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Behind the Scenes: Making Vanilla Sky
The company shot for approximately six weeks in New York, during the city's peak Thanksgiving/Christmas season. Moving back and forth, from Central Park and the Upper West Side to Times Square, Soho and Brooklyn, the peripatetic production provided an exciting attraction for tourists and throngs of paparazzi. One of the film's most ambitious and successful scenes occurred in Times Square. The shot required the Steadicam operator to build an apparatus, similar to a rickshaw, which allowed him to stay low enough to meet Cruise as he pulled up in his sports car. Then, as Cruise ran down the street, the cameraman hopped onto a crane and followed the actor from high above as he sprinted down Times Square. What made the shot even more astonishing was that the normally bustling avenue was completely deserted except for Cruise and company. In an unprecedented event, the city gave "Vanilla Sky" permission to shut down Times Square one Sunday so that the shot could be completed. Of course, this also meant that all the support vehicles and equipment had to be parked elsewhere, giving "Vanilla Sky" sole access to everything between 48th and 42nd Streets, including the subway. It was a tight shoot, but because Cruise, Crowe cinematographer John Toll and the shooting crew had practiced it several times, the shot proved to be both successful and very effective."From the very beginning, I wanted a shot where David Aames is alone in Times Square," explains Crowe. "We had to have the shot because it's from a dream that David is having where he's running tragically alone in the world. The producers did some magic to get us Times Square to ourselves, and it helped us provide the shot with an eerie, inspired feeling."In the stirring finale of this breathtaking scene, Cruise runs down the street and spins around. As the camera follows him, all the neon advertising and billboards that characterize Times Square are highlighted. At the time, the red Mbius strip of a news ticker was informing everyone of the voting snafu during the Bush-Gore Presidential election, which would have completely dated the film, so Crowe arranged to add anything he wanted to the NASDAQ sign in postproduction.Although in this particular sequence Cruise is surrounded by obvious, contemporary pop-culture, more oblique references recur throughout the film. Indeed, Crowe stuffed his dog-eared script with various photographs and clippings -- everything from advertisements and vintage movie stills to artwork and album covers -- each a symbolic source of inspiration. "Vanilla Sky is a pop culture ride," says Cruise. "It's one of the sub-themes of the movie, how pop culture affects us, and how we use it as a standard as to what we expect from our own lives."Perhaps the ultimate pop-culture icon manifested itself as the entire set that served as Aames Publishing and David's office. Vanity Fair kindly lent the production its advertising wing -in the new 48-story, Cond Nast Building at 4 Times Square, in the heart of Manhattan. The company moved in to shoot in the magazine's offices on the day of the famous Christmas tree lighting in Times Square, but because of the holiday event, the offices themselves were devoid of the usual staffers. They had just closed the magazine's fabled Hollywood Issue, and everyone had happily vacated the premises for the film crew. The Vanity Fair offices proved to be the ideal location. A long glass corridor lined one side of the bank of cubicles leading to David Aames's office, allowing Crowe to set up a long moving shot that followed David as he charmed his office staff. Fittingly, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's office, with its broad window overlooking the hectic panorama of Christmas in New York, made the perfect office for David Aames. "We needed a place with the texture of this kind of high-profile magazine, and Cameron liked the glassed-in hallway for the scene between David and the art director," explains executive producer Jonathan Sanger. "Also, the view from Graydon Carter's office just couldn't be duplicated."The production then moved to Los Angeles to film the remainder of interior shots primarily at Paramount Studios. One of the most striking was David Aames's sprawling, impeccably appointed penthouse apartment. A huge, high-ceilinged, multi-roomed place, decorated in muted blues and dark wood, the apartment's size made it camera and crew friendly, and its design, as interpreted by production designer Catherine Hardwicke, made it credibly David Aames's stylish Upper West Side abode. "Tom explained that his character would have great style and taste, a really interesting take on things, a flair," says Hardwicke, who accomplishes her task by using an abundant amount of what she calls "negative space." "Throughout the apartment, I added more air. No furniture went to the ground. Nothing was stodgy or heavy. Everything was on legs. There was always a sense of luxury, of having a lot of room, instead of just cramming the place full of stuff. This guy has the money to have elegant things and the indulgence of a gorgeous space in New York to display them." To that end, Hardwicke adorned the walls with reproductions of classic works by Balthus, Rothko and Matisse, as well as some evocative canvasses by local Los Angeles artists. Quirky personal items also accented the rooms, such as a hand-painted Jason Lee original skateboard, emblazoned with the image of David Bowie; a huge surfboard sculpture from Hardwicke's own collection; and an homage to Crowe's rock roll past in the form of several guitars, including a smashed one, lovingly framed behind glass. "Tom and Cameron emphasized that they wanted to convey David Aames' vitality," Hardwicke