Vanilla Sky: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|2001 film by Cameron Crowe}} |
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{{Infobox_Film |
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{{Other uses}} |
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|name = Vanilla Sky |
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{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}}{{Infobox film |
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|image = Vanilla Sky poster.jpg |
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| name = Vanilla Sky |
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|director = [[Cameron Crowe]] |
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| image = Vanilla Sky poster.png |
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|writer = [[Alejandro Amenábar]],<br />[[Mateo Gil]],<br />[[Cameron Crowe]] |
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| caption = Theatrical release poster |
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|starring = [[Tom Cruise]],<br />[[Penélope Cruz]],<br />[[Cameron Diaz]]]], <br />[[Jason Lee]],<br (>[[Kurt Russell]] |
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| director = [[Cameron Crowe]] |
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|producer = Cameron Crowe,<br />Tom Cruise,<br />[[Paula Wagner]] |
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| producer = {{plainlist| |
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|distributor= [[Paramount Pictures]] |
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* [[Tom Cruise]] |
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|budget = ~ US $68,000,000<ref name="imdb">[[IMDb]] estimate</ref> |
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* [[Paula Wagner]] |
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|released= [[10 December]] [[2001]] |
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* Cameron Crowe |
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|runtime = 136 minutes |
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}} |
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|language = English |
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| screenplay = Cameron Crowe |
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|imdb_id = 0259711 |
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| based_on = {{Based on|''[[Open Your Eyes (1997 film)|Abre los Ojos]]''|[[Alejandro Amenábar]]|[[Mateo Gil]]}} |
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|}} |
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| starring = {{Plainlist|<!-- Per poster --> |
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'''''Vanilla Sky''''' is a [[2001 in film|2001 film]] which has been variously characterized by published film critics as "an odd mixture of [[science fiction]], [[Romance film|romance]], and reality warp" <ref name="sfgate">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/12/14/DD192893.DTL</ref>, "part Beautiful People fantasy, part [[New Age]] investigation of the Great Beyond"<ref>http://ae.philly.com/entertainment/ui/philly/movie.html?id=53986&reviewId=6605</ref> a "love story, a struggle for the soul, or an [[Existentialism|existential]] confrontation with the eternal"<ref>http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vanillasky.htm</ref>, and an "erotic adventure, romance, comedy, mystery and [[psychological thriller]], with a dose of science fiction"<ref>http://www.cincinnati.com/freetime/movies/mcgurk/121401_vanillasky.html</ref>. |
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* Tom Cruise |
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* [[Penélope Cruz]] |
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* [[Kurt Russell]] |
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* [[Jason Lee (actor)|Jason Lee]] |
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* [[Noah Taylor]] |
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* [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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}} |
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| music = [[Nancy Wilson (rock musician)|Nancy Wilson]] |
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| cinematography = [[John Toll]] |
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| editing = {{Unbulleted list|[[Joe Hutshing]]|[[Mark Livolsi]]}} |
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| studio = {{Unbulleted list|[[Cruise/Wagner Productions]]|[[Vinyl Films]]|[[Sogecine]]|[[Summit Entertainment]]<ref name="bfi">{{cite web|title=Vanilla Sky (2001)|work=[[British Film Institute]]|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8576f417|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320110806/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b8576f417|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 20, 2018}}</ref>}} |
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| distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]] |
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| released = {{Film date|2001|12|14}} |
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| runtime = 136 minutes |
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| country = United States |
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| language = English |
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| budget = $68 million<ref name="bom" /> |
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| gross = $203.4 million<ref name="bom" /> |
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}} |
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'''''Vanilla Sky''''' is a 2001 American [[science fiction film|science fiction]] [[psychological thriller]] film<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/vanilla-sky-v255994|title=Vanilla Sky (2001) - Cameron Crowe|website=[[AllMovie]]|access-date=March 2, 2019|archive-date=March 6, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306043836/https://www.allmovie.com/movie/vanilla-sky-v255994|url-status=live}}</ref> directed, written, and co-produced by [[Cameron Crowe]]. It is an English-language remake of [[Alejandro Amenábar]]'s 1997 Spanish film ''[[Open Your Eyes (1997 film)|Open Your Eyes]]'', which was written by Amenábar and [[Mateo Gil]]. The film stars [[Tom Cruise]], [[Penélope Cruz]], [[Cameron Diaz]], [[Jason Lee (actor)|Jason Lee]], and [[Kurt Russell]]. It follows a magazine publisher who begins to question reality after being disfigured in a car crash. |
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The film stars [[Tom Cruise]], [[Cameron Diaz]], [[Penélope Cruz]], [[Jason Lee (actor)|Jason Lee]], and [[Kurt Russell]]. It was directed by [[Cameron Crowe]], who produced the film together with Cruise and [[Paula Wagner]]. |
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''Vanilla Sky'' grossed over $203 million against a production budget of $68 million and received mixed reception from critics. Diaz's performance was widely praised, earning her a [[Screen Actors Guild Award|Screen Actors Guild]] and a [[Golden Globe Award]] nomination. The song "[[Vanilla Sky (song)|Vanilla Sky]]" by [[Paul McCartney]] was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]]. The film later gained a [[cult following]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-01-27|title=Revisiting Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/revisiting-cameron-crowes-vanilla-sky/|access-date=2022-01-04|website=Den of Geek|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104133204/https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/revisiting-cameron-crowes-vanilla-sky/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-08-30|title='Vanilla Sky' Getting Limited-Edition Blu-ray for Film's 20th Anniversary|url=https://collider.com/vanilla-sky-blu-ray-release-date-details-bonus-content/|access-date=2022-01-04|website=Collider|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104133204/https://collider.com/vanilla-sky-blu-ray-release-date-details-bonus-content/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Saalman|first=Austin|title=Reflecting on the 20th Anniversary of Vanilla Sky|url=https://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/reflecting_on_the_20th_anniversary_of_vanilla_sky_news|access-date=2022-01-04|website=undertheradarmag.com|archive-date=January 4, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104133206/https://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/reflecting_on_the_20th_anniversary_of_vanilla_sky_news|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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It is a "very close remake"<ref name="guardian">http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Critic_Review/Guardian_review/0,,638653,00.html</ref> of the [[1997]] Spanish film ''[[Abre Los Ojos]]'' (''Open Your Eyes''), which was written by [[Alejandro Amenábar]] and [[Mateo Gil]]. Penélope Cruz takes the role of Sofia Serrano, who is based on her character of Sofia from Abre Los Ojos. |
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==Plot== |
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The film grossed around 100 million dollars in U.S. box office<ref name="imdb" />. |
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<!-- 668 words, should stay less than 700 --> |
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David Aames, the owner of a large publishing company he inherited from his father, is in prison. Wearing a prosthetic mask, David tells his life story to court psychologist Dr. Curtis McCabe. In flashbacks, David leaves the duties of the publisher to his father's trusted associates while [[Playboy lifestyle|living as a playboy]] in [[Manhattan]]. He is introduced to Sofia Serrano by his best friend, Brian Shelby, during a party. |
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David and Sofia spend the night together at Sofia's apartment and fall in love, unaware that David's current lover, Julie Gianni, has followed them there. As David leaves, Julie offers him a ride and soon reveals her jealousy of Sofia. She purposely crashes the car, killing herself and disfiguring David. Doctors cannot repair his face using plastic surgery, forcing David to wear a prosthetic mask, and the mental and physical scarring from the accident causes him to become withdrawn and depressed. David joins Brian and Sofia at a club, but they all leave after David starts an argument while drunk. After David insults them and they part ways, David passes out on the street outside the club. |
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The title is a reference to depictions of skies in some of the paintings of [[Claude Monet]]; Crowe has noted that the presence of "vanilla skies" in the film is one clue to understanding turns that the plot takes<ref name="dvdcommentary">Mentioned by the director in the [[Audio commentary (DVD)|commentary track]] for the DVD release</ref>. |
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The next day, Sofia returns and apologizes to David. She takes him home, the two form a relationship and he slowly begins to recover. After surgeons find a way to repair David's face despite their prior prognosis, he is plagued by bizarre experiences, such as brief flashbacks of his disfigurement and an encounter with a mysterious man at a bar who informs him that David is omnipotent, demonstrated by the entire bar falling silent at David's command. One day, while at Sofia's, David awakens to find himself in bed with Julie, whose face has replaced Sofia's in their photographs. In shock, he suffocates Julie. David is arrested and imprisoned and his facial disfigurement is mysteriously restored. |
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==Plot== |
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{{spoiler}} |
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McCabe conducts several more interviews, which serve to help David to recall the name "Life Extension". Seeing a company with that name nearby, McCabe arranges to take David there under guard. Rebecca Dearborn, a company representative, explains how Life Extension uses [[cryonic]] suspension to save those with terminal illnesses until a cure can be found, keeping them in a [[lucid dream]] state to otherwise exercise their mind. David realizes that he is in cryonic suspension and that the world he inhabits is his lucid dream, which has become a nightmare. He escapes McCabe and the guards while calling for "[[technical support|tech support]]", and rushes for the building's lobby, which is suddenly empty. An elevator opens, revealing the strange man from the bar. As the elevator climbs to the top of an impossibly tall building, the man explains that he is Tech Support and that David has been in suspension for 150 years. |
