Trivia
The title Vanilla Sky was considered for Cameron Crowe's previous movie, Almost Famous. The original title for Almost Famous was actually "Untitled", however Dreamworks would not allow this, so Cameron Crowe titled the bootleg edition of Almost Famous on DVD "Untitled".
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The scene with Tom Cruise alone in Times Square is not computer enhanced. The production was given unprecedented permission to shut down Times Square for one Sunday. At the time, the news ticker was providing updates on the George W. Bush-Al Gore election. To avoid dating the film, Crowe got permission to change the NASDAQ sign in post-production.
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Cameron Crowe says that there are 428 references to pop culture made in the film - 429 if you include one made in error.
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Studio executives wanted Cameron Crowe to use special effects to remove shots of the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. Crowe didn't remove them, and they appear in several shots of New York.
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The song "I Fall Apart" on the soundtrack is performed by Cameron Diaz' and credited to 'Julianna Gianni', her character's name.
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During David's birthday party, someone comments on a guitar in a glass case: "Danny Bramson gave it to him for his birthday last year," referring to the music supervisor for this film.
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The Claude Monet painting which gives the film its title and which is seen during David's birthday party is the Seine at Argenteuil, 1873.
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During the pop culture montage scene towards the end of the movie a picture of Nancy Wilson (wife of Cameron Crowe) from Heart can be seen.
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Tara Lipinski was auditioning for a part in The Banger Sisters when she stopped by the set. Crowe saw her and offered her a cameo in the movie. She improvised a scene with Cameron Diaz. She had to stand on a box to get closer to Diaz's height since Lipinski is 5'1" and Diaz is 5'9". The scene didn't make the US version but can still be seen in the international versions of the movie.
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A short scene of Björk's video "Big Time Sensuality" can be seen in the movie in a vision sequence Tom Cruise has.
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The large portrait of David's "father", seen at the party is actually a portrait of the contemporary artist Robert Rauschenberg.
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Cameron Crowe and Tom Cruise both tried to persuade legendary director Billy Wilder to make an appearance in the film, but he declined.
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Sofia's line, "I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats" was a phrase actually uttered spontaneously in a moment of frustration by Penélope Cruz to Cameron Crowe.
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Michael Keaton, Harrison Ford, and Alec Baldwin were all considered for the role of Dr. Curtis McCabe.
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The name of Kurt Russell's character, McCabe, was inspired by Nancy Wilson's first solo album, "Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop". Nancy Wilson is the wife of Cameron Crowe.
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The song at the end (on the roof of the skyscraper) is called "Njósnavélin" (a.k.a. "The Nothing Song") by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. During the series of random still frames at the end of the film, one of these is an over-exposed picture of the band Sigur Rós.
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In the Times Square sequence at the beginning of the movie, one of the images that flashes for only a few frames is of Katie Holmes on the cover of a magazine. Holmes later married Tom Cruise.
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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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In the opening of the film where Tom Cruise gets out of his car and runs in Time's Square, you can see an episode of Twilight Zone, "Shadow Play" being shown on the large screen. The episode is about a convicted man who tries to convince those about to execute him that the world all around them is just his recurring nightmare.
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Tom Cruise's separation from his wife Nicole Kidman was announced while he was filming this movie. He broke the news to the cast and crew the day before it went public.
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At the start of the movie, when David wakes up with Julie Gianni, her cell phone ringtone is "Row Row Row Your Boat" but at the moment she answers the call and the music stops, the next lyric would have been "Life is but a dream".
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The PL51S1NT DR51MS message is also printed on the LIFE EXTENSION body bag after David swallows all the pills that end his "life"
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In the very beginning of the film, a whispering voice is heard: "Abre los ojos" (Spanish for "Open your eyes".) Vanilla Sky is a remake of a Spanish film titled "Abre los ojos".
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During the series of random still frames at the end of the film, you can see a frame where David is holding a gun, then another still of the security guard being shot. This is part of the script from"Open your eyes", however it was left out of the film.
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Cameo
Steven Spielberg:
A guest at David's birthday party (wearing a Pre-Crime cap from Minority Report. Spielberg and Tom Cruise were preparing to begin filming "Minority Report" at that time. In a returned favor, Cameron Crowe cameos in that film.
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Director Trademark
Cameron Crowe:
[To Kill a Mockingbird]
one of Crowe's all time favorite films is prominently featured in Vanilla Sky.
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Spoilers
The sticker on David's car reads 2/30/01, a fictional date. On the commentary, Cameron Crowe says that it was an accident, although it lead to one of the different interpretations of the story.
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According to Cameron Crowe's commentary, there are 4 different interpretations of the ending.
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- #1 is that tech support is telling the truth, that 150 years have passed since David Aames killed himself, and that everything after his passing out on the sidewalk was a dream.
- #2 is the entire movie was a dream, as evidenced by the sticker on David's car that reads '2/30/01'.
- #3 is the idea that the movie takes place with David's Coma.
- #4 is Cameron Crowe's own idea, that it is the novel that Brian was working on.
In the scenes with McCabe interviewing David in the prison cell, the word DREAM can be seen written backwards on a blackboard in the background.
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During the quick montage of stills at the very end of the film, one of the shots (which lasts for only one frame) is of Dr. Pomerantz, David Aames's plastic surgeon (played by Armand Schultz), flipping the bird at the camera.
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When David is arrested, the plaque on his photo lineup reads "W85N 494 T85 4R51M 253OM5 1 N978TM1R5?" Some elementary code-breaking reveals "WHEN DID THE DREAM BECOME A NIGHTMARE?". There are two other coded messages (mentioned on Cameron Crowe's commentary) on the 3D X-Ray of David Aames' skull. To the lower left of the skull it reads "4ON0TW1K589MUP" = "Do not wake him up." To the lower right there is the message, "PL: 51S1NT 4R51MS", or "Pleasant Dreams".
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Cameron Crowe featured "number stations" (the infamous short-wave radio stations that transmit coded messages) from the CD set The Conet Project in the film.
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