says, "so we used sports equipment in a decorative way like this amazing, dreamlike painting of the side of a car by Robert Russell. The piece is just so indicative of everything that happens in the film, in terms of cars and driving, and I thought it kicked ass."Artwork, Hardwicke explains, is key in relating Aames' personality, so it was very important to give his character one or two more blue chip pieces, like a Van Gogh and a huge looming painting of his father, which was Crowe's suggestion. The idea was to splice Aames' present life, such as his love of guitars and skateboards, with his past life, represented by his father's portrait. Hardwicke worked closely with Toll, Crowe and Cruise to design and create all the sets. "Whatever I did became amazing and alive when John Toll applied his craft to it." "Tom has an incredible eye," Hardwicke says. "He knows where everything exists in terms of the camera and in terms of the story, the characters and their emotions. Cameron is amazing, too. It blew my mind, the way he worked. He has a specific vision, and he conveys it in a way that allows me to bring my creativity to it." Betsy Heimann, who worked with Crowe on "Almost Famous" and with Crowe and Cruise on "Jerry Maguire," created the film's costumes. Like Hardwicke's sets, Heimann's wardrobe establishes a firm color scheme. "It's a winter film and there are certain dark undertones to the story, so I wanted to use the deeper colors, eggplant and deep reds, what I call the colors of passion, combined with a New York palette of grays, blacks, camels and navies," Heimann says. "Then, because those colors are solids, I had to replace pattern with texture. That's why we use leather, suede, knitwear and a lot of woven fabrics. We then make up for the lack of patterns by putting olives and beiges with grays, or camels and browns with blacks, combining the neutral patterns and adding some texture on top of that." Heimann's clothes help define the characters, and while defining the two leading women, she takes a rather unconventional route. "The interesting challenge of this movie is to have Cameron Diaz, supposedly the 'naughty' girl, appear heartbreakingly appealing, while giving Penlope, the 'nice' girl, a kind of edge. To accomplish this, Julie, Cameron's character, wears a lot of deep red, and I use a lot of softer fabrics for her, such as cashmere and chiffon, because even though she's got this tough exterior, she's just dying inside. Sofia, Penlope's character, is a much clearer. She knows who she is, she knows what she is doing, she holds down three or four jobs, and she is very focused. Her clothes are much crisper, with much harder edges. She has a fitted jacket with a blouse underneath, nice jeans and high boots. It's all very crisp and classic for Sofia."Cruise's costumes, in particular, reflect the character's journey as well as his changing state of mind. "Everything about this movie is not what it seems," Heimann observes. "With David Aames, we are dealing with an incredibly rich guy who doesn't feel the need to show that he is incredibly rich. Although he may have on Helmut Lang jeans that cost 150, they just look like jeans. His shirt will be costly, but he's very laissez faire about his clothes, so his shirt won't be tucked in, and he'll wear a goofy hat to work. He is the most expensively casually dressed man you'll ever meet. That's the key to David Aames."Heimann notes that as David's character makes inward changes, it is up to her to reflect those changes in his outward appearance."In the beginning, David is very underdressed, although he looks great," Heimann observes. "But then there comes a moment when he wants to try very hard because something has happened to him that's made him unsure of himself. You see, when he feels self-confident, he doesn't feel the need to dress up, but when he is unsure of himself, he has to try a little harder. For example, when he goes to meet Sofia in a club, he's less secure, so he really pulls himself together. There are actually three beats to David's character -- his careless confidence in the beginning; his setback in the middle, which leads to an awakening through fantasy; and finally, the emergence of his true self-confident persona in the end. And all these character beats are reflected in his clothes."Jason Lee's character, Brian Shelby, provides the link between the film's fantasy and reality splice, and once again, it is up to Heimann to define this through her costuming. "In the beginning, Brian is just a regular New York guy. He lives downtown, he doesn't have a lot of money, and he's basically supported by benefactors. David Aames is Brian's best friend, and though he doesn't always show it, David wants the best for him. So, when the fantasy begins, Brian suddenly has the things that he doesn't have in his real life. He has all the trappings -- the beautiful coat, the nice clothes -- and that's a clue that something is askew. Suddenly, Brian is the one who is very cool, and that's when reality begins to unravel into fantasy." Heimann, through her costuming, provides little "clues" about this switch along the way. She does this for the audience perhaps on an unconscious level, but she also does it very much for the actors. "Much of what I do is more for the psychology of the character," says Heimann. "It's not always what an audience will notice, but I hope on some subconscious level, they will respond to it. Take, for example, Cameron Diaz's character, Julie Gianni. The neckline of the party dress she wears when she discovers that David is interested in Sofia is very unbalanced. On one side, the strap is thick, and on the other side, the strap is very thin. You may or may not notice, but I think it helps her, it helps me, it helps Cameron Crowe, and hopefully, on a subliminal level, it helps the audience, too."