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Tom Cruise plays David Aames, a spoiled, handsome young man who at a young age inherits 51% of his father's publishing company upon his death. The rest of the company is owned by a board of directors that Aames disparagingly calls the "Seven Dwarves." He can have anything his heart desires; nothing is beyond him. Then, one night spent with the woman of his dreams, Sofía (Penelope Cruz), leads to a fateful encounter with one of his previous [[Casual relationship|lovers]], Julianna Gianni (Cameron Diaz). An automobile accident leaves him severely disfigured, and on the path to sorting out his life he is arrested for the murder of a woman alleged to be Sofía, though he believes her to be Julie. |
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Unable to face the twin traumas of the loss of his love, Sofia, and his facial injuries, he had opted for Life Extension, to be awakened when technology could repair his face, and left the publishing company in the hands of his father's associates, ultimately overdosing on medication and causing Brian to arrange a three-day memorial for him in his home. As part of the program, David had chosen to experience a lucid dream, in which his life would resume the morning after Sofia left him, however, a glitch in the software had caused other elements of his subconscious to distort his dream. |
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Psychologist Curtis McCabe (Kurt Russell), working on David's case, becomes something of a father figure to him, and much of the film is spent as if told from Aames' point of view as he relates his life to McCabe. Yet in his studies of David, a deeper truth seems to be lurking, involving a contract David signed and the dawning realisation that everything may not be what it seems. |
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David and Tech Support emerge on the rooftop, high above the clouds. There, Tech Support tells David that while they have corrected the flaw, he now has a choice of either being returned to the dream or being restored to life, requiring a literal [[leap of faith]] off the roof that will wake him from his sleep. David chooses the latter, despite McCabe warning him against it. Before jumping, David envisions Brian and Sofia to say his goodbyes. He leaps from the edge of the building, and his life flashes before him. A female voice invites him to open his eyes. David opens his right eye. |
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During much of the film, the skies are all "vanilla" as in Monet's painting(s) — perhaps a little ''too'' much like the painting(s). That is one of the clues that ''Vanilla Sky'' is a [[fantasy movie|fantasy film]] about dreams and [[simulated reality]]. |
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==Cast== |
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It is eventually revealed that this entire portion of the film has been an extended dream, assembled largely from [[pop culture|pop-cultural]] images; it is also revealed that Dr. McCabe is wholly fictional. This simulated reality is a "[[lucid dream]]" facilitated by a [[cryonics]] company called "Life Extension" (LE) that has sold Aames something the company calls the "cryonic union of science and entertainment." The subject's body is kept frozen, but his or her mind is left to roam free in a simulated reality that branches from the real life at a certain point (so the subject has no recollection of his death). If something goes wrong with the simulation, the company can send technical support (played by [[Noah Taylor]]) to the subject. |
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{{Cast listing| |
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* [[Tom Cruise]] as David Aames |
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* [[Cameron Diaz]] as Julianna "Julie" Gianni |
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* [[Penélope Cruz]] as Sofia Serrano |
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* [[Kurt Russell]] as Dr. Curtis McCabe |
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* [[Jason Lee (actor)|Jason Lee]] as Brian Shelby |
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* [[Noah Taylor]] as Edmund Ventura / Tech Support |
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* [[Timothy Spall]] as Thomas Tipp |
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* [[Tilda Swinton]] as Rebecca Dearborn |
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* [[Michael Shannon]] as Aaron |
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* [[Shalom Harlow]] as Colleen |
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* [[Oona Hart]] as Lynette |
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* [[Ivana Miličević]] as Emma |
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* [[Johnny Galecki]] as Peter Brown |
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* [[Alicia Witt]] as Libby |
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* [[Ken Leung]] as art editor |
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* [[Conan O'Brien]] as himself |
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* [[Tommy Lee]] as a frozen vintage car man |
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* [[Laura Fraser]] as The Future |
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* [[Steven Spielberg]] as a guest at David's party (uncredited) |
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}} |
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==Production== |
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In the end, technical support reveals that they have updated the software for their lucid dream and David can be reinserted into the dream with no memory of the nightmare portion, or he can be awakened 150 years after he was frozen and live in the real world with a restored, healthy body. David chooses to be awakened in the future after weighing his options. He does so by jumping off a building, as his life flashes before him, he hits the ground and dies. In the final scene, we hear a female voice say "Open your eyes.", and he does, but it is left up to our imagination what takes place afterwards. It could be that it was technician speaking, or it could be that it was Sofia, speaking to him at the point in which he has just woken up in the gutter. Either way shows a chance for him to start again. |
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===Development=== |
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{{quote box|quote=In the days after completing ''[[Almost Famous]]'', the opportunity to keep our film-making team together was too attractive to pass up. I'd always written my own original screenplays, but ''[[Open Your Eyes (1997 film)|Open Your Eyes]]'', with its open-ended and impressionistic themes, felt like a great song for our 'band' to [[Cover version|cover]].|source=—[[Cameron Crowe]], explaining his reason for directing ''Vanilla Sky''.<ref name="theguardian">{{cite web |last1=Crowe |first1=Cameron |title=So lonely I could cry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jan/11/artsfeatures2 |website=the Guardian |access-date=August 17, 2013 |date=January 11, 2002 |archive-date=June 13, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140613003933/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jan/11/artsfeatures2 |url-status=live }}</ref>|width=35%|align=right}} |
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After the American debut of [[Alejandro Amenábar]]'s 1997 Spanish film [[Open Your Eyes (1997 film)|''Abre los ojos'' (''Open Your Eyes'')]] at the 1998 [[Sundance Film Festival]], [[Tom Cruise]] and his producing partner [[Paula Wagner]] optioned the remake rights. Hoping to entice director [[Cameron Crowe]], who collaborated with Cruise on ''[[Jerry Maguire]]'', Cruise invited Crowe over to his house to view the film.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rodriquez|first=Rene|title='Jerry Maguire' Director, Star Reteam|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=20011219&id=y1FIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7P0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6364,7352841|work=[[The Miami Herald]]|publisher=[[The Ledger|Lakeland Ledger]]|access-date=August 17, 2013|page=D6|date=December 19, 2001|archive-date=May 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507165534/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=20011219&id=y1FIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7P0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6364,7352841|url-status=live}}</ref> Cruise has stated: |
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As [[Roger Ebert]] noted in his review of the film, the revelation at the end "explains the mechanism of our confusion, rather than telling us for sure what actually happened." <ref name="ebert">http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20011214/REVIEWS/112140304/1023</ref> |
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{{endspoiler}} |
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<blockquote>I've been offered a lot of films to buy and remake, and I never have because I felt it was too connected with the culture of that place, whatever country it was from. But this was a universal story that was still open-ended, that still felt like it needed another chapter to be told.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Majumdar |first1=Devdoot |title=Interview: Vanilla Skies Ahead |journal=[[The Tech (newspaper)|The Tech]] |date=December 11, 2001 |issue=66 |url=http://tech.mit.edu/V121/N66/Vanilla_Sky.66a.html |access-date=August 17, 2013 |archive-date=February 22, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222200402/http://tech.mit.edu/V121/N66/Vanilla_Sky.66a.html |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote> |
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==Critical reaction== |
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Over 60% of the reviews were negative<ref>90 of 146 reviews were negative according to [[Rotten Tomatoes]]</ref>. |
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One exception was Roger Ebert, whose print review gave it three out of four stars: |
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:Think it all the way through, and Cameron Crowe's ''Vanilla Sky'' is a scrupulously moral picture. It tells the story of a man who has just about everything, thinks he can have it all, is given a means to have whatever he wants, and loses it because — well, maybe because he has a conscience. Or maybe not. Maybe just because life sucks. Or maybe he only thinks it does. This is the kind of movie you don't want to analyze until you've seen it two times.<ref name="ebert" /> |
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[[File:Claude Monet - The Seine at Argenteuil 1873.jpg|thumb|right|The title ''Vanilla Sky'' refers to the sky as painted by [[Claude Monet]], specifically as in ''[[The Seine at Argenteuil]]'' (1873) which is featured in the film.]] |
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A more mixed review from ''[[The New York Times]]'' (NYT) early on calls the film a "highly entertaining, erotic science-fiction thriller that takes Mr. Crowe into [[Steven Spielberg]] territory" but then notes: |
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The title of the film is a reference to depictions of skies in certain paintings by [[Claude Monet]].<ref name="dvdcommentary">Mentioned by the director in the [[Audio commentary (DVD)|commentary track]] for the DVD release.</ref> In addition to Monet's [[impressionistic]] artwork, the film's tone was derived from the acoustic ballad "By Way of Sorrow" by [[Julie Miller]] and a line from an early interview of [[Elvis Presley]] in which he said, "I feel lonely, even in a crowded room."<ref name="theguardian"/> |
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:As it leaves behind the real world and begins exploring life as a waking dream (this year's most popular theme in Hollywood movies with lofty ideas), ''Vanilla Sky'' loosens its emotional grip and becomes a disorganized and abstract if still-intriguing meditation on parallel themes. One is the quest for eternal life and eternal youth; another is guilt and the ungovernable power of the unconscious mind to undermine science's utopian discoveries. David's redemption ultimately consists of his coming to grips with his own mortality, but that redemption lacks conviction.<ref name="nytimes">http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DEED8133FF937A25751C1A9679C8B63</ref> |
