In the winter of 1997, I saw a Spanish film called Abre Los Ojos. I couldn't get it out of my mind. The movie felt like a folk song to me, part fable, part poem, partly a committed conversation that you'd have with someone late at night when big ideas flowed easily. I wanted to be a part of that conversation. As all movies do, Vanilla Sky, a title I thought had a kind of musical quality, acquired a driven adrenalinalized personality all its own. Much of the same crew had worked on Almost Famous. We made the two movies back to back and they couldn't have been more beautifully dissimilar. Visuals mattered a lot on this one, especially the opening sequence where we emptied Times Square on an early November morning. Working with the great John Toll was key. He had been the 4)cinematographer on Almost Famous and while that movie had a free flowing documeturish feel, this one would be even more demanding. Not a shot would go unplanned, not an image wasted.

1997年冬天，我看了一部西班牙电影《睁开你的双眼》。难以磨灭的印象。电影带给我民谣般的感受，像寓言，又像诗歌，也像朋友间在深夜一次灵感飞溅的谈话。我很想加入到这样的谈话中。正如所有的电影一样，我觉得《香草的天空》这个片名富有乐感，蕴含着一种 令人躁动的特质。片组人员基本是制作《近乎成名》的同一班子。我们接连拍出这两部电影，让它们焕发出迥然不同的美。《香草的天空》非常看重视觉效果，尤其 是在片头，我们清空了十一月一个早晨的时代广场。能和优秀的约翰•托尔一起合作举足轻重。他是《近乎成名》的摄影师，将那部电影拍出一种挥洒自如的记录片 感觉，《香草的天空》则要求更高。没有哪个镜头不经过周详计划，没有哪个画面是多余的。

The goal was a movie filled with clues and signposts, kind of like the cover of Sergeant Pepper, every time you look at it, you might see something different. We all pitched in to tell this odd and intoxicating story about dreams and reality. Often after we'd rapped for the evening, many of us still stayed behind and talked about the layers of the movie even while we were making it. Not quite 2 years later, we still do.

我们的目标做出一部贯穿线索和征兆的影片，就像《佩铂军士》的封面，每看一次都会有新的收获。我们都很投入地来讲述这个奇特而迷人的故事，关于梦境和现实 的故事。我们常常是在晚上进行交流，之后还有很多人留下来商讨电影的表现手法，甚至一边拍摄一边讨论。两年后还是依然如此。

Vanilla Sky isn't obvious. It's a movie to be watched closely, but it's also a movie you can let wash over you. It's a story, a puzzle, a nightmare, a lucid dream, a psychedelic pop song, a movie to argue over and most of all, a movie that extends an invitation. Wherever you want to meet it, it will meet you there.

《香草的天空》不是部浅显的电影。它既能让你用心细品，也可以点到即止。它是一个故事，一个谜语，一个梦魇，一个清晰的梦，一首迷幻般的流行歌，是一部具争议的影片，最重要的是--这电影发出一张邀请函，无论何地，只要你愿意，就会看到。