How Tom Petty Made Cameron Crowe a Director With ‘Heartbreakers Beach Party’
Oscar-winning filmmaker Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous) only had experience with print journalism when he signed on to follow Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers around the making and release of their 1982 album Long After Dark with the ’80s documentary called Tom Petty: Heartbreakers Beach Party. The doc originally premiered on MTV in February 1983 but only aired once. Starting March 11, 2025, it is now streaming exclusively on Paramount+.
After the recent uncovering of long-lost 16mm reels of the film, it was fully restored and released on the big screen last October. It includes the filming of the “You Got Lucky” music video, promotion and tour of the album, candid conversations, and more. Bonus footage includes an interview with Petty’s daughter, Adria Petty, new commentary from Crowe, and appearances by then members of the Blackhearts as well as Stevie Nicks.
Trafalgar Releasing/Everett Collection
Crowe considers the film his directorial debut and tells Variety, “I had only done print journalism, and I was really nervous when Danny Bramson said, ‘Let’s do a video profile.’ I was nervous about being a person on camera because I had always had a problem with people that insert themselves and try to give you their version of the person they’re documenting or profiling. But then I started to really have fun doing it, asking him how he wrote ‘The Waiting’ and ‘I Need to Know,’ for example, and I just felt like, ‘OK, I get to sit here and put you in the front seat of you asking Tom Petty how he wrote these songs — this is fun.'”
Cameron Crowe directing his first full-length movie, Say Anything. 20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy: Everett Collection
Crowe recalled a moment when Petty wanted to play a specific song for him called “I’m Stupid,” about his experience with people who thought he was a stoner and wasn’t bright because of his looks. He told Crowe to pick up the camera and he hesitated, not really feeling like the director at that moment. Petty insisted that he pick up the camera to record the song and Crowe shared, “And I remember being hit by a thunderbolt: This is what it’s like to be a director. Like, they’re doing it right to the camera, you are there, and there’s no middleman, no editor, no tape recorder, there’s no transcript. It’s just this is the moment and you’re there. He finished the song, we pressed stop on the camera and he said, ‘Congratulations, you’re a director.'”
The late Petty’s daughter Adria shared about seeing the restoration come to fruition, “It still holds kind of a special place because of that. For Tom to give more than an hourlong interview to someone and consistently give them access to his home and his life and his band, that never happened again. I mean, during ‘Full Moon Fever,’ there was a lot of promo and a lot of stuff like that, but it would always be very controlled. This was not controlled at all.” Will you be watching the documentary? Do you remember seeing it in 1983?
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’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
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