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===Filming=== |
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A typically negative review was published by [[Salon.com]], which called the film an "aggressively plotted puzzle picture, which clutches many allegedly deep themes to its heaving bosom without uncovering even an onion-skin layer of insight into any of them."<ref name="salon">http://archive.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2001/12/14/vanilla/index.html?CP=IMD&DN=110</ref> |
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Principal photography for ''Vanilla Sky'' began in late 2000 and lasted six weeks.<ref name="Uncool">{{cite web |title=Vanilla Sky Production Notes |url=http://www.theuncool.com/films/vanilla-sky/vanilla-sky-production-notes/ |website=The Uncool |publisher=[[Paramount Pictures]] |access-date=August 17, 2013 |archive-date=March 15, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315114021/http://www.theuncool.com/films/vanilla-sky/vanilla-sky-production-notes/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="guild">{{cite web |title=John Toll, ASC |url=https://www.cameraguild.com/AboutUs/memberspotlightcustom/member-spotlight-john-toll.aspx |website=Local 600: International Cinematographers Guild |access-date=August 17, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719150553/https://www.cameraguild.com/AboutUs/memberspotlightcustom/member-spotlight-john-toll.aspx |archive-date=July 19, 2012 |date=August 11, 2001}}</ref> On November 12, 2000, shooting for the scene of the deserted [[Times Square]] in [[New York City|New York]] took place in the early hours of the day. A large section of traffic was blocked off around Times Square while the scene was shot. "There was a limit on how long the city would let us lock everything up even on an early Sunday morning when much of NYC would be slow getting up," said [[Steadicam]] operator Larry McConkey. "Several times we rehearsed with Steadicam and Crane including a mockup of an unmovable guardrail that we had to work the crane arm around. [Cruise] participated in these rehearsals as well so we shared a clear understanding of what my limitations and requirements would be."<ref>{{cite web |last1=McConkey |first1=Larry |title="Empty Times Square" |url=http://www.steadishots.org/shots_detail.cfm?shotID=189 |website=SteadiShots.org |access-date=August 17, 2013 |archive-date=May 22, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090522130710/http://www.steadishots.org/shots_detail.cfm?shotID=189 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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The review [[rhetorical question|rhetorically asks]]: |
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:Who would have thought that Cameron Crowe had a movie as bad as "Vanilla Sky" in him? It's a punishing picture, a betrayal of everything that Crowe has proved he knows how to do right....But the disheartening truth is that we can see Crowe taking all the right steps, the most Crowe-like steps, as he mounts a spectacle that overshoots boldness and ambition and idiosyncrasy and heads right for arrogance and pretension — and those last two are traits I never would have thought we'd have to ascribe to Crowe.<ref name="salon" /> |
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Filming lasted for six weeks around the [[New York City]] area, which included scenes in [[Central Park]], the [[Upper West Side]], [[SoHo]], and [[Brooklyn]]. One prominent location in the area was the [[Condé Nast Building]] that served as Aames Publishing and David's office. After filming finished in New York, production moved to [[Los Angeles]], where the remaining interior shots were completed at [[Paramount Studios]].<ref name="Uncool"/> Crowe intentionally left in shots of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] after the [[September 11 attacks]] as a tribute.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Christopher Zara |title=One World Trade: Film And TV Producers Navigate New York's Rapidly Changing Skyline |url=https://www.ibtimes.com/one-world-trade-film-and-tv-producers-navigate-new-york%E2%80%99s-rapidly-changing-skyline-782553 |website=[[International Business Times]] |access-date=February 23, 2016 |date=September 11, 2012 |archive-date=March 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305102840/http://www.ibtimes.com/one-world-trade-film-and-tv-producers-navigate-new-york%E2%80%99s-rapidly-changing-skyline-782553 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Other reviewers extrapolate from the knowledge that Cruise had bought the rights to do a version of Amenábar's film<ref name="sfgate" />. One reviewer from ''[[The Guardian]]'' summarized the film as "extraordinarily narcissistic high-concept vanity project for producer-star Tom Cruise"<ref name="guardian" />; a ''[[Village Voice]]'' reviewer characterized it as "hauntingly frank about being a manifestation of its star's cosmic narcissism"<ref>http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0150,atkinson,30650,20.html</ref>. |
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Despite the film's distorted aspects of reality, the style of [[cinematography]] remains grounded for much of the film. "I didn't do anything that was overtly obvious, because the story revolves around the main character not knowing whether he's in a state of reality, a dream or a nightmare, so we want it to feel a little ambiguous," said cinematographer [[John Toll]]. "We want the audience to make discoveries as [Cruise]'s character does, rather than ahead of him."<ref name="guild"/> ''[[American Cinematographer]]'' magazine wrote a feature story on the lighting designer [[Lee Rose (lighting designer)|Lee Rose]]'s work on the film.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=[[American Cinematographer]] |title=The Man Behind the Mask |author=Jay Holben |date=March 2002 |pages=52–55}}</ref> |
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Diaz's performance got more positive reviews, with the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' film critic calling her "compelling as the embodiment of crazed sensuality"<ref>http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie000099071dec14,0,1592334.story</ref> and the ''NYT'' reviewer saying she gives a "ferociously emotional" performance"<ref name="nytimes" />. |
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===Alternate ending=== |
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==Taglines== |
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The 2015 Blu-ray release offers the option to watch the film with an alternative ending. This ending expands on the details at the end of the film. While it all leads to the same conclusion, there are additional scenes, alternative takes, and alternative dialogue.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/29/blu-ray-review-vanilla-sky-alternate-ending/|title=Blu-ray review: Vanilla Sky with Alternate Ending|website=The Washington Times|last=Szadkowski|first=Joseph|date=June 29, 2015|access-date=May 4, 2021|archive-date=May 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505014153/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/29/blu-ray-review-vanilla-sky-alternate-ending/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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* Look at us...I'm frozen, you're dead...and I love you. |
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* I'll tell you in another life, when we are both cats. |
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* LoveHateDreamsLifeWorkPlayFriendshipSex |
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* Looks Can Be Deceiving! |
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* Open Your Eyes |
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* Forget everything you know, and open your eyes. |
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* Abre los ojos... |
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* Forget everything you know about life, and just open your eyes... |
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* Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around. |
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* What is happiness to you? |
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* The sweet is never as sweet without the sour. |
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After Rebecca describes the lucid dream, David rushes out of the room but does not immediately dash towards the elevator. He meets McCabe in the restroom who tries to convince him that this is all a hoax and a con and that his case is going to trial. David tells him that he's only in his imagination. Much like in the theatrical cut, the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" plays, but this version makes it clear that David hears the music and that he chose it; meanwhile, McCabe tries to convince him there is no music. |
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==Trivia== |
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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 three hours on a Sunday.<ref name="ebert" /> |
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At this point, David dashes out of the restroom for the elevator the way he does in the theatrical cut, but the scene in the lobby is expanded: David shoots the police officer who is firing at him and is then surrounded by a SWAT team whom McCabe tries to talk down, but the SWAT team fires at both of them. They black out and wake up in the emptied lobby where McCabe continues to applaud what he believes is a performance while David gets into the elevator with Ventura, who tells him what happened at the end of his real life. |
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* During David's dream in Times Square, a clip of a scene from ''[[The Twilight Zone (original series)|The Twilight Zone]]'' (episode "[[Shadow Play (The Twilight Zone)|Shadow Play]]") can be seen on the center of the [[Budweiser]] [[Jumbotron]], a deliberate reference to part of the plot for the movie <ref name="dvdcommentary" />. In the background, you can see actor [[Dennis Weaver]] yelling "No! Not again!" |
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* [[Cameron Crowe]] used samples of ''[[The Conet Project]]'', a collection of recordings of [[numbers station]]s (mysterious [[shortwave]] [[radio station]]s of uncertain origin believed to be operated by government agencies to communicate with [[spy|spies]]), in certain scenes of the film. He said he used the station recordings to create a sense of confusion. |
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Once they reach the roof, McCabe reenters again and his pleas to David not to believe Ventura become more and more desperate until he collapses onto the ground in despair. David's interaction with Sofia is extended as he tells her he loves her but "can't settle for a dream". He then jumps off the building, screaming "I want to wake up!" as images from his life flash before his eyes. He wakes up in bed and a voice tells him "Open your eyes. You're going to be fine." |
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* Crowe says that there are 428 references to pop culture made in the film — 429 if one made in error is included.{{fact}} |
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* The tax disc on David's car reads 2/30/01, a fictional date. Though this could be easily accepted in the Times Square scenes in which Aames drives a [[Ferrari 250 GTO]] (as this is a dream), the date also appears on Aames' [[Ford Mustang]], supposedly in real life. On the commentary, Crowe says that it was an accident, although it led to one of the different interpretations of the story.{{fact}} |
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==Music== |
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*The filmmakers asked for, and recieved, a few paintings by [[Ralph Bakshi]] to use in the set designs for Tom Cruise's apartment<ref name="Bakshi">http://ralphbakshi.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5162#5162</ref>. While the credit "Painting by Ralph Bakshi Courtesy of Ralph Bakshi" can be seen during the end credits, it is not known exactly how much or which of his artwork was used. |
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{{main|Music from Vanilla Sky}} |
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* During the final rooftop scenes, the surrounding buildings and landmarks are placed as they would have been remembered by David. This is most notably illustrated by the [[Statue of Liberty]] and [[Ellis Island]] both being much closer to the tip of [[Manhattan]] island than they are in real life. |
