VANILLA SKY

About The Story
Alejandro Amenabar's 1997 Spanish romantic thriller, "Abre Los Ojos," became the catalyst for "Vanilla Sky." Producer Paula Wagner says the film appealed to her, Tom Cruise and Cameron Crowe, and it offered an opportunity for them to work together again.

"We saw 'Abre Los Ojos' separately and together," Wagner notes, "and we all knew that this was the right project. To us, 'Vanilla Sky' is the equivalent of doing a cover to a great song. We pay homage to the film, but we also hope to bring our own nuances and interpretations to it.

"What I wanted to do with "Vanilla Sky" was to take people on a modern, emotional journey," says Crowe, "I think people go to the movies to be transported, and this film gently guides you to a bizarre and passionate place in your heart. We constructed the movie, visually and story-wise, to reveal more and more the closer you look at it. As deep as you want to go with it, my desire was for the movie to meet you there."

Wagner feels certain that 'Vanilla Sky' lives up to not only the filmmaker's expectations, but that it will also live up to the audience's.

"This film pushes the edges," she says. "It breaks the mold of conventional filmmaking, while at the same time, it is very accessible, warm and emotional. There are many elements and layers to it, and at the end, you realize something more about the truth of life."

Indeed, 'Wanilla Sky" pushes the envelope in many ways. In fact, Crowe adds that he also wanted to take a deeper look into the meaning of love and sex in the new millennium, and that "Abre Los Ojos" was a catalyst to exploring this very rich topic.

"I wanted to do a movie about the world of casual sex and about young adults taking responsibility for their lives," Crowe explains. "'Abre Los Ojos,' inspired me to make my own statement. It was like a perfect kind of Petri dish to explore all this stuff. Hopefully we've created a cool dialogue with Amenabar's original movie."

To that end, Wagner likens Crowe's directorial style to that of a conductor leading a symphony. "Cameron orchestrated 'Vanilla Sky' beautifully," she says. "It was his vision. He put in all the players, all the notes and all the tones, and every performance has been finely tuned."

But an actor's performance is only as good as the dialogue he or she has to work with, and "Vanilla Sky," like all of Crowe's screenplays, is laced with dialogue so memorable that much of it stays with viewers long after the film is over.

"Somehow, Cameron has the ability to sum up a human experience in a single line," muses Wagner, who adds that while "Vanilla Sky" marks Crowe's first screenplay to be adapted from an existing film, the writer/director had a singular vision about the material from the start.

"It's a romantic thriller about the search for the eternal nature of love," Wagner says. "It's emotional, it's humorous, but it's also a thrill ride as the character David Aames uncovers eternal truths about love, himself and the world. Cameron had a deep connection to the story and the characters."

As excited, as Crowe was about the film itself, he was equally as enthusiastic about working again with Tom Cruise.

"Tom is a gift to any director," says Crowe. "He brings a kind of emotional center to anything he does, and in our movie he makes David Aames every man so the audience can iden tify with him. Tom captures real life. He puts everything you want to express in a script on the screen and he works tirelessly until you're happy."

In turn, Cruise had nothing but praise for Crowe, as well as for the film itself.

"I think "Vanilla Sky" is terrific, and a definite credit to Cameron's storytelling." Cruise says. "He's a brilliant writer, a brilliant director, and he's brilliant with actors. When you're working with him, you're just constantly growing and challenging yourself."

Cruise describes his character with just as much passion. Like Crowe, he says that David Aames is kind of like a "Prince of New York," who has inherited everything, worked hard at nothing, and is essentially the facade of what people think they want to be.

"He's a guy with a lot of potential, and the film is his journey of self-awakening," explains Cruise. "It's the price that he pays for being careless with other people's feelings. It's a great character to play."

The love of David's life appears in the small, sensual form of Sofia Serrano, portrayed by Penelope Cruz. Ambitious and optimistic, Sofia exudes a positive, down-to-earth life force and a sexuality that cuts through David's rarefied world of sycophants and opportunists. Instantly, she attracts him. She's the last 'guileless' girl in New York City, says David Aames.

Cruz says she lobbied for the role, which she secretly considered her own, since she had played Sofia in "Abre Los Ojos." It didn't take much to convince Crowe, Cruise and Wagner that she was their Sofia as well.

"Casting Penelope is an example of how we pay homage to the original film," says Wagner. "With Cameron's direction, she's basi cally created a completely different character."

"Penelope Cruz playing Sofia Serrano was a dream of mine," admits Crowe. "She's a wonderful link to Amenabar's original inspiration...and I also heard privately that she was going to come after whoever remade "Abre Los Ojos" with an Uzi if they didn't cast her." Crowe laughs, then adds that he thought at the time, "Now that's the kind of passion you want in your leading lady!"

Crowe went on to describe how both Penelope's and Tom's passion for their roles translated into a wonderful on-screen chemistry.

"I fell in love with this couple through the lens," says Crowe. "In fact, I would come to work every day and be anxious to see their scenes together, to see what their characters were going to bring out in each other."

"We worked very hard, but we had a blast together," admits Cruise, who also had a lot to say about his leading lady. "Pen6lope brings reality and humanity to her character with such grace and perfection. It's no wonder anyone would immedi ately fall in love with her, and that's what happens to David Aames."

Although Cruz's part in "Abre Los Ojos" and "Vanilla Sky" are technically the same, Cruz adamantly considers the two Sofias completely different women.

