Vanilla Sky – Daily Southtown

Cruise Control, Crowe Style

A dream reteaming for ‘Vanilla Sky’

Last week, Tom Cruise returned to Chicago, the city where the charismatic superstar started his motion picture career, to talk about his enthusiasm for his latest release.

Opening in theaters Friday, “Vanilla Sky” is a sensational cinematic alternative for everyone sick and tired of cookie-cutter movies where everything you need to know can be found in the movie trailer.

Based on the surreal 1997 Spanish thriller “Open Your Eyes,” the English-language remake of the highly original Alejandro Amenabar film insightfully probes the boundaries between reality and illusion in the second collaboration between Cruise and Oscar-winning writer-director Cameron Crowe.

The thrice-Oscar-nominated actor is cast as an irresponsible, single New York City publishing tycoon caught between Penelope Cruz, as the woman of his dreams, and Cameron Diaz, as a malevolent force from his past.

“I have never made a picture like this,” said Cruise, 39, whose previous film work in Chicago includes “Endless Love,” “Risky Business” and “The Color of Money.”

“Cameron (Crowe) is a soulful writer and director, and we believe in a lot of the same things in life, so I feel I identify with his material very strongly,” Cruise said. “I enjoy stories that take me on emotional journeys where the characters change.

“Ever since we finished ‘Jerry Maguire,’ we tried to do another picture,” Cruise said. “Obviously, I am a huge fan of his work. As an actor, it is a great pleasure to work with him because he writes great characters.”

Cruise said he also is a great fan of “Open Your Eyes” and believes the two films complement each other.

“When you look at ‘Open Your Eyes,’ it is distinctly Amenabar. (‘Vanilla Sky’) is distinctly Cameron Crowe. Directors can have a dialogue sitting down in a chair, but how interesting to have a dialogue with two films.

“I thought we could expand the love story,” said Crowe, 44.

“That is one of the gifts of the original,” the Oscar winning writer-director said. “I could watch a whole movie about these people getting to know each other, but what happens is that they are wrenched onto different paths.”

Cruise adds, “It is interesting how, in a world when there are so many people and so many different ways to communicate and faster ways, that we still feel we are isolated, lonely and disconnected. I think in some ways people don’t always take time to recognize the things that they do in life and the ripple effects that it has on others.

“If you look at (my character) David Aames, when he finds that moment, that connection of love with someone, he goes out and doesn’t realize that running one more emotional red light has consequences.

“Is there such a thing as casual sex? And what are the responsibilities? I think we come (in the movie) to some very interesting conclusions — which I think are very true.”

Crowe is helpful in explaining his thoughts behind the film’s rather enigmatic title.

“Just two words that sounded good to me together. I was going for a (record) album sounding thing,” said Crowe.

Reinforcing that classic rock music concept is the fact that the title song, written for the film, is performed by Paul McCartney.

“I am still in shock that (Paul McCartney) wrote a song for us,” Crowe said. “It was funny; those words — Vanilla Sky — just felt Beatle-y to me.”

Audiences might be a little shocked to find that “Vanilla Sky” takes a rather eerie turn in a scene in which Cruise’s character happens to declare that his favorite Beatle is George Harrison.

“Tom is a George fan. We both are,” said Crowe.

“It was a little too late to take it out,” said the filmmaker, who agreed the reference was “a bit bizarre” in light of Harrison’s recent death.

“Pop culture comments on our movie, which comments on pop culture one more time,” Crowe said. “After ‘Almost Famous,’ I wanted to make a modern movie, something contemporary.

“While (I was) trying to make something that was timely, ‘Vanilla Sky’ is a reminder of how fast the world is moving right now. All kinds of stuff changed. And George (Harrison) leaving us was the latest example of how you can never truly keep up with a movie that was shot a year earlier.

“It was fun to have that dialogue with the original, but what happens by making the characters a little more real, the reality of the story started going in a different directions. From the resonance of 9-11 to the fact that these characters were searching for more soul and humanity in their lives, everything had a little more resonance.”

Part of that pop culture resonance includes the preservation of the image of the World Trade Center, which figures prominently in the climactic scene of “Vanilla Sky.”

Unlike some recent filmmakers, Crowe said he never even thought of digitally removing the building from his movie.

“I wouldn’t do it. It’s a tribute.”

And “Vanilla Sky” remains a stirring tribute to the power of the imagination.

Courtesy of Daily Southtown – Dan Pearson – December 9, 2001