serious money. In fact, they initially planned to dump it in a limited release – basically only show it on the West Coast for a bit, just enough to recoup the modest budget, then shuffle it off to cable TV and home video. One executive literally cautioned Cameron Crowe that a movie full of teenagers wouldn’t draw audiences because “teens don’t buy tickets” (ha! How wrong they were). The budget was around a mere $5 million, peanuts even then, so Universal wasn’t risking much, but they also weren’t rolling out the red carpet. They figured Fast Times would be a quick cash grab in California thanks to its surfer vibe, then quietly disappear.

But guess what? The movie killed it. Even in that initial limited run, lines started forming and the buzz was hotter than Spicoli’s van on prom night. Within just a couple weeks, Fast Times had made back its budget and then some – those SoCal screenings were selling out. Turns out, teenagers do go to the movies if you give them something that speaks their language! The studio suits were caught off guard by how strongly people were reacting. Realizing they might have a hit on their hands (and probably muttering “Dude!” in astonishment), they rushed to expand the release nationwide. Suddenly, theaters all over America got a taste of Ridgemont High. And boy, did America dig it. The film ended up grossing around $25–30 million in its 1982 run – not blockbuster numbers, but for an R-rated teen comedy with no stars? Totally awesome, totally unexpected. It became the little movie that could.

More importantly, Fast Times at Ridgemont High had cultural legs. When it hit home video and cable, its popularity went through the roof. It became one of those movies that every high schooler rents or catches on TV late at night, often with the volume low so parents don’t overhear the spicy parts. By the late ’80s, it was practically a rite of passage – you watch Fast Times, you memorize a few lines (“No shirt, no shoes, no dice,” thanks Mr. Hand!), you debate whether you’re more of a Stacy or a Linda, a Rat or a Damone, etc. The film that the studio almost wrote off ended up defining the teen genre. We paved the way for every high school comedy that followed, from American Pie to Dazed and Confused. If you saw a teen movie with honest talk about sex or a stoner character who isn’t just a punchline, you can thank Fast Times for breaking that ground.

And talk about launching careers: practically our entire cast went on to bigger things. Sean Penn became one of the most respected actors of his generation (though to me he’ll always be gnarly Jeff). Jennifer Jason Leigh built an acclaimed career playing all sorts of complex characters. Judge Reinhold popped up in huge hits like Beverly Hills Cop (apparently being a fast-food pirate was good practice for fighting crime with Eddie Murphy). Forest Whitaker eventually won an Oscar. Nicolas Cage… well, you know Nicolas Cage – he’s carved out his own crazy path to fame. Even director Amy Heckerling proved Fast Times wasn’t a fluke; she later gave us Clueless, another iconic teen classic (what can I say, the lady knows her way around a high school movie). Cameron Crowe went on to direct Almost Famous and others, winning an Oscar for writing later on. It’s like everyone touched by Ridgemont High got a sprinkle of movie magic that set them up for life.

In the years since, Fast Times has only grown in esteem. It’s now often listed among the greatest teen movies of all time, even one of the best comedies period. The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry, preserving our misadventures for all time due to their cultural significance – not too shabby for a flick that nearly went straight-to-cable! We even got a short-lived spinoff TV show in the ’80s (okay, that one flunked out after seven episodes, but hey, they tried). More recently, during quarantine, the cast reunited for a charity table read on Zoom – and it broke the internet, proving Fast Times still has a devoted fanbase. People just can’t get enough of Ridgemont’s finest.

Not bad for a movie that the bigwigs thought would be a quick burnout. As Damone might say, confidence is key – and our little film had the confidence to be truthful and edgy, trusting that audiences would get it. They did. Fast Times at Ridgemont High taught Hollywood that teen stories are not only valid but lucrative, and that you could mix raunchy humor with real heart and have a timeless hit. It’s the reason every teen comedy since tries to find that perfect balance of laugh-out-loud and “oh, I’ve been there” relatability.

So there you have it, the making of Fast Times from yours truly, Mike Damone. It was a wild ride from undercover research to box-office surprise. We broke some rules, we pushed some buttons, and we created something that still makes people laugh (and cringe) decades later. Next time you watch, maybe you’ll see it with fresh eyes knowing what went on behind the scenes – all the midnight mall madness, the casting close-calls, the censorship battles, and the sheer love that went into capturing a slice of 1980s youth. I’m proud to have been a part of it (even if I’ll forever be the guy who didn’t put on Led Zeppelin IV when it mattered).

Class dismissed, dudes! And remember: “Life comes at you fast” – but at Ridgemont High, we were faster. Aloha. 🏄‍♂️

Sources

• Undercover High School Confidential – Cinema Scholars (40th Anniversary Retrospective on Fast Times at Ridgemont High) – A detailed look at Cameron Crowe’s year undercover, Amy Heckerling’s direction, and how the film balanced multiple storylines, plus the film’s legacy as a cult teen classic. cinemascholars.com

• “15 Things You Didn’t Know About Fast Times” – Mental Floss – A quick-facts article by Sean Hutchinson covering behind-the-scenes tidbits (like Jennifer Jason Leigh’s pizza job, Nicolas Cage’s early role, and who turned down the role of Mr. Hand). mentalfloss.com

• Behind-the-Scenes Interviews (35th Anniversary) – Variety (as referenced via CinemaBlend) – Insights from Cameron Crowe and Amy Heckerling on the film’s 35th anniversary, including David Lynch almost directing, Sean Penn’s method acting, and the battle over male nudity that almost earned an X rating. variety.com

• “10 Totally Awesome Behind-The-Scenes Facts about Fast Times” – CinemaBlend (feature by Philip Sledge) – A compilation of production anecdotes: night shoots at Sherman Oaks Galleria, Nicolas Cage’s decision to change his name, the Led Zeppelin IV music rights mix-up, the infamous pool scene prank for studio execs, and more. cinemablend.com

• Cameron Crowe Interview – Origin of Fast Times – SlashFilm (article by Ben F. Silverio) – Covers how Crowe went back to high school undercover and the process of turning his experiences into the book and then the film, with insights from a 1982 Washington Post interview. slashfilm.com