“I was immediately intrigued,” she recalls. The story and characters are everything I love in movies.”īefore Crowe became involved in the project, Benjamin Mee’s memoir had caught the attention of producer Julie Yorn, whose production company is based at Twentieth Century Fox. “And it’s about taking risks a lot of the greatest things ever accomplished came from incredible risk. The story infuses you with a love of life – human and animal,” Crowe continues. I love that We Bought A Zoo is a movie that allows you to feel joy – to feel what it is to be alive, and is about turning loss into something inspirational. “One of the reasons I wanted to do the movie was to put some joy out in the world.

“In the end, telling Benjamin’s story ended up being as personal as anything I’ve done,” he says. “ We Bought A Zoo was generated from the desire to tell Benjamin Mee’s story.”īut the experience of co-scripting and directing the film led Crowe to a surprising revelation. “It’s a different kind of movie for me, in that it wasn’t meant to be personal,” Crowe affirms. We Bought A Zoo, on the other hand, is based on the memoir by Benjamin Mee, titled We Bought A Zoo: The Amazing True Story of a Broken-Down Zoo, and the 200 Animals That Changed a Family Forever.

Almost Famous, for example, was based on Crowe’s experiences as a young reporter at Rolling Stone magazine. At first look, We Bought A Zoo marks a departure for filmmaker Cameron Crowe, whose previous films, including Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous, told deeply personal stories.

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