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* The Monet painting depicted in the film is "Seine at Argenteuil"<ref>http://www.masterpiece-paintings-gallery.com/monet-seine-argent.htm</ref>, as can be seen clearly in the birthday episode at David's house. |
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''Vanilla Sky''<nowiki/>'s score was by Crowe's then wife, [[Nancy Wilson (rock musician)|Nancy Wilson]], who also scored ''[[Jerry Maguire]]'' and ''[[Almost Famous]]''. Wilson spent nine months on the film's music, which was done through experimentation of [[sound collage]]s. "We were trying to balance out the heaviness of the story with sugary pop-culture music," she said. "We made sound collages of all kinds. We were channeling [[Brian Wilson]] to a large extent. I was recording things through hoses, around corners, playing guitars with cello bows, and with [music editor] Carl Kaller, we tried all kinds of wacky stuff. In the murder–sex scene sound collage, Cameron even used Brian Wilson's speaking voice from a ''[[Pet Sounds]]'' mix session."<ref>{{cite web |author1=Maura Kelly |title=An Interview with Nancy Wilson |url=https://believermag.com/an-interview-with-nancy-wilson/ |website=[[The Believer (magazine)|The Believer]] |access-date=August 16, 2013 |date=August 1, 2007 |archive-date=December 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181203060003/https://believermag.com/an-interview-with-nancy-wilson/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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* Extra scenes from the crash were used in an episode of [[Scrubs (TV show)|Scrubs]] in season 3. |
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* During the scene where David sprints in an empty Times Square, one of the images flashing by is Tom Cruise's real-life future fiancée, [[Katie Holmes]], adding an element of postmodern [[hyper-reality]] to the film. |
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Besides the publicly available soundtrack album, [[Music from Vanilla Sky]], the original score was released as a "[[For Your Consideration (advertising)|for your consideration]]" release for Academy Awards nomination and never released publicly for sale.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nancy Wilson – Vanilla Sky on Discogs |website=[[Discogs]] |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/8923961-Nancy-Wilson-Vanilla-Sky}}</ref> |
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* The ending theme was written and performed by [[Sir Paul McCartney]] especially for the movie. |
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The [[Vanilla Sky (song)|eponymous song]] from the soundtrack, written and recorded by [[Paul McCartney]], was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Original Song]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2002 |title=The 74th Academy Awards - 2002 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=December 4, 2015 |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=January 12, 2018 |archive-date=October 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001230532/http://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2002 |url-status=live }}</ref> Additional songs featured included [[Radiohead]]'s song "[[Everything in Its Right Place]]", and "[[Svefn-g-englar]]" by the Icelandic group [[Sigur Rós]].<ref name="Ruhlmann 2001">{{cite web | last=Ruhlmann | first=William | title=Music from Vanilla Sky - Various Artists - Songs, Reviews, Credits | website=AllMusic | date=2001-12-04 | url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000656884 | access-date=2022-03-11 | archive-date=March 11, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311102609/https://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0000656884 | url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==Interpretations== |
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According to Cameron Crowe's commentary, there are five different interpretations of the ending:<ref>{{Cite web|last=Handler|first=Rachel|date=2020-05-21|title=Cameron Crowe Is Finally Ready to Tell Us Vanilla Sky's Secrets|url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/cameron-crowes-vanilla-sky-easter-eggs.html|access-date=2022-01-04|website=Vulture|language=en-us|archive-date=February 13, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213090925/https://www.vulture.com/2020/05/cameron-crowes-vanilla-sky-easter-eggs.html|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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# "Tech support" is telling the truth: 150 years have passed since Aames killed himself and subsequent events form a [[lucid dream]]. |
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# The entire film is a dream, evidenced by a sticker on Aames's car that reads "2/30/01" ([[February 30]] does not occur in the [[Gregorian calendar]]). |
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# The events after the crash are a dream Aames has while comatose. |
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# The entire film is the plot of the book that Brian is writing. |
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# The entire film after the crash is a hallucination caused by drugs administered during Aames's [[reconstructive surgery]]. |
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Crowe notes that the presence of a "Vanilla Sky" during the morning reunion after the nightclub scene marks the first lucid dream scene and that everything that follows is a dream.<ref name="dvdcommentary"/> |
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==Reception== |
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===Box office=== |
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''Vanilla Sky'' opened at number one at the box office in the United States when it was first presented on December 14, 2001. The opening weekend took in a gross income of $25,015,518 (24.9%).<ref>{{cite web|last=Linder|first=Brian|title=Weekend Box Office: Sky Soars|url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/12/18/weekend-box-office-sky-soars|publisher=IGN|access-date=May 13, 2023|date=December 18, 2001|archive-date=May 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513143614/https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/12/18/weekend-box-office-sky-soars|url-status=live}}</ref> The final domestic gross income was $100.61 million while the international gross income was slightly higher at $102.76 million for a total worldwide gross income of $203.39 million.<ref name="bom">{{cite web |title= Vanilla Sky (2001) |url= https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=vanillasky.htm |website= [[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date= December 16, 2009 |archive-date= December 18, 2009 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091218115309/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=vanillasky.htm |url-status= live }}</ref> |
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===Critical response=== |
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On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], 43% of 174 critic reviews are positive and the average rating is 5.3/10. The site's consensus states: "An ambitious mix of genres, ''Vanilla Sky'' collapses into an incoherent jumble. Cruise's performance lacks depth, and it's hard to feel sympathy for his narcissistic character."<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vanilla_sky/ |title= Vanilla Sky |website= [[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date= December 27, 2021 |archive-date= March 29, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100329163146/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/vanilla_sky/ |url-status= live }}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web |title= Vanilla Sky |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/vanilla-sky |website= [[Metacritic]] |access-date= February 22, 2020 |archive-date= December 20, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211220102837/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/vanilla-sky |url-status= live }}</ref> Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film a grade "D−" on a scale from A to F.<ref>{{cite web |date= 9 August 2014 |last= Busch |first= Anita |title= B Grade For 'Turtles': What CinemaScores Mean And Why Exit Polling Matters |url= https://deadline.com/2014/08/b-grade-for-turtles-what-cinemascores-mean-and-why-exit-polling-matters-816538/ |website= [[Deadline Hollywood]] |access-date= May 28, 2022 |archive-date= October 9, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221009080339/https://deadline.com/2014/08/b-grade-for-turtles-what-cinemascores-mean-and-why-exit-polling-matters-816538/ |url-status= live }}</ref> |
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[[Roger Ebert]]'s printed review of ''Vanilla Sky'' awarded the film three out of four stars: |
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{{Cquote|Think it all the way through, and Cameron Crowe's ''Vanilla Sky'' is a scrupulously moral picture. It tells the story of a man who has just about everything, thinks he can have it all, is given a means to have whatever he wants, and loses it because—well, maybe because he has a [[conscience]]. Or maybe not. Maybe just because life sucks. Or maybe he only thinks it does. This is the kind of movie you don't want to analyze until you've seen it two times.}} |
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Ebert interpreted the ending as an explanation for "the mechanism of our confusion", rather than a device that tells "us for sure what actually happened."<ref name="Ebert">{{cite news |date=December 14, 2001 |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=Vanilla Sky |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/vanilla-sky-2001 |work=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |via=RogerEbert.com |access-date=January 1, 2024 |archive-date=December 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221217120338/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/vanilla-sky-2001 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Film criticism|Film critic]] [[Richard Roeper]] ranked the film the second best of 2001.<ref name="Roeper">{{cite web |last= Roeper |first= Richard |author-link= Richard Roeper |title= Ebert and Roeper Top Ten Lists (2000-2005)) |url= http://www.innermind.com/misc/e_r_top.htm |website= The Inner Mind |access-date= February 24, 2013 |archive-date= December 17, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221217120339/http://www.innermind.com/misc/e_r_top.htm |url-status= live }}</ref> |
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[[Stephen Holden]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' calls ''Vanilla Sky'' a "highly entertaining, erotic [[science-fiction]] thriller that takes Mr. Crowe into [[Steven Spielberg]] territory", but then says: "As it leaves behind the real world and begins exploring life as a waking dream (this year's most popular theme in [[Hollywood (film industry)|Hollywood]] movies with lofty ideas), ''Vanilla Sky'' loosens its emotional grip and becomes a disorganised and abstract if still-intriguing meditation on parallel themes. One is the quest for eternal life and eternal youth; another is guilt and the ungovernable power of the [[unconscious mind]] to undermine science's [[utopia]]n discoveries. David's redemption ultimately consists of his coming to grips with his own mortality, but that redemption lacks conviction."<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news |last= Holden |first= Stephen |author-link= Stephen Holden |title= FILM REVIEW; Plastic Surgery Takes A Science Fiction Twist |url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DEED8133FF937A25751C1A9679C8B63 |access-date= December 2, 2018 |work= [[The New York Times]] |date= December 14, 2001 |archive-date= October 13, 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071013221729/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DEED8133FF937A25751C1A9679C8B63 |url-status= live }}</ref> |
