This publish accommodates spoilers for “Vanilla Sky.”
Cameron Crowe’s bafflingly convoluted but intriguing “Vanilla Sky” opens with prosperous businessman David Aames (Tom Cruise) in jail. Donning a prosthetic masks to cover his supposed facial disfigurement, David is initially reluctant to speak in confidence to courtroom psychologist Dr. Curtis McCabe (Kurt Russell), solely to finish up recounting the occasions that led as much as his arrest and confinement in jail. The narrative construction of the movie unwinds like a labyrinth with no exits, mirroring David’s inexplicable brush with unusual visions that overlap and shift round to create unreliable recollections — that’s, till the final 10 minutes introduces a twist that renders every part crystal clear.
Lucid goals and cryonic suspensions emerge as part of David’s actuality, revealing {that a} chunk of his experiences are merchandise of his muddled unconscious, together with McCabe, whose insistent proclamations of being “actual” begin to really feel hole with each step David takes. In the long run, the dream is left to shatter, together with the promise of the surreal vanilla skies.
Whereas that is the primary time Russell and Cruise labored collectively, the duo got here very near taking part in firefighter brothers in a 1991 motion thriller, which Cruise finally needed to choose out of resulting from conflicting schedules. This might-have-been state of affairs feels too good to be true, as each Russell and Cruise loved the premise of the movie — titled “Backdraft” — through which the McCaffrey brothers take differing approaches to their jobs whereas being embroiled in an arson investigation that finally ends up exposing a conspiracy. After Cruise declined the position, William Baldwin ended up taking part in Brian McCaffrey, whereas Russell assumed the position of Stephen, the risk-taking older brother whose unorthodox strategies land him in bother.
Cruise and Russell mentioned Backdraft inside an plane
In a 1991 interview with Leisure Weekly, Russell spoke at size in regards to the thrilling, risk-laden course of of constructing “Backdraft.” In the meantime, director Ron Howard defined that Russell and Cruise nearly labored collectively on the movie earlier than the latter needed to bow out:
“I had been pursuing Tom Cruise, and Tom requested who would play the position of his older brother. I assumed Tom and Kurt can be good collectively. […] He [Russell] was born to play this character.”
It is price noting that it was Cruise who first talked about “Backdraft” to Russell throughout a time after they sat within the cockpit of Russell’s airplane en path to Catalina Island; each actors bonded over their love for excessive sports activities and adrenaline-soaked outside hobbies whereas discussing potential initiatives they might work collectively in. At first, Cruise prompt “Days of Thunder” — the 1990 NASCAR raceway drama the place he performs rookie racer Cole Trickle — however Russell appeared uninterested. That is when the dialog steered towards Howard’s “Backdraft,” piquing Russell’s curiosity in a story that felt as thrill-inducing as his curiosity in outside adventures.
Though “Backdraft” doesn’t provide something novel by way of emotional or narrative depth, its particular results stand out to at the present time, because the titular backdraft sequences (sudden explosions that happen in a high-temperature, oxygen-depleted zone when gases immediately rush in) really feel visceral sufficient to grant impetus to the movie. Russell informed EW about “getting burned on daily basis” throughout filming, recounting the occasions with pleasure:
“All of us had been getting burned on daily basis. Your hair would burn. You’d put this gel on to maintain your pores and skin from burning, but it surely additionally attracted these little bits of ash which caught to your face […] I acquired set on fireplace 3 times. In the event you took a fireman’s 10-year profession and requested him what had been the three greatest fires he had been in, these are the fires in our film.”
Though Cruise missed out on the chance to carry out such fiery stunts alongside Russell again in 1991, he is since mad up for it with the continued, long-running “Mission: Not possible” franchise, the place the stakes solely maintain getting greater with each installment.
