Billy Crudup: Almost Famous

by Chip Brantley

For a man who's played the lead role in two of this year's most interesting films and been labelled The Next Big Thing off and on for three years, Billy Crudup still lies conspicuously below the radar of most moviegoers. A Yahoo! search turns up only one fan site for Crudup, whereas big screen spiritual brother Skeet Ulrich has six fan sites and seven Yahoo! clubs. Crudup doesn't have a Scream-sized film to his credit, but it still seems unjust that one of the best actors of his generation remains in relative obscurity.

This obscurity has to do, of course, with the projects Crudup's chosen to take on. Like Heath Ledger, Crudup's netted a reputation as someone who chooses roles wisely. In Ledger's case, you sense some careful career planning. Watching and talking to Crudup, it's evident that something more basic is at work. He just wants good roles.

After a series of interesting supporting parts, Crudup landed his first lead in 1998 when he forcefully portrayed Oregon running legend Steve Prefontaine in Robert Towne's underrated Without Limits. This year, though, looks to be Crudup's breakout year.

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He starred with Jennifer Connelly in Keith Gordon's Waking the Dead, expertly playing an ambitious rising political star haunted by his life's love who disappeared years before. Critics greeted Waking the Dead with a shrug, and though Crudup was applauded for the work he did with a limited script, no one outside of Los Angeles and New York even heard about the film.

If Waking the Dead's Fielding kept Crudup in emotional check, his latest film Jesus' Son allows him to roam freely in the character of F--khead, a lovable lost soul who floats all over the early '70s midwest living out drug-greased adventures. It's a beautiful movie and his is a near-perfect performance, subtly tuned as one of the lucky innocents who somehow makes it out of experiences he had no business getting into in the first place. Jesus' Son should get Crudup at least mentioned come awards time, though the film has played in limited release since its June opening.

Mainstream audiences will get their next taste of Crudup in Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, the director's semi-autobiographical look at early-'70s culture of rock and roll. Crudup plays the lead guitarist of a coulda-been rock band that, like Crudup has until now, floats just below the surface of the big time.


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