Vanilla Sky – Cinema Confidential

Interview with “Vanilla Sky” Director Cameron Crowe

How was it working with the newly publicized Hollywood couple Tom and Penelope?

I didn’t know they were a couple while we were together, I don’t think they were a couple. I mean, I found out with everybody else when they went on their first date, it was kind of like “Wow, that’s amazing.” While we were working though, it was always about “Are the characters believable?” Does it give you pause later? Yeah, but it’s so much different from the actual movie it’s kind of like…I’ll give you one example real quick. I did an interview for a profile on Penelope where I talked about, I believe the characters were falling in love while we were filming. It came out after Tom and Penelope were a couple, so it looked like (when it was paraphrased and put on the internet, which I read all the time) this quote of mine was in a different context in a different time. It sounded like I was this crass director saying, “Yeah you’re gonna love ‘em! They fell in love baby. They fell in love on the set!” And that to me is so not who I am. I’m just a guy about characters and spinning for the media and all that stuff is just something that…I don’t do it, and as a journalist I didn’t like it when other people spun for me so, it’s not me.

About the soundtrack, How did you put all of these songs together?

I wanted the songs to comment on what was happening in the movie but not too overtly. I knew Radiohead needed to be a part of it. I love this band Sigur Ros from Iceland and they never have given their songs to movies or commercials until now, which I am really proud of. What’s good is when the movie takes you to another place or when you can find a song that has been used as a commercial for a long time and you get to kind of rediscover it as a real piece of music, that’s really great. I also love working with my wife as a scoring artist cause you can be in the kitchen and can say, “What about something kind of like Simon and Garfunkely” and she’ll just take the guitar and start playing it and you go, “Stop! That’s it!” That’s a really fun thing.

You also took a lot of music and sort of turned it on it’s head to make a contrast, what was sort of the train of thought that brought you to using conventional songs in this really unconventional sort of way?

Thanks for noticing because I wanted that to be part of the theme of the sweet and sour…the sweet and sour of life. One balances out the other and the guy that’s only known the sweet envies the guy who knows what sour is and vice-versa. Likewise, when a murder is occurring, to hear ominous music felt too easy but to hear The Monkees, felt right because it’s counterpoint. So that’s a thing that runs through the whole movie. Nothing is rarely on the nose.

In the movie, there is a reference to George Harrison. Everyone knew that he was sick but no one had the faintest clue he would pass away before the opening of this movie. By mentioning him in the film, was this a tribute to him?

I am a George fan. I’m also a big Ringo fan so I have slight regret that we don’t talk about Ringo in the movie. When we made the movie, there were rumors that something was up with George but they seemed like folklore. What I did like though was knowing that it’s in the movie, that who your favorite Beatle is defines who you are and how your favorite Beatle changes defines who you are. Most of all I like that the conversation between the two guys (Tom Cruise and Kurt Russell), bonding begins with them feeling each other out on who their favorite Beatle was and when did it change. But in the end, Tom’s character is a George fan and I’m really proud of that.

Are you intending for people to go back and look at this movie a second and third time?

Yes, I love when I can see a movie a second or third time, sometimes years later and go down a different path with it. Sometimes movies that were surprising, striking or even unsettling to me when I first saw them, same with music actually, you revisit them later and you have a different experience. I hope “Vanilla Sky” can be viewed at different times in different ways.

Jason Lee commented on how you “keep it real” in Almost Famous. How did you do that in this movie when it’s largely functioning on phenomenal and surreal terms?

I thought the only way to do it was to keep that real as well. Whole parts of the movie are real. If somebody comes away and wonders if the whole thing was a dream, you know, I like the idea that debate can occur, I think that’s really fun as long as you don’t feel manipulated by the open-endedness. But also I wanted to have avenues there where you believe that what is happening is happening and for me a large part of the movie was real. There’s also other ways you can take it but if you’re wondering how to view “Vanilla Sky,” watch Tom. Tom generally lets you know what’s going on and we do explain what’s going on in the movie so if you didn’t catch it the first time hopefully catch it the next. Believe me, I promise you it is there!

Courtesy of Cinema Confidential – Lisa Zlotnick – December 13, 2001