The closely guarded secrets of ''Vanilla Sky'' should be easy enough to reveal. After all, you could just rent Alejandro Amenábar's ''Open Your Eyes,'' the 1998 Spanish film on which it's based. If ''Sky'' followed the plot of ''Eyes,'' Cruise would be playing a vain playboy who finally finds a love that redeems him (Cruz), only to take a flying leap into the surreal when a suicidal ex (Diaz) drives him off a road. The ensuing weirdness would be marked by horrifying disfiguration and twist after twist after twist.
But apparently, this isn't the film Crowe made. Or is it? The original is ''like a song our band really liked,'' says the rock journalist-turned-auteur, ''and we decided to cover it our own way.'' It was bandmate Cruise who brought the project to his ''Jerry Maguire'' director. The actor and his production partner, Paula Wagner, who were so seduced by ''Eyes'' they bought the remake rights, initially asked Amenábar to direct. He declined. ''I thought I'd just be repeating myself,'' says Amenábar, who, in a twist as interesting as any in the movie, instead went on to make the Nicole Kidman thriller ''The Others.''
Meanwhile, Crowe had remained haunted by the film ever since Cruise screened it for him in '98. His adaptation, which he's dubbed ''a cinematic mix tape,'' samples ''Eyes''' opening line (''Abre los ojos''), its tricky narrative, and its original costar, Cruz. Crowe's contributions include a dose of humor and an intense preoccupation with pop culture. (Steven Spielberg is said to cameo as himself, though neither Crowe nor Wagner will confirm it.) ''Without getting specific,'' says Wagner, ''the film does take a look at the cultural iconography of the past quarter century.'' She is even less specific about the real-life relationship that sprang from the shoot (translation: no comment). As for Crowe, he says he had no clue what was brewing between his stars: ''What's cool is they had chemistry. The movie is about a couple with chemistry, or you have no movie.''
Yet Crowe believes the film has better mysteries worth obsessing over. ''Hopefully,'' he says, ''people will go, 'Wait a minute! Was the whole movie about blah blah blah?!' And the other person would go, 'Wait a minute! It was about blah blah blah!'''
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