11/9/2009

in

Times Square plays host to boomboxes and "moblers."

Robyn Chelsea-Seifert

Twenty years have passed since audiences fell for the affable hero Lloyd Dobler in Cameron Crowe's romantic comedy "Say Anything." To commemorate the anniversary Twentieth Century Fox re-released the film on Blu-ray and DVD but that simply wasn't good enough.  
  
Lloyd's memorable scene in the movie was after he had broken up with Diane Court. In an attempt to win her back Lloyd stands outside her bedroom window while she sleeps holding a boombox over his head with the song by Peter Gabriel "In Your Eyes" playing for her to hear.  
  
The folks at Twentieth Century Fox decided it would be a great idea to get a group of men dressed in trench coats and white t's all holding boomboxes over their heads march along New York City's Times Square. The "mobler" was in full effect.  
  
Writer and director of the film, Cameron Crowe, had been struggling to find just the right song that would work. One day while driving into the studio, he found a mixed tape in his car and popped it in. There coming out of his speakers was the song Lloyd would go on to serenade Diane with. Trouble was, how available would the song be? Peter Gabriel was not big on releasing his music for movies. Crowe contacted David Geffen who put the director in touch with Gabriel.  
  
After sending the singer a tape of the movie and having Rosanna Arquette put in a good word (the song is largely written about her during their relationship in the 80's), Crowe called Germany to get the final word.  
  
"I got up super early to make this call, they put me on the phone with him after we'd sent him a tape, but I knew he's seen the movie and stuff. And he got on and there was this kind of you know, ethereal voice, Peter Gabriel, really nice, and he said \[with an accent\], "I appreciate you asking for the song. It's a very personal song to me and I just hope you don't mind that have to turn you down," Crowe told EW Online.  
  
"I just remember being in the kitchen and just going, "Oh man." I said I understood and I appreciated it and was he sure and he said yes, he was sure, and I was saying goodbye to him and I remember the phone was like on its way to the cradle, I think we'd already even said goodbye. And I just, like, was seized with this thing and I pulled the phone back up and I go, "Why? I got to ask you why. Why can't we have the song? Why was it wrong?"  
  
"And he said, "Well when he takes the overdose it just didn't feel like the right kind of use of the song." And I'm like, "When he takes the overdose?" He said, "Yeah, you're making the John Belushi story, right?" I said, "No, no, no. It's a movie about the guy in high school with the trench coat," Crowe continued. "And he's like, "Oh, the high school movie. We haven't watched that yet." Hallelujah! "Please watch the high school movie and let me know if it works in the high school movie." And he said, "Oh yeah yeah yeah, okay, great." And then we got the word back that he said yes."