The company shot for approximately six weeks in New York, during the city's peak Thanksgiving/Christmas season. Moving back and forth, from Central Park and the Upper West Side to Times Square, Soho and Brooklyn, the peripatetic production provided an exciting attraction for tourists and throngs of paparazzi. One of the film's most ambitious and successful scenes occurred in Times Square. The shot required the Steadicam operator to build an apparatus, similar to a rickshaw, which allowed him to stay low enough to meet Cruise as he pulled up in his sports car. Then, as Cruise ran down the street, the cameraman hopped onto a crane and followed the actor from high above as he sprinted down Times Square. What made the shot even more astonishing was that the normally bustling avenue was completely deserted except for Cruise and company. In an unprecedented event, the city gave "Vanilla Sky" permission to shut down Times Square one Sunday so that the shot could be completed. Of course, this also meant that all the support vehicles and equipment had to be parked elsewhere, giving "Vanilla Sky" sole access to everything between 48th and 42nd Streets, including the subway. It was a tight shoot, but because Cruise, Crowe cinematographer John Toll and the shooting crew had practiced it several times, the shot proved to be both successful and very effective."From the very beginning, I wanted a shot where David Aames is alone in Times Square," explains Crowe. "We had to have the shot because it's from a dream that David is having where he's running tragically alone in the world. The producers did some magic to get us Times Square to ourselves, and it helped us provide the shot with an eerie, inspired feeling."In the stirring finale of this breathtaking scene, Cruise runs down the street and spins around. As the camera follows him, all the neon advertising and billboards that characterize Times Square are highlighted. At the time, the red Mbius strip of a news ticker was informing everyone of the voting snafu during the Bush-Gore Presidential election, which would have completely dated the film, so Crowe arranged to add anything he wanted to the NASDAQ sign in postproduction.Although in this particular sequence Cruise is surrounded by obvious, contemporary pop-culture, more oblique references recur throughout the film. Indeed, Crowe stuffed his dog-eared script with various photographs and clippings -- everything from advertisements and vintage movie stills to artwork and album covers -- each a symbolic source of inspiration. "Vanilla Sky is a pop culture ride," says Cruise. "It's one of the sub-themes of the movie, how pop culture affects us, and how we use it as a standard as to what we expect from our own lives."Perhaps the ultimate pop-culture icon manifested itself as the entire set that served as Aames Publishing and David's office. Vanity Fair kindly lent the production its advertising wing -in the new 48-story, Cond Nast Building at 4 Times Square, in the heart of Manhattan. The company moved in to shoot in the magazine's offices on the day of the famous Christmas tree lighting in Times Square, but because of the holiday event, the offices themselves were devoid of the usual staffers. They had just closed the magazine's fabled Hollywood Issue, and everyone had happily vacated the premises for the film crew. The Vanity Fair offices proved to be the ideal location. A long glass corridor lined one side of the bank of cubicles leading to David Aames's office, allowing Crowe to set up a long moving shot that followed David as he charmed his office staff. Fittingly, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's office, with its broad window overlooking the hectic panorama of Christmas in New York, made the perfect office for David Aames. "We needed a place with the texture of this kind of high-profile magazine, and Cameron liked the glassed-in hallway for the scene between David and the art director," explains executive producer Jonathan Sanger. "Also, the view from Graydon Carter's office just couldn't be duplicated."The production then moved to Los Angeles to film the remainder of interior shots primarily at Paramount Studios. One of the most striking was David Aames's sprawling, impeccably appointed penthouse apartment. A huge, high-ceilinged, multi-roomed place, decorated in muted blues and dark wood, the apartment's size made it camera and crew friendly, and its design, as interpreted by production designer Catherine Hardwicke, made it credibly David Aames's stylish Upper West Side abode. "Tom explained that his character would have great style and taste, a really interesting take on things, a flair," says Hardwicke, who accomplishes her task by using an abundant amount of what she calls "negative space." "Throughout the apartment, I added more air. No furniture went to the ground. Nothing was stodgy or heavy. Everything was on legs. There was always a sense of luxury, of having a lot of room, instead of just cramming the place full of stuff. This guy has the money to have elegant things and the indulgence of a gorgeous space in New York to display them." To that end, Hardwicke adorned the walls with reproductions of classic works by Balthus, Rothko and Matisse, as well as some evocative canvasses by local Los Angeles artists. Quirky personal items also accented the rooms, such as a hand-painted Jason Lee original skateboard, emblazoned with the image of David Bowie; a huge surfboard sculpture from Hardwicke's own collection; and an homage to Crowe's rock roll past in the form of several guitars, including a smashed one, lovingly framed behind glass. "Tom and Cameron emphasized that they wanted to convey David Aames' vitality," Hardwicke says, "so we used sports equipment in a