Vanilla Sky (2001)

A self-indulgent and vain publishing magnate finds his privileged life upended after a vehicular accident with a resentful 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 & 33 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:

dream | death | mask | nightmare | mental institution | 

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Taglines:

Open Your Eyes

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Genres:

Fantasy | Mystery | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality and strong language

Details

Country:

USA Spain

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

14 December 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nebo boje vanile

Filming Locations:

West 73rd Street, Manhattan, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$68,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$25,015,518, 16 December 2001

Gross USA:

$100,618,344

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$203,388,341

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Cruise/Wagner Productions, Vinyl Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min 141 min (alternate ending)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film opens with the song "Everything in Its Right Place" by Radiohead. Chorus of the song is "Yesterday I woke up sucking on a lemon" - These words relate directly to Brian Shelby's sweet and sour speeches.

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Goofs

When David pulls up to his office early on, there are cars parked in front of and behind him. In the next shot, from the side, those cars have disappeared.

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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

Thanks to Conan O'Brien and all at Late Night.

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Alternate Versions

Three parts from the quick montage at the end of the film suggest scenes cut from the final film: two frames from a scene that was in "Abre Los Ojos" (upon which "Vanilla Sky" was based) where David shoots a police officer in front of the L.E. building, a frame of David and Sofia on a bed where Sofia is wearing a bathrobe (she never wore a bathrobe in the film), and a frame set in David's company where David is a kid, sitting on a couch, and a man (possibly Thomas Tipp) is talking to him).

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Connections

Referenced in 15 Till Midnight (2010)

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Soundtracks

Where Do I Begin
(1997)
by Tom Rowlands (as Thomas Rowlands) and Ed Simons (as Edmund Simons)
Performed by The Chemical Brothers
Vocals by Beth Orton
Courtesy of Astralwerks Records / Virgin Records Limited

User Reviews

What a mindblower.

There is not a single movie that blew my mind more than Vanilla Sky, even after watching it for the second or maybe third time. Until half an hour passed, you understand almost everything that is happening, but then you get lost on purpose, the director wants you to get lost, just like Tom gets lost in his life. He drives you left and right, up and down, your starting to lose your patience with the movie and then, pop, your back in the driving seat again, why ?, because wow, you just understood something, you connected a few puzzling scenes and your feeling confident about the movie again. You feel for Tom, you are feeling sad like all of that is happening to you, not in some movie that already lost you a few times, but managed to get you back in the last moment. The ending explains it all, makes everything so perfectly clear, but many things leave you feeling pointless about the movie now, and that is why I don't like the ending. It is to sci-fi, to unreal and to supernatural to be implemented as an ending for this beauty.. but I guess there was not a better option to end the movie then this one...