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[[Salon.com]] called ''Vanilla Sky'' an "aggressively plotted puzzle picture, which clutches many allegedly deep themes to its heaving bosom without uncovering even an onion-skin layer of insight into any of them."<ref name="salon">{{cite web |last1=Zacharek |first1=Stephanie |title="Vanilla Sky" |url=http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2001/12/14/vanilla/index.html |website=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |date=12 April 2001 |access-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-date=February 22, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100222025419/http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/review/2001/12/14/vanilla/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The review [[Rhetorical question|rhetorically asks]]: "Who would have thought that Cameron Crowe had a movie as bad as ''Vanilla Sky'' in him? It's a punishing picture, a betrayal of everything that Crowe has proved he knows how to do right. ... But the disheartening truth is that we can see Crowe taking all the right steps, the most Crowe-like steps, as he mounts a spectacle that overshoots boldness and ambition and idiosyncrasy and heads right for arrogance and pretension—and those last two are traits I never would have thought we'd have to ascribe to Crowe."<ref name="salon"/> Edward Guthmann of the [[San Francisco Chronicle]] gave the film 2/4 and wrote: "The film's aim—to dazzle and inspire—is sapped by Cruise's vein-popping, running-the-marathon performance."<ref name="sfgate">{{cite news |date= December 14, 2001 |last= Guthmann |first= Edward |title= Vanilla guy / Smirky Tom Cruise lacks the depth for complex, surreal film |newspaper= [[San Francisco Chronicle]] |url= https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Vanilla-guy-Smirky-Tom-Cruise-lacks-the-depth-2839702.php |access-date= February 22, 2020 |archive-date= December 17, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221217120337/https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Vanilla-guy-Smirky-Tom-Cruise-lacks-the-depth-2839702.php |url-status= live }}</ref> |
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[[Peter Bradshaw]] of ''[[The Guardian]]''<ref name="guardian">{{cite web |last= Bradshaw |first= Peter |author-link= Peter Bradshaw |title= Vanilla Sky |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jan/25/culture.reviews |website= The Guardian |access-date= May 27, 2010 |date= January 25, 2002 |archive-date= December 17, 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221217120337/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jan/25/culture.reviews |url-status= live }}</ref> and Gareth Von Kallenbach of the publication ''[[Film Threat]]''<ref>{{cite web |author1=Gareth Von Kallebach |title=Vanilla Sky |url=https://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/2392/ |website=[[Film Threat]] |access-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130123032805/http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/2392/ |archive-date=January 23, 2013 |date=December 11, 2001}}</ref> compared ''Vanilla Sky'' unfavorably to ''[[Open Your Eyes (1997 film)|Open Your Eyes]]''. Bradshaw says ''Open Your Eyes'' is "certainly more distinctive than" ''Vanilla Sky'', which he describes as an "extraordinarily narcissistic high-concept vanity project for producer-star Tom Cruise." Other reviewers extrapolate from the knowledge that Cruise had bought the rights to do a version of Amenábar's film.<ref name="sfgate"/> A ''[[Village Voice]]'' reviewer characterized ''Vanilla Sky'' as "hauntingly frank about being a manifestation of its star's cosmic [[narcissism]]".<ref>{{cite web |author1=Michael Atkinson |title=Icon See Clearly Now |url=http://www.villagevoice.com:80/film/0150,atkinson,30650,20.html |website=[[The Village Voice]] |access-date=December 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080403105246/http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0150,atkinson,30650,20.html |archive-date=April 3, 2008 |date=December 11, 2001 |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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Kenneth Turan of the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' called [[Cameron Diaz]] "compelling as the embodiment of crazed sensuality"<ref>{{cite web |author1=Kenneth Turan |author-link= Kenneth Turan |title=From Paella to Pot Roast |url=http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie000099071dec14,0,1592334.story |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=December 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006180150/http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-movie000099071dec14,0,1592334.story |archive-date=October 6, 2008 |date=December 14, 2011}}</ref> and ''[[The New York Times]]'' reviewer said she gives a "ferociously emotional" performance.<ref name="nytimes"/> Edward Guthmann of the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'' similarly says of the film, "most impressive is Cameron Diaz, whose fatal-attraction stalker is both heartbreaking and terrifying."<ref name="sfgate" /> For her performance, Diaz won multiple critics' groups awards, as well as being nominated for the [[Golden Globe Award]], [[Screen Actors Guild Award]], [[Critics' Choice Movie Award]], [[Saturn Award]], and [[American Film Institute|AFI Award]]. [[Penélope Cruz]]'s performance earned her a [[Razzie Award]] nomination for Worst Actress (in addition to her roles in ''[[Blow (film)|Blow]]'' and ''[[Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)|Captain Corelli's Mandolin]]''). |
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===Awards=== |
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{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" |
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|+Accolades for ''Vanilla Sky'' |
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|- |
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! scope="col"| Organization |
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! scope="col"| Year |
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! scope="col"| Category |
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! scope="col"| Recipient(s) |
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! scope="col"| Result |
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! scope="col" class="unsortable"| {{Ref heading}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row"| [[Academy Awards]] |
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| [[74th Academy Awards|2002]] |
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| [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]] |
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| [[Paul McCartney]] <small>(for the song "[[Vanilla Sky (song)|Vanilla Sky]]")</small> |
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| {{nom}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2002|title=The 74th Academy Awards – 2022|date=December 4, 2015|publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]]|access-date=January 25, 2022|archive-date=October 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161001230532/http://oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2002|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row"| [[American Film Institute Awards|AFI Awards]] |
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| 2002 |
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| Featured Actress of the Year |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|last=Goodridge|first=Mike|url=https://www.screendaily.com/afi-announces-first-annual-award-nominations/407823.article|title=AFI announces first annual award nominations|work=[[Screen International|Screen Daily]]|date=December 18, 2001|access-date=June 16, 2024}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[ALMA Award]]s |
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| rowspan="2"| 2002 |
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| Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture |
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| [[Penélope Cruz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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| rowspan="2"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.almaawards.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=129|title=ALMA Awards 2002|publisher=[[UnidosUS]]|access-date=January 25, 2022|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021005041747/http://www.almaawards.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=129|archive-date=October 5, 2002}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row"| [[Boston Society of Film Critics|Boston Society of Film Critics Awards]] |
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| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2001|2001]] |
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| [[Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{won}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bostonfilmcritics.org/past-winners-2000s/|title=BSFC Winners 2000s|date=27 July 2018|publisher=[[Boston Society of Film Critics]]|access-date=January 25, 2022|archive-date=December 9, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181209123949/https://bostonfilmcritics.org/past-winners-2000s/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row"| [[Chicago Film Critics Association|Chicago Film Critics Association Awards]] |
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| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2001|2001]] |
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| [[Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{won}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://chicagofilmcritics.org/awards-blog/archives|title=1988-2013 Awards Winners Archives|date=January 2013 |publisher=[[Chicago Film Critics Association]]|access-date=January 25, 2022|archive-date=April 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410183233/https://chicagofilmcritics.org/awards-blog/archives|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Critics' Choice Movie Awards]] |
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| rowspan="2"| [[7th Critics' Choice Awards|2002]] |
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| [[Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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| rowspan="2"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfca.org/ccawards/2001.php|title=The BFCA Critics' Choice Awards 2001|publisher=[[Critics Choice Association]]|access-date=January 25, 2022|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130107093817/http://www.bfca.org/ccawards/2001.php|archive-date=January 7, 2013}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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| [[Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song|Best Song]] |
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| [[Paul McCartney]] <small>(for the song "[[Vanilla Sky (song)|Vanilla Sky]]")</small> |
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| {{won}}{{Efn|Tied with "[[May It Be]]" from ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]''.}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row"| [[Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association|Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards]] |
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| [[Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards 2001|2002]] |
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| [[Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|title=8th Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Awards|url=http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/2001/2001dfw.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017180650/http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/2001/2001dfw.htm|archive-date=17 October 2006|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=June 16, 2024}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Golden Globe Awards]] |
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| rowspan="2"| [[59th Golden Globe Awards|2002]] |
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| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture|Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture]] |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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| rowspan="2"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/vanilla-sky|title=''Vanilla Sky''|publisher=[[Hollywood Foreign Press Association]]|access-date=January 29, 2022|archive-date=January 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129101708/https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/vanilla-sky|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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| [[Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]] |
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| [[Paul McCartney]] <small>(for the song "[[Vanilla Sky (song)|Vanilla Sky]]")</small> |
