What Did They Know?
A Vulture series on artists whose work foretold our pandemic-stricken world.
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But itsVanilla Skysopening scene that feels particularly eerie to watch right now.
How are you doing through all of this?
Where are you?Im at my house in the Palisades with my son Billy, whos 20.
Its been a soulful time for us.
I feel very lucky.
Some people are finding this a creative time, and others are feeling lethargic, like, Im worried.
Im worried about my parents.
I have that, too, but Im just trying to write everyday.
Youre one of those.I am.It might all end tonight, you never know.
It was like, Why did this fall out of this box, tonight?!
Before I talk about this exact scene?
I think they thought it was gonna be aFatal Attractionstory.
If anybody needs a refund now, ask for a refund.
I was like, How do you know what movie they think it is?
Wait, this person worked at the theater?He was a guy that worked for the theater!
Not an usher, but an upper-management guy.
I was like, You could turn this into a plus, you know.
You could make it a wonderful assignment for a wonderful audience to wrap their heads around.
What do you think the issue was there?
Was the movie marketed wrong?Yeah.
We dont even have a lot of footage of Tom in that specific scene.
He was like, Dont worry with me, stay on Diaz.
Ill do mine in one take.
Its really riveting like we were catching lightning in a bottle.
Over time I think the movie has found its audience.
I still get that from people aboutVanilla Sky: I really didnt like that movie.
And I watch it every year.
Whos the audience thats found it?You and me.
The music forVanilla Sky, Im really proud of.
[Crowes ex-wife] Nancy Wilsons score is super evocative.
Jason Lee waves to her, and she cant handle it and leaves.
That section is the one that destroys me.
Penelope was channeling her grandma was sick, and she brought all of this deep power to that moment.
Thats the best ofVanilla Sky: where its a tiny bit psychedelic, and emotional more than anything else.
The music is really inextricable from the movie.
I remember thinking how unsettling it would be for someone to take the sunniness out of Good Vibrations.
And … that happened.
Im sorry, Im sure over time it will return to its orange-juice roots.
It just has an elixir.
But when you watch the movie with that song in it, it just gets under your skin.
And the opening, which I hear about more and more over time.
Did those strike you right away as familiar?They did.
Particularly because we were told so often when it happened, Take a good look.
This will never happen again.
We heard that a lot.
This is only gonna happen once, so you better do it right.
Which was kind of the theme of getting that shot together.
Our original thought was, How can we project his psyche onto these buildings?
And now, nobody is there.
It looked very strangely, oddly familiar.
We decidedAbre Los Ojoswould be a good movie to do an American version of.
That director, Alejandro Amenabar, hes a really creative guy.
He said, Mine is the classical music version and yours is modern rock.
What could be more chilling than that?
And Tom Cruise had this look like, Okay, thats a challenge.
But that was always set in stone, from the very beginning.
However we could make that come true, we were gonna do it.
They came back and they were tentatively really happy.
I said, Well, whats going on?
And they said, I think were kind of good to go?
And I said, Great news!
And they said, You!
Somebody there has done some research on you, and heard that you do a lot of takes.
I was like, What?!
Im a thorough director, but this intel is in the mayors office?
They were like, Yeah, somebody there is worried.
I was like, Of course well have a clear plan.
And they said, Okay, lets go for it.
We spent weeks working on it, and the day came.
We had [Times Square] for three hours on a Sunday morning.
We got there, it was still dark.
Everyone was adrenalized to an insane degree.
Were gonna get it!
It was empty almost as far as you could see.
And we do it again, and its great.
Lets do one or two more, ensure we got it.
And Tom Cruise says, Ill just run.
Ill just run back and forth and you could do running shots.
Which was what the mayors office was afraid wed be doing!
We had an hour and 15 minutes or so left, so Tom just ran.
And it was beautiful.
It was just we were in gravy land.
It was like, what wed done never happened.
I was like, Really?
And he said, Only one other person theyd do that for.
Were you the first and last production that ever cleared it out like that?Yes.
The thing they told us from the beginning to the end is that this will never happen again.
And I wish that it hadnt.
Do you know who put in a request?Danny DeVito.
Im not sure for what movie, it was a couple of months after us.
Why do you think they said yes to you?I think because Tom is the most responsible dude.
Hes very charismatic and responsible.
Hes a convincing dude.
If he hadnt done it personally, do you think theyd have said no?Yes.
