Remake of a Spanish film, “Vanilla Sky”, worn by Tom Cruise and released 21 years ago, includes a sequence where it was necessary to close for 3 hours one of the busiest places in the world. And the bill was salted.
The most expensive shots in cinema are not necessarily the ones we usually think of. Understand: these famous Money Shotswhere dollars are flowing every second in Hollywood blockbusters, with great CGI fanfare of course.
Because imagine that one of the most expensive scenes in the history of cinema, compared to its duration, is in a film which will blow out the 21st candles of its French release on January 25: Vanilla Sky, in which Tom Cruise holds the top billing.
If it was necessary to close five blocks to traffic for the filming of certain scenes in I am legend, it is ultimately nothing compared to the filming of the film signed by Cameron Crowe.
Remake of the (solid) Spanish thriller Open the eyes of Alejandro Amenabar released in 1997, the film includes a striking sequence at the beginning of the film, where Tom Cruise crosses the city of New York literally empty. CGI you say? Nay! The production was able to shut down traffic for 20 blocks around Times Square! Never seen. Cost of the operation? $1 million.
The best is still to let Cameron Crowe tell this “exploit” himself, as he did in the columns of the New York Times in November 2002: “We closed 20 blocks – 20 blocks!!! No cars, no pedestrians, no public transport. It’s never been done before in Times Square. The shot I wanted is at the start of Vanilla Sky, and it was the nightmare of a man who is desperately alone. Can you imagine a more vivid nightmare for a man wishing to be surrounded by individuals rather than being alone in Times Square?
Paula Wagner and Tom Cruise, two of the producers, have had numerous discussions with the Film Commission and the Mayor’s office as well as the NYPD. Then I arrived. We started repeating the sequence on all sides. […]
We even went to the middle of Times Square when there were a lot of people with Tom wearing a baseball cap, and we were rehearsing with a little digital camera. That’s when we were told: “we are going to give you 4 hours, on a Sunday, from 4:30 am to 8:30 am, at the beginning of November. You will have to work quickly, you will not have a second more ” .
The morning we actually shot, there were about 200 people on the side streets, helping to block all traffic, and they were even offering coffee and food to people passing by.
As soon as the first rays of the day appeared, we took seven takes with the camera crane that was staring at Tom, […] then Tom had to run for 3 hours around the perimeter of Times Square while we were filming him. At the end the watching crowd encouraged us. It was fantastic. In fact, I think it wouldn’t be difficult to shoot in Times Square during rush hour. And I will say to myself: “I remember when we did all this when the place was empty”.