Vanilla