"It really wasn't the same part at all, and I felt like I was in an entirely different movie," Cruz says. "Cameron brought out so much more of the love story between Sofia and David. You got to know much more about Sofia as a person through their relationship in 'Vanilla Sky.' That's why it never felt like I was redoing a role I had already played."

Cruz is a friendly, open woman whose staggering beauty belies an engaging, ingenuous goofy streak that manifests itself in her fondness for the animated hit, "South Park." She also has a big-hearted ability to take a joke. For example, Crowe and cinematographer John Toll delighted in sometimes hiding wicked little notes for the actress to discover on the set during her scenes. The Spanish-born Cruz's reactions to these playful pranks, as well as her occasional malapropisms, earned her some good-natured ribbing and the nickname "Lupe," which Crowe bestowed on her. In fact, the director probably called out, "Action, Lupe," as much as "Action, Penelope" throughout the production.

"I didn't mind. Everyone was so kind, and all the teasing came from affection," says Cruz, who in turn cheerfully pronounced Crowe's first name with a Spanish cadence, camaron, which in Spanish means, "shrimp."

Names, in fact, were a big issue on "Vanilla Sky." Between Tom's and Pen6lope's similar last names, Cruise and Cruz, and especially between Crowe's and Diaz's identical first names, Cameron, monikers were a bit confusing. Ultimately, Cameron Diaz answered to "CD."

"Yes, the solution was to call me CD. It took me awhile to get used to it because I'm usually the only Cameron in the room," Diaz notes. "People would talk to Cameron Crowe, and I'd instinctively respond. It was always very surprising, but it wasn't bad. In fact, it was fun to have a new name.

Diaz says her character, Julie Gianni, is a vulnerable woman despite her outward assurance and allure. She finds herself in a precarious emotional position common to many women.

"Julie is the good-time girl, the one who always knows how to make people, especially guys, feel comfortable without any pressure. But that isn't enough for her anymore, especially once she meets David Aames and falls in love with him. They don't make that commitment to one another, and at first, that's fine. But when we meet Julie in the film, she's trying to define the direction of the relationship, and that affects everything in her life."

Diaz explains that she was drawn to the role because Julie not only has a unique personality, but she is also someone with whom many women can relate.

"She's 27 years old, she's not in a committed relationship, and her career is in transition," Diaz says. "She feels disconnected,

even desperate, and then she meets David Aames. She loves him, and he seems to have feelings for her, but the relationship is not quite coming to fruition. Slowly, she realizes he won't protect her, he won't be her knight, and she loses her step a little bit."

Diaz adds, "I think that all women have experienced that moment in their life when they're just not getting what they need from a relationship, and instead of walking away, they keep trying. I think we've all driven by a guy's house on the way home, just to see if the lights are on, because he didn't call. And Julie's gotten into that place, with very dire consequences. I understood what she was going through. It was pure pain, and when you are in pain, you do stupid things. If she had another chance, if she was able to get some perspective, Julie would probably do things differently."

Meanwhile, Diaz's off-screen relationship with her co-star Cruise was much more rewarding than Julie's fictional one with David Aames.

"Tom brought complete humanity to the role," Diaz says. "He's got everything that David Aames doesn't have, in that he is caring, compassionate and generous. David Aames might have all the charm that Tom has, but he can't be there for people. He can't commit to anyone or anything, not to his friends, or to his career. He lives in a self-centered world, which doesn't mean he's a bad guy. It's just that that he keeps life at a distance, in a very appealing, but ultimately, lonely way.

A friendly working relationship between the two on-screen rivals, Diaz and Cruz, also developed, and together with their shared on-screen paramour Cruise, the trio had a great time. In fact, though the three actors didn't share many scenes together, they were inseparable on those days that their work dovetailed, laughing and joking between takes. Both Cruz and Diaz attribute that happy environment to Crowe and Cruise and their passion for the project.

"Cameron and Tom are so thoughtful and appreciative that it was always a pleasure and fun to come to the set," Cruz says. "There was a sense of friendship and playfulness that created a safe place to do the best work possible, to explore the characters and their relationships."

According to Cruz, Crowe worked in a particularly nurturing way with her. Often rehearsing with her off-set, he'd toss her not just new lines, but also less obvious artistic cues, from various sounds, to Spanish expressions, to feelings. It was a lot like a jazz musician riffing with a band mate.

"It was a very organic kind of acting," Cruz says. "Cameron and Tom made it all very safe and comfortable to play with new ideas. Cameron encouraged me to experiment, too. He talked to me all during the takes, suggesting different things for my character. It was a very exciting way to work, really thrilling."

Diaz agrees with Cruz. "Cameron and Tom were two people that I wanted to work with for a long time, so this was a great opportunity. Cameron is the nicest man who ever walked the earth. He's so generous and gifted. He really knows how to be there, to be present, and he totally loves his actors. Tom is so supportive, and was there for us every second, in terms of acting, so it was like constant, instant gratification with him. And Cameron, he knows what he wants. His style is so laid-back, and when you do something he likes, he's so enthusiastic that you can't help but want to please him. It was a wonderful atmosphere on the set, and the team of Tom and Cameron was amazing. They really con nect creatively, they speak the same language, and they have great chemistry that they convey with such joy and energy. We all really enjoyed one another as people."

The feeling is mutual for Crowe, who admits that he is a big fan of his stars, not just because of their acting ability, but because of whom they are.

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