In the gripping 2001 thriller starring Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz, the producers signed an impressive check for a unique short sequence lasting only about thirty seconds.
It would be a great oversimplification to reduce Tom Cruise’s career to a series of blockbusters where he plays tough guys saving the world. The filmography of this Hollywood star is far richer and more multifaceted than it might appear at first glance. While the wider public knows him best for muscular roles in Top Gun and Mission: Impossible, his portfolio also includes numerous eclectic works. Among the most notable are Risky Business, Born on the Fourth of July, Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, Interview with the Vampire, and Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky.
Which film is this thriller a remake of?
In Vanilla Sky, Tom Cruise plays David Aames, a wealthy New York playboy whose face is disfigured after a serious car accident caused by Julie, the woman he was dating. From that moment on, he loses the ability to distinguish dreams and hallucinations from reality. Cameron Crowe’s thriller is an American adaptation of Alejandro Amenábar’s Spanish film Open Your Eyes, released five years earlier, in 1997.
The 30-second sequence
Vanilla Sky is a strong remake, with many arguments in its favor. Above all, it features a trio of talented stars — Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, and Cameron Diaz — as well as several striking sequences, including the opening scene of about thirty seconds in which Tom Cruise finds himself in a completely deserted Times Square. This moment was filmed without digital effects. The producers obtained an exceptionally rare privilege: for the substantial sum of one million dollars, New York’s most famous district was placed entirely at their disposal.
Director Cameron Crowe later explained in an interview that they had shut down twenty blocks — twenty blocks with no cars, no pedestrians, and no public transportation. Such a thing had never happened before in Times Square. To prepare, they went there with Tom, wearing a baseball cap, and rehearsed with a small digital camera while the square was still crowded. Then they were told that they would be given only four hours, on a Sunday, from 4:30 to 8:30 a.m. in early November, and that not a single second more would be allowed.
