 Kirsten Dunst (qv) was nearly cast as Penny Lane instead of  Kate Hudson (I) (qv). Cameron Crowe (qv) chose Hudson because he  felt Hudson seemed more like a "free spirit", but Crowe promised  Dunst he would cast her in a future film of his. Four years later,  he kept his promise by casting Dunst as the leading role in  _Elizabethtown (2005)_ (qv).