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| {{nom}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row"| [[Golden Raspberry Awards]] |
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| [[22nd Golden Raspberry Awards|2002]] |
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| [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress|Worst Actress]]{{Efn|also for ''[[Blow (film)|Blow]]'' and ''[[Captain Corelli's Mandolin (film)|Captain Corelli's Mandolin]]''.}} |
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| [[Penélope Cruz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1814018.stm|title=Freddy heads Razzies nominations|work=[[BBC News]]|date=February 11, 2002|access-date=January 29, 2022|archive-date=April 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404070411/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1814018.stm|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Motion Picture Sound Editors|Golden Reel Awards]] |
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| rowspan="2"| 2002 |
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| [[Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Dialogue and ADR for Feature Film|Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Dialogue and ADR for Feature Film]] |
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| List of sound editors{{Efn|Michael D. Wilhoit (supervising sound editor); Kerry Dean Williams (supervising ADR editor); Laura Harris Atkinson (supervising dialogue editor); Tammy Fearing, Eliza Pollack Zebert (ADR editors); Mark Gordon, Vic Radulich, Clare C. Freeman, Susan Kurtz (dialogue editors).}} |
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| {{nom}} |
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| rowspan="2"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|last=Hobbs|first=John|url=https://variety.com/2002/film/awards/sound-editors-tap-noms-for-golden-reel-awards-1117860492/|title=Sound editors tap noms for Golden Reel Awards|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=February 10, 2002|access-date=January 29, 2022|archive-date=April 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422145627/https://variety.com/2002/film/awards/sound-editors-tap-noms-for-golden-reel-awards-1117860492/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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| [[Golden Reel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Underscore|Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Underscore]] |
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| Carlton Kaller |
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| {{nom}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row"| [[Grammy Awards]] |
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| [[45th Annual Grammy Awards|2003]] |
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| [[Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media|Best Song Written for Visual Media]] |
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| [[Paul McCartney]] <small>(for the song "[[Vanilla Sky (song)|Vanilla Sky]]")</small> |
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| {{nom}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2003/music/news/45th-annual-grammy-award-nominations-1117878286/|title=45th Annual Grammy Award Nominations|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=January 7, 2003|access-date=January 29, 2022|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305030035/https://variety.com/2003/music/news/45th-annual-grammy-award-nominations-1117878286/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row" rowspan="2"| [[Satellite Awards]] |
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| rowspan="2"| [[6th Golden Satellite Awards|2002]] |
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| rowspan="2"| [[Satellite Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]] |
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| [[Paul McCartney]] <small>(for the song "[[Vanilla Sky (song)|Vanilla Sky]]")</small> |
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| {{nom}} |
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| rowspan="2"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pressacademy.com/movienominations.htm|title=2001 Satellite Awards Nominations|publisher=[[International Press Academy]]|access-date=January 29, 2022|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020601235604/http://pressacademy.com/movienominations.htm|archive-date=June 1, 2002}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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| [[Cameron Crowe]] and [[Nancy Wilson (rock musician)|Nancy Wilson]] <small>(for the song "I Fall Apart")</small> |
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| {{nom}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row" rowspan="6"| [[Saturn Awards]] |
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| rowspan="5"| [[28th Saturn Awards|2002]] |
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| [[Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film|Best Science Fiction Film]] |
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| ''Vanilla Sky'' |
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| {{nom}} |
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| rowspan="5"| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|title=28th Saturn Awards|url=http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/2001/2001sat.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061017175649/http://theenvelope.latimes.com/extras/lostmind/year/2001/2001sat.htm|archive-date=17 October 2006|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=January 29, 2022}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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| [[Saturn Award for Best Actor|Best Actor]] |
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| [[Tom Cruise]] |
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| {{won}} |
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|- |
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| [[Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress]] |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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|- |
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| [[Saturn Award for Best Make-up|Best Make-Up]] |
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| [[Michèle Burke]] and Camille Calvet |
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| {{nom}} |
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|- |
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| [[Saturn Award for Best Music|Best Music]] |
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| [[Nancy Wilson (rock musician)|Nancy Wilson]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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|- |
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| [[42nd Saturn Awards|2016]] |
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| [[Saturn Award for Best DVD or Blu-ray Special Edition Release|Best DVD or Blu-ray Special Edition Release]] |
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| ''Vanilla Sky'' (Alternate Ending) |
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| {{nom}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saturnawards.org/|title=The 42nd Annual Saturn Awards nominations are announced for 2016|publisher=[[Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films]]|access-date=January 29, 2022|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303181620/http://www.saturnawards.org/|archive-date=March 3, 2016}}</ref>}} |
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|- |
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! scope="row"| [[Screen Actors Guild Awards]] |
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| [[8th Screen Actors Guild Awards|2002]] |
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| [[Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role|Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role]] |
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| [[Cameron Diaz]] |
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| {{nom}} |
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| {{center|<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/8th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards|title=The 8th Screen Actors Guild Awards|publisher=[[SAG-AFTRA]]|access-date=January 29, 2022|archive-date=July 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720104917/https://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/8th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards|url-status=live}}</ref>}} |
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|} |
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==Home media== |
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''Vanilla Sky'' was released on [[DVD]] and [[VHS]] on May 21, 2002,<ref>{{cite news |last=Churnin |first=Nancy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-greenville-news-pooh-charms-in-25th/124032416/ |title=Pooh charms in 25th anniversary video edition |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506011045/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-greenville-news-pooh-charms-in-25th/124032416/ |date=May 17, 2002 |access-date=May 6, 2023 |archive-date=May 6, 2023 |page=73 |work=Knight Ridder |publisher=[[The Greenville News]] |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-status=live}} {{Open access}}</ref> [[Blu-ray]] in 2015, and [[Ultra HD Blu-ray]] in 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liebman |first=Martin |date=June 26, 2023 |title=Vanilla Sky 4K Blu-ray |url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Vanilla-Sky-4K-Blu-ray/336288/#Review |website=Blu-ray.com |access-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-date=August 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230810232419/https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Vanilla-Sky-4K-Blu-ray/336288/#Review |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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== Explanatory notes == |
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{{Notelist}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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{{Reflist}} |
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<references/> |
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==External links== |
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{{Wikiquote}} |
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*[http://web.archive.org/web/20040606194217/cameroncroweonline.com/films/vanillasky/secrets.htm The "secrets" of the film], from the [[Internet Archive]] copy of a fan's now-offline website |
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* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060813202824/http://www.cameroncrowe.com/eyes_ears/films/vanillasky/vanillasky_overview.html Eyes and Ears for ''Vanilla Sky''] at [http://www.cameroncrowe.com Cameron Crowe's Official website] |
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*[http://www.moviemusic.com/title.asp?site=filmmuziek&id=vanillasky Complete Vanilla Sky Soundtrack Listings] |
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*{{ |
*{{Mojo title}} |
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* {{IMDb title}} |
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*{{rotten-tomatoes|id=vanilla_sky|title=Vanilla Sky}} |
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{{Cameron Crowe}} |
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Latest revision as of 03:08, 25 December 2024
Vanilla Sky | |
---|---|
Directed by | Cameron Crowe |
Screenplay by | Cameron Crowe |
Based on | |
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | John Toll |
Edited by | |
Music by | Nancy Wilson |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 136 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $68 million[2] |
Box office | $203.4 million[2] |
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American science fiction psychological thriller film[3] directed, written, and co-produced by Cameron Crowe. It is an English-language remake of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film Open Your Eyes, which was written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil. The film stars Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee, and Kurt Russell. It follows a magazine publisher who begins to question reality after being disfigured in a car crash.
