Cameron Crowe’s Say Anything is so beloved that these days it’s thought of as one of the best romantic comedies and big movies that defined Gen X. But, something that became even bigger than the film itself is the scene where Lloyd Dobler, played by charismatic leading man John Cusack, shows up outside of Diane’s home while holding up a boombox as its blasts “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel. Have you ever wondered how the scene, which is one of the most memorable moments of the ‘80s (and all time), actually came about?
Well, Crowe recently shared the story behind picking the song for Say Anything on Audible and Gunpowder & Sky’s The Film Makers. Let’s break down the story:
Cameron Crowe’s First Pick For The Say Anything Boombox Song, And John Cusack’s Hilarious Pick That ‘Didn’t Work’
While we had previously heard that an Elvis Costello song was almost in the movie’s big scene, Crowe shared the full journey on the Audible original. As he started:
I wrote the song ‘To Be A Lover’ into the script. By the time we shot it, I was already interested in some other songs.
At first, Crowe said he actually had Billy Idol’s “To Be A Lover” written in the script for the scene, but I understand why that didn’t make it into that romantic part of the movie. The writer/director then shared what his leading man had in mind with these words:
John Cusack, who wears a Fishbone shirt in the movie, loved Bonin’ in the Boneyard, so he was going to hold it up playing Bonin’ in the Boneyard, that really didn’t work when we put the movie together. I love Fishbone, but I don’t think that’s going to wrench you back into her life. It’s going to piss off the dad.
OK, so that Fishbone song is a jam, but that would have given the scene a totally different energy than the final scene has. Even though Crowe had eliminated those early options from the movie, the journey was far from over.
Crowe Also Tried To Get An Original Song Written For The Scene
Many beloved songs from ‘80s movies like Say Anything became famous as a result of filmmakers hiring songwriters to create original tracks, and that’s just what Crowe did next. As he continued:
Oh, man, we tried so many ideas. Songwriting teams wrote songs for the boombox – didn’t work. We had songs that were literally ‘I’m holding up a boombox for your love.’ No, that’s not going to work. Pat DiNizio from the Smithereans even wrote a song for the movie called ‘A Girl Like You’ that we loved, but it was too on the money. He’s holding up the boombox that somehow knows the story that he’s involved in.
While other movies surely could get away with having songwriting teams, such as for Kenny Loggins’ Top Gun music, but in the instance of Say Anything, this was a song Lloyd was playing for Diane, and it definitely makes more sense for it to be a song he and the audience might know rather than a completely new track.
How ‘In Your Eyes’ Ultimately Ended Up In Say Anything
That’s when the story brings us to “In Your Eyes.” Here’s what Cameron Crowe had to say about the moment he realized the Peter Gabriel song would go in the movie:
Driving to the editing room one day, the cassette player in my car, needing something inspiring on the way to work to solve this problem, I had the wedding tape from my marriage to Nancy Wilson. And on the wedding tape was ‘In Your Eyes’, and I’m listening to it on the way to work, and the songs and lyrics are fitting perfectly. ‘I drive off in my car’, a song about instincts, raced into the editing room, Richard Marks, the editor put it on some tape, attached it to the film. ‘Oh my god, it was everything that was in the movie. That’s in the movie to this day.’
How sweet is it that Crowe actually found the right song on his own wedding tape? Picking the song actually came from a place of grounded romance, and one can really feel it when you watch the 1989 classic. When the song, which was originally released three years earlier, became part of the movie, it had a second life, reentering the Billboard Hot 100 following the movie’s release. And, it will of course always be tied to Cameron Crowe’s classic rom-com.
How fun is it to see what could have been though? Goes to show how important soundtrack decisions can be to the popularity and staying power of a scene and film.
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