Vanilla Sky (2001)

A successful publisher finds his life taking a turn for the surreal after a car accident with a jaded lover.

Director:

Cameron Crowe

Writers:

Alejandro Amenábar (film "Abre Los Ojos"), Mateo Gil (film "Abre Los Ojos"),

Stars:

Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 20 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Cruise	...	David Aames
Penélope Cruz	...	Sofia Serrano
Cameron Diaz	...	Julie Gianni
Kurt Russell	...	McCabe
Jason Lee	...	Brian Shelby
Noah Taylor	...	Edmund Ventura
Timothy Spall	...	Thomas Tipp
Tilda Swinton	...	Rebecca Dearborn
Michael Shannon	...	Aaron
Delaina Mitchell	...	David's Assistant
Shalom Harlow	...	Colleen
Oona Hart	...	Lynette
Ivana Milicevic	...	Emma
Johnny Galecki	...	Peter Brown
Jhaemi Willens	...	Jamie Berliner

Storyline

Incarcerated and charged with murder, David Aames Jr. is telling the story of how he got to where he is to McCabe, the police psychologist. That story includes: being the 51% shareholder of a major publishing firm, which he inherited from his long deceased parents; the firm's board, appointed by David Aames Sr., being the 49% shareholders who would probably like to see him gone as they see him as being too irresponsible and immature to run the company; his best bro friendship with author, Brian Shelby; his "friends with benefits" relationship with Julie Gianni, who saw their relationship in a slightly different light; his budding romance with Sofia Serrano, who Brian brought to David's party as his own date and who Brian saw as his own possible life mate; and being in an accident which disfigured his face and killed the person who caused the accident. But as the story proceeds, David isn't sure what is real and what is a dream/nightmare as many facets of the story are incompatible to ...

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Plot Keywords:

party | dream | psychologist | publisher | love | 

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Taglines:

What is happiness to you?

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Genres:

Mystery | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and strong language

Details

Official Sites:

Pathé / Wanadoo (Cable/ASDL, Modem) (French)

Country:

USA Spain

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

14 December 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nebo boje vanile

Filming Locations:

108th-96th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$68,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$916,040 (Spain) (1 February 2002)

Gross:

$100,614,858 (USA) (26 April 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Cruise/Wagner Productions, Vinyl Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene with Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz in the street with a Volkswagen van in the back is a close copy (cars, jacket of Tom Cruise, attitude of the women...) of the cover of Bob Dylan's record "The Freewheeling Bob Dylan".

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Goofs

In the Times Square sequence, in the far background you can see pedestrians standing watching the filming of the movie.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sofía: [in Spanish] Open your eyes.
Sofía: [in English] Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open you...
[David wakes up and pushes the snooze button on his alarm]

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Crazy Credits

The end credits are done to a background of a skyscape changing the various colors of the day.

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Connections

References Almost Famous (2000)

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Soundtracks

"Afrika Shox"
(1999)
by Neil Barnes, Paul Daley, Nicholas Rapoccioli and Afrika Bambaataa
Performed by Leftfield / Afrika Bambaataa
Courtesy of Hard Hands / Columbia Records
by arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Afrika Bambaataa performs courtesy of KLB / Wheels of Steel Records and Planet Rock Music

User Reviews

Frightening, sad, touching and so underrated

I had heard some not too good things about this movie and had probably seen the low score here at IMDb and that's why I had avoided it. Today they showed Vanilla Sky on TV and as I had nothing better to do... and as it turned out, I would have had a hard time finding anything better to do. Vanilla Sky is a frightening, sad and touching movie, actually one of the best I've seen in a while. I was surprised by how I was affected watching it. It's hard to explain, but during the movie your feelings towards the characters and your perception of what is going on changes and it's quite an emotional journey. Vanilla Sky really touched me in a way that is very rare for a movie, or any media for that matter.

I really recommend everyone to watch this movie. Regardless of what you have heard about it.