 The roles of Russell Hammond and Penny Lane were originally set to  go to Pitt, Brad (qv) and Polley, Sarah (qv). Polley dropped out  to work on her own project, and Pitt, for whom writer/director  Crowe, Cameron (qv) had written the part of the "guitarist with  mystique", worked with Crowe for months before finally admitting,  according to Crowe, "I just dont get it enough to do it."