Obviously, I was not the draw.
What about the other scenes you filmed of the empty New York?
That was just a matter of stopping traffic for brief pops.
So that was a big thing during the shooting ofVanilla Sky: We had to hide him.
The face is so good.But also, the disfigured face was kind of funny!
There was dark humor when we were making it.
Also, the magazine is calledRisein the movie, and one of the cover subjects ofRiseis Katie Holmes.
None of us even knew Katie Holmes.
Its strangely prophetic, in a way.
Can We Still Be Friends by Todd Rundgren is playing.
The internet is still all over theVanilla SkyEaster eggs.
But theres a lot that they have picked up on.
Anything you’ve got the option to reveal?This is a good thing.
She said, This is the only Nirvana song thats never been released.
Hide it in your movie somewhere.
Why did she trust you with that?
Are you friends?Yeah, were still friends.
Shes name-checked early on.
When David comes to work, his assistant is like, Graydon Carter called, Courtney Love called.
Somebody introduced me to him, though Id interviewed him once.
I was nervous, but he had this big grin.
He said, You did that movieVanilla Sky,didnt you?
And then I realized, I was!
I was there before.
I was like, Okay, I can check the box ofVanilla Skyright now.
Bob Dylan took theVanilla Skyride and recognized himself.
In a way, that was the dream.
That everybody would take a little ride with that movie.
The ripple effect of that movie is really interesting.
What was your vision for it?Oh, wow.
I have to think about that, and write you an email.
Because I did have something in mind when I cast the woman you hear at the very end.
But Ill write you an email.
[Email sent a day later:]
The future is unknowable.
The key info, I think, is that his money has run out.
Finally, hes living a real life.
The voice at the end?
Everything has become more slice-and-diced, pop culturally.
The Cuisinart has only gone up to a higher speed.
Society is kind of like David Aames falling off of that building at the end.
Youve talked a little about thevarious interpretations of the endings.
Do you have one that rings particularly true to you now versus then?Yes.
But Ive learned to not talk about it too much anymore.
I love the game of what you unravel.
Not everything he says can be trusted.
Its a fun game to play with the movie and Im glad that people have come back to it.
We were really happy whenKanye West mentioned it in[Through The Wire].
When I saw it recently, I loved Tilda Swinton.
Shes so good in that scene.
This is some acting power going on right now.
She got way into that little part, and it still means a lot to me.
Id play more with Kurt, whos such a good actor and so fun.
And the life drains out of him as he realizes there are no daughters, theres not even him.
I think Id spend more time with that idea.
That character breaks my heart.
It is kind of a glimpse into my psyche.
Its a really honest movie.
And to me, that usually means its hopeful.
The voice at the end, to me, is hopeful.
Thats one road you’re free to take.
Is it fair to say that most of your films are, in a sense, autobiographical?Mmm-hmm.
What makes this one particularly personal to you?
Because its also very much about loneliness, which feels really apt right now.
Im wondering if its about your attempt to grapple with loneliness.Absolutely.
Were all sort of relying on pop culture right now to assuage our loneliness and isolation.
Ive been reading a lot and Ive been writing a whole bunch.
Im at a point where I have a lot that I want to say.
Are you working on scripts?Yeah, two.
And when we get to the other side I want to direct them both, back-to-back.
Im glad to hear that.
[Laughs loudly.]
It was challenging in a good way, for sure.
But what it doesnt do is make me think I shouldnt go to those places again.
To me, its not.
He walks into a very uncertain future and possibly isnt in love with Dorothy yet.
It was a surprise that the movie became controversial.
If Joni Mitchell puts out a challenging album, for example, Im down for it.
My fandom says, Im with you.
I wanna go where youre going.
I like the early stuff, I like the later stuff, I just like your stuff.
And yeah, there are risks you take sometimes in making a movie.
You cannot weaponize the sky.
To weaponize the sky is to taunt the gods.
]I watchAlohaand I think, That was a good theme there.
Do you think youll tackle sci-fi again?Yeah.
And theres a lot to talk about later.
[Email sent a day later.]
The last few years, Ive been stockpiling new scripts to direct.
My newest stuff comes from a personal place, but somehow it feels more deeply funny than usual.
Which I think is a good sign.
If someone offered you a Life Extension, would you take it?No.
Even at this point, youre not in?Lets talk in a week.