Vanilla Sky grossed over $203 million against a production budget of $68 million and received mixed reception from critics. Diaz's performance was widely praised, earning her a Screen Actors Guild and a Golden Globe Award nomination. The song "Vanilla Sky" by Paul McCartney was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The film later gained a cult following.[4][5][6]
Plot
[edit]David Aames, the owner of a large publishing company he inherited from his father, is in prison. Wearing a prosthetic mask, David tells his life story to court psychologist Dr. Curtis McCabe. In flashbacks, David leaves the duties of the publisher to his father's trusted associates while living as a playboy in Manhattan. He is introduced to Sofia Serrano by his best friend, Brian Shelby, during a party.
David and Sofia spend the night together at Sofia's apartment and fall in love, unaware that David's current lover, Julie Gianni, has followed them there. As David leaves, Julie offers him a ride and soon reveals her jealousy of Sofia. She purposely crashes the car, killing herself and disfiguring David. Doctors cannot repair his face using plastic surgery, forcing David to wear a prosthetic mask, and the mental and physical scarring from the accident causes him to become withdrawn and depressed. David joins Brian and Sofia at a club, but they all leave after David starts an argument while drunk. After David insults them and they part ways, David passes out on the street outside the club.
The next day, Sofia returns and apologizes to David. She takes him home, the two form a relationship and he slowly begins to recover. After surgeons find a way to repair David's face despite their prior prognosis, he is plagued by bizarre experiences, such as brief flashbacks of his disfigurement and an encounter with a mysterious man at a bar who informs him that David is omnipotent, demonstrated by the entire bar falling silent at David's command. One day, while at Sofia's, David awakens to find himself in bed with Julie, whose face has replaced Sofia's in their photographs. In shock, he suffocates Julie. David is arrested and imprisoned and his facial disfigurement is mysteriously restored.
McCabe conducts several more interviews, which serve to help David to recall the name "Life Extension". Seeing a company with that name nearby, McCabe arranges to take David there under guard. Rebecca Dearborn, a company representative, explains how Life Extension uses cryonic suspension to save those with terminal illnesses until a cure can be found, keeping them in a lucid dream state to otherwise exercise their mind. David realizes that he is in cryonic suspension and that the world he inhabits is his lucid dream, which has become a nightmare. He escapes McCabe and the guards while calling for "tech support", and rushes for the building's lobby, which is suddenly empty. An elevator opens, revealing the strange man from the bar. As the elevator climbs to the top of an impossibly tall building, the man explains that he is Tech Support and that David has been in suspension for 150 years.
Unable to face the twin traumas of the loss of his love, Sofia, and his facial injuries, he had opted for Life Extension, to be awakened when technology could repair his face, and left the publishing company in the hands of his father's associates, ultimately overdosing on medication and causing Brian to arrange a three-day memorial for him in his home. As part of the program, David had chosen to experience a lucid dream, in which his life would resume the morning after Sofia left him, however, a glitch in the software had caused other elements of his subconscious to distort his dream.
David and Tech Support emerge on the rooftop, high above the clouds. There, Tech Support tells David that while they have corrected the flaw, he now has a choice of either being returned to the dream or being restored to life, requiring a literal leap of faith off the roof that will wake him from his sleep. David chooses the latter, despite McCabe warning him against it. Before jumping, David envisions Brian and Sofia to say his goodbyes. He leaps from the edge of the building, and his life flashes before him. A female voice invites him to open his eyes. David opens his right eye.
Cast
[edit]- Tom Cruise as David Aames
- Cameron Diaz as Julianna "Julie" Gianni
- Penélope Cruz as Sofia Serrano
- Kurt Russell as Dr. Curtis McCabe
- Jason Lee as Brian Shelby
- Noah Taylor as Edmund Ventura / Tech Support
- Timothy Spall as Thomas Tipp
- Tilda Swinton as Rebecca Dearborn
- Michael Shannon as Aaron
- Shalom Harlow as Colleen
- Oona Hart as Lynette
- Ivana Miličević as Emma
- Johnny Galecki as Peter Brown
- Alicia Witt as Libby
- Ken Leung as art editor
- Conan O'Brien as himself
- Tommy Lee as a frozen vintage car man
- Laura Fraser as The Future
- Steven Spielberg as a guest at David's party (uncredited)
Production
[edit]Development
[edit]In the days after completing Almost Famous, the opportunity to keep our film-making team together was too attractive to pass up. I'd always written my own original screenplays, but Open Your Eyes, with its open-ended and impressionistic themes, felt like a great song for our 'band' to cover.
After the American debut of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film Abre los ojos (Open Your Eyes) at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner optioned the remake rights. Hoping to entice director Cameron Crowe, who collaborated with Cruise on Jerry Maguire, Cruise invited Crowe over to his house to view the film.[8] Cruise has stated:
I've been offered a lot of films to buy and remake, and I never have because I felt it was too connected with the culture of that place, whatever country it was from. But this was a universal story that was still open-ended, that still felt like it needed another chapter to be told.[9]
The title of the film is a reference to depictions of skies in certain paintings by Claude Monet.[10] In addition to Monet's impressionistic artwork, the film's tone was derived from the acoustic ballad "By Way of Sorrow" by Julie Miller and a line from an early interview of Elvis Presley in which he said, "I feel lonely, even in a crowded room."[7]
Filming
[edit]Principal photography for Vanilla Sky began in late 2000 and lasted six weeks.[11][12] On November 12, 2000, shooting for the scene of the deserted Times Square in New York took place in the early hours of the day. A large section of traffic was blocked off around Times Square while the scene was shot. "There was a limit on how long the city would let us lock everything up even on an early Sunday morning when much of NYC would be slow getting up," said Steadicam operator Larry McConkey. "Several times we rehearsed with Steadicam and Crane including a mockup of an unmovable guardrail that we had to work the crane arm around. [Cruise] participated in these rehearsals as well so we shared a clear understanding of what my limitations and requirements would be."[13]
Filming lasted for six weeks around the New York City area, which included scenes in Central Park, the Upper West Side, SoHo, and Brooklyn. One prominent location in the area was the Condé Nast Building that served as Aames Publishing and David's office. After filming finished in New York, production moved to Los Angeles, where the remaining interior shots were completed at Paramount Studios.[11] Crowe intentionally left in shots of the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks as a tribute.[14]
Despite the film's distorted aspects of reality, the style of cinematography remains grounded for much of the film. "I didn't do anything that was overtly obvious, because the story revolves around the main character not knowing whether he's in a state of reality, a dream or a nightmare, so we want it to feel a little ambiguous," said cinematographer John Toll. "We want the audience to make discoveries as [Cruise]'s character does, rather than ahead of him."[12] American Cinematographer magazine wrote a feature story on the lighting designer Lee Rose's work on the film.[15]
Alternate ending
[edit]The 2015 Blu-ray release offers the option to watch the film with an alternative ending. This ending expands on the details at the end of the film. While it all leads to the same conclusion, there are additional scenes, alternative takes, and alternative dialogue.[16]
After Rebecca describes the lucid dream, David rushes out of the room but does not immediately dash towards the elevator. He meets McCabe in the restroom who tries to convince him that this is all a hoax and a con and that his case is going to trial. David tells him that he's only in his imagination. Much like in the theatrical cut, the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" plays, but this version makes it clear that David hears the music and that he chose it; meanwhile, McCabe tries to convince him there is no music.
