Cameron Crowe Has Considered a Say Anything Sequel

Gracie Films

Over a year ago our own Kate Erbland asked, Are ‘Say Anything’ Lovebirds Lloyd Dobler and Diane Court Still Together? Kate may actually get an answer to that question. The good news is today a Cameron Crowe movie is opening in theaters, meaning we got a chance to speak with Crowe about his latest project, Aloha.

The Hawaii-set film is very much in Crowe’s wheelhouse. It’s about a guy, Brian Gilchrist (Bradley Cooper), at a crossroads, trying to reinvent himself. This journey has been a major part of Crowe’s past work, so naturally we asked him about the appeal of that character arc. We’ll get to more of that in our wide-ranging interview with the writer-director, which will publish next week, but while discussing his thematic interests, he mentioned the possibility of Say Anything 2.

Crowe foresees taking his career into a slightly different direction, and in that direction may be more Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack). He’s discussed his interest in making a sequel in the past, but this time, he had a little more to say on the matter.

“I’ve even thought about revisiting Lloyd Dobler, to write about a stage in life where you’re looking at parenthood, wondering about your choices, and reconsidering some of the choices you made in past relationships,” Crowe told us. Would this be a straight sequel? Will we see a Dobler well into his 40s, still kickboxing and blaring Peter Gabriel’s tunes? “I don’t know if it would be a straight sequel,” he answers. “I just have ideas… it comes down to a few basic things. I really, really love writing for John Cusack. We have similarities as guys that really benefits him being a mouthpiece for stuff we both want to say. I haven’t quite figured it out. I only mentioned it to him once. In the spirit of the Truffaut movies, where Antoine Doinel relationship would comeback and be in a different context, I really did think that Lloyd could be worth revisiting in maybe a completely different context. So, I don’t know. I guess it would be a spiritual followup. I don’t know how strict of a sequel it would be. I don’t know which characters would appear or reappear. It just feels like a character I could still write for.”

So much has changed in the 26 years since Say Anything was released. Both Lloyd Dobler and Cameron Crowe’s optimism is such a rarity these days. It’d be interesting to see if Dobler still maintains his past beliefs, or how they’ve evolved or changed. What if he’d now laugh at a kid holding up a jukebox playing Peter Gabriel as a romantic gesture? It’s sad to say, but there’s not many Lloyd Doblers left in the world.

One thing is for sure, Crowe wants to work with Cusack again, and the same goes for Tom Cruise. He’s working on a few projects at the moment — a film about Marvin Gaye and another with Rufus Wainwright’s involvement — but Say Anything 2 is definitely an idea he’s considering.

Aloha is now in theaters.

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