decorative way like this amazing, dreamlike painting of the side of a car by Robert Russell. The piece is just so indicative of everything that happens in the film, in terms of cars and driving, and I thought it kicked ass."Artwork, Hardwicke explains, is key in relating Aames' personality, so it was very important to give his character one or two more blue chip pieces, like a Van Gogh and a huge looming painting of his father, which was Crowe's suggestion. The idea was to splice Aames' present life, such as his love of guitars and skateboards, with his past life, represented by his father's portrait. Hardwicke worked closely with Toll, Crowe and Cruise to design and create all the sets. "Whatever I did became amazing and alive when John Toll applied his craft to it." "Tom has an incredible eye," Hardwicke says. "He knows where everything exists in terms of the camera and in terms of the story, the characters and their emotions. Cameron is amazing, too. It blew my mind, the way he worked. He has a specific vision, and he conveys it in a way that allows me to bring my creativity to it." Betsy Heimann, who worked with Crowe on "Almost Famous" and with Crowe and Cruise on "Jerry Maguire," created the film's costumes. Like Hardwicke's sets, Heimann's wardrobe establishes a firm color scheme. "It's a winter film and there are certain dark undertones to the story, so I wanted to use the deeper colors, eggplant and deep reds, what I call the colors of passion, combined with a New York palette of grays, blacks, camels and navies," Heimann says. "Then, because those colors are solids, I had to replace pattern with texture. That's why we use leather, suede, knitwear and a lot of woven fabrics. We then make up for the lack of patterns by putting olives and beiges with grays, or camels and browns with blacks, combining the neutral patterns and adding some texture on top of that." Heimann's clothes help define the characters, and while defining the two leading women, she takes a rather unconventional route. "The interesting challenge of this movie is to have Cameron Diaz, supposedly the 'naughty' girl, appear heartbreakingly appealing, while giving Penlope, the 'nice' girl, a kind of edge. To accomplish this, Julie, Cameron's character, wears a lot of deep red, and I use a lot of softer fabrics for her, such as cashmere and chiffon, because even though she's got this tough exterior, she's just dying inside. Sofia, Penlope's character, is a much clearer. She knows who she is, she knows what she is doing, she holds down three or four jobs, and she is very focused. Her clothes are much crisper, with much harder edges. She has a fitted jacket with a blouse underneath, nice jeans and high boots. It's all very crisp and classic for Sofia."Cruise's costumes, in particular, reflect the character's journey as well as his changing state of mind. "Everything about this movie is not what it seems," Heimann observes. "With David Aames, we are dealing with an incredibly rich guy who doesn't feel the need to show that he is incredibly rich. Although he may have on Helmut Lang jeans that cost 150, they just look like jeans. His shirt will be costly, but he's very laissez faire about his clothes, so his shirt won't be tucked in, and he'll wear a goofy hat to work. He is the most expensively casually dressed man you'll ever meet. That's the key to David Aames."Heimann notes that as David's character makes inward changes, it is up to her to reflect those changes in his outward appearance."In the beginning, David is very underdressed, although he looks great," Heimann observes. "But then there comes a moment when he wants to try very hard because something has happened to him that's made him unsure of himself. You see, when he feels self-confident, he doesn't feel the need to dress up, but when he is unsure of himself, he has to try a little harder. For example, when he goes to meet Sofia in a club, he's less secure, so he really pulls himself together. There are actually three beats to David's character -- his careless confidence in the beginning; his setback in the middle, which leads to an awakening through fantasy; and finally, the emergence of his true self-confident persona in the end. And all these character beats are reflected in his clothes."Jason Lee's character, Brian Shelby, provides the link between the film's fantasy and reality splice, and once again, it is up to Heimann to define this through her costuming. "In the beginning, Brian is just a regular New York guy. He lives downtown, he doesn't have a lot of money, and he's basically supported by benefactors. David Aames is Brian's best friend, and though he doesn't always show it, David wants the best for him. So, when the fantasy begins, Brian suddenly has the things that he doesn't have in his real life. He has all the trappings -- the beautiful coat, the nice clothes -- and that's a clue that something is askew. Suddenly, Brian is the one who is very cool, and that's when reality begins to unravel into fantasy." Heimann, through her costuming, provides little "clues" about this switch along the way. She does this for the audience perhaps on an unconscious level, but she also does it very much for the actors. "Much of what I do is more for the psychology of the character," says Heimann. "It's not always what an audience will notice, but I hope on some subconscious level, they will respond to it. Take, for example, Cameron Diaz's character, Julie Gianni. The neckline of the party dress she wears when she discovers that David is interested in Sofia is very unbalanced. On one side, the strap is thick, and on the other side, the strap is very thin. You may or may not notice, but I think it helps her, it helps me, it helps Cameron Crowe, and hopefully, on a subliminal level, it helps the audience, too."