At this point, David dashes out of the restroom for the elevator the way he does in the theatrical cut, but the scene in the lobby is expanded: David shoots the police officer who is firing at him and is then surrounded by a SWAT team whom McCabe tries to talk down, but the SWAT team fires at both of them. They black out and wake up in the emptied lobby where McCabe continues to applaud what he believes is a performance while David gets into the elevator with Ventura, who tells him what happened at the end of his real life.
Once they reach the roof, McCabe reenters again and his pleas to David not to believe Ventura become more and more desperate until he collapses onto the ground in despair. David's interaction with Sofia is extended as he tells her he loves her but "can't settle for a dream". He then jumps off the building, screaming "I want to wake up!" as images from his life flash before his eyes. He wakes up in bed and a voice tells him "Open your eyes. You're going to be fine."
Music
[edit]Vanilla Sky's score was by Crowe's then wife, Nancy Wilson, who also scored Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous. Wilson spent nine months on the film's music, which was done through experimentation of sound collages. "We were trying to balance out the heaviness of the story with sugary pop-culture music," she said. "We made sound collages of all kinds. We were channeling Brian Wilson to a large extent. I was recording things through hoses, around corners, playing guitars with cello bows, and with [music editor] Carl Kaller, we tried all kinds of wacky stuff. In the murder–sex scene sound collage, Cameron even used Brian Wilson's speaking voice from a Pet Sounds mix session."[17]
Besides the publicly available soundtrack album, Music from Vanilla Sky, the original score was released as a "for your consideration" release for Academy Awards nomination and never released publicly for sale.[18]
The eponymous song from the soundtrack, written and recorded by Paul McCartney, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song.[19] Additional songs featured included Radiohead's song "Everything in Its Right Place", and "Svefn-g-englar" by the Icelandic group Sigur Rós.[20]
Interpretations
[edit]According to Cameron Crowe's commentary, there are five different interpretations of the ending:[21]
- "Tech support" is telling the truth: 150 years have passed since Aames killed himself and subsequent events form a lucid dream.
- The entire film is a dream, evidenced by a sticker on Aames's car that reads "2/30/01" (February 30 does not occur in the Gregorian calendar).
- The events after the crash are a dream Aames has while comatose.
- The entire film is the plot of the book that Brian is writing.
- The entire film after the crash is a hallucination caused by drugs administered during Aames's reconstructive surgery.
Crowe notes that the presence of a "Vanilla Sky" during the morning reunion after the nightclub scene marks the first lucid dream scene and that everything that follows is a dream.[10]
Reception
[edit]Box office
[edit]Vanilla Sky opened at number one at the box office in the United States when it was first presented on December 14, 2001. The opening weekend took in a gross income of $25,015,518 (24.9%).[22] The final domestic gross income was $100.61 million while the international gross income was slightly higher at $102.76 million for a total worldwide gross income of $203.39 million.[2]
Critical response
[edit]On Rotten Tomatoes, 43% of 174 critic reviews are positive and the average rating is 5.3/10. The site's consensus states: "An ambitious mix of genres, Vanilla Sky collapses into an incoherent jumble. Cruise's performance lacks depth, and it's hard to feel sympathy for his narcissistic character."[23] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "D−" on a scale from A to F.[25]
Roger Ebert's printed review of Vanilla Sky awarded the film three out of four stars:
Think it all the way through, and Cameron Crowe's Vanilla Sky is a scrupulously moral picture. It tells the story of a man who has just about everything, thinks he can have it all, is given a means to have whatever he wants, and loses it because—well, maybe because he has a conscience. Or maybe not. Maybe just because life sucks. Or maybe he only thinks it does. This is the kind of movie you don't want to analyze until you've seen it two times.
Ebert interpreted the ending as an explanation for "the mechanism of our confusion", rather than a device that tells "us for sure what actually happened."[26] Film critic Richard Roeper ranked the film the second best of 2001.[27]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times calls Vanilla Sky a "highly entertaining, erotic science-fiction thriller that takes Mr. Crowe into Steven Spielberg territory", but then says: "As it leaves behind the real world and begins exploring life as a waking dream (this year's most popular theme in Hollywood movies with lofty ideas), Vanilla Sky loosens its emotional grip and becomes a disorganised and abstract if still-intriguing meditation on parallel themes. One is the quest for eternal life and eternal youth; another is guilt and the ungovernable power of the unconscious mind to undermine science's utopian discoveries. David's redemption ultimately consists of his coming to grips with his own mortality, but that redemption lacks conviction."[28]
Salon.com called Vanilla Sky an "aggressively plotted puzzle picture, which clutches many allegedly deep themes to its heaving bosom without uncovering even an onion-skin layer of insight into any of them."[29] The review rhetorically asks: "Who would have thought that Cameron Crowe had a movie as bad as Vanilla Sky in him? It's a punishing picture, a betrayal of everything that Crowe has proved he knows how to do right. ... But the disheartening truth is that we can see Crowe taking all the right steps, the most Crowe-like steps, as he mounts a spectacle that overshoots boldness and ambition and idiosyncrasy and heads right for arrogance and pretension—and those last two are traits I never would have thought we'd have to ascribe to Crowe."[29] Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film 2/4 and wrote: "The film's aim—to dazzle and inspire—is sapped by Cruise's vein-popping, running-the-marathon performance."[30]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian[31] and Gareth Von Kallenbach of the publication Film Threat[32] compared Vanilla Sky unfavorably to Open Your Eyes. Bradshaw says Open Your Eyes is "certainly more distinctive than" Vanilla Sky, which he describes as an "extraordinarily narcissistic high-concept vanity project for producer-star Tom Cruise." Other reviewers extrapolate from the knowledge that Cruise had bought the rights to do a version of Amenábar's film.[30] A Village Voice reviewer characterized Vanilla Sky as "hauntingly frank about being a manifestation of its star's cosmic narcissism".[33]
Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times called Cameron Diaz "compelling as the embodiment of crazed sensuality"[34] and The New York Times reviewer said she gives a "ferociously emotional" performance.[28] Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle similarly says of the film, "most impressive is Cameron Diaz, whose fatal-attraction stalker is both heartbreaking and terrifying."[30] For her performance, Diaz won multiple critics' groups awards, as well as being nominated for the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics' Choice Movie Award, Saturn Award, and AFI Award. Penélope Cruz's performance earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress (in addition to her roles in Blow and Captain Corelli's Mandolin).
Awards
[edit]Home media
[edit]Vanilla Sky was released on DVD and VHS on May 21, 2002,[50] Blu-ray in 2015, and Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2023.[51]
Explanatory notes
[edit]- ^ Tied with "May It Be" from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
- ^ also for Blow and Captain Corelli's Mandolin.
- ^ Michael D. Wilhoit (supervising sound editor); Kerry Dean Williams (supervising ADR editor); Laura Harris Atkinson (supervising dialogue editor); Tammy Fearing, Eliza Pollack Zebert (ADR editors); Mark Gordon, Vic Radulich, Clare C. Freeman, Susan Kurtz (dialogue editors).
References
[edit]- ^ "Vanilla Sky (2001)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Vanilla Sky (2001)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 18, 2009. Retrieved December 16, 2009.
- ^ "Vanilla Sky (2001) - Cameron Crowe". AllMovie. Archived from the original on March 6, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2019.
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External links
[edit]- 2001 films
- 2000s science fiction thriller films
- 2001 psychological thriller films
- American psychological thriller films
- American science fiction thriller films
- American remakes of Spanish films
- 2000s English-language films
- Films about suspended animation
- Cruise/Wagner Productions films
- Fiction with unreliable narrators
- Films about dreams
- Films about memory erasure and alteration
- Films about road accidents and incidents
- Films about stalking
- Films about suicide
- Films about telepresence
- Films about virtual reality
- Films directed by Cameron Crowe
- Films produced by Cameron Crowe
- Films produced by Tom Cruise
- Films set in the 22nd century
- Films set in New York City
- Films shot in New York City
- Lucid dreams
- American nonlinear narrative films
- Paramount Pictures films
- Films with screenplays by Cameron Crowe
- Saturn Award–winning films
- Summit Entertainment films
- Vinyl Films films
- Films about plastic surgery
- Impact of the September 11 attacks on cinema
- Films about simulated reality
- 2000s American films
- English-language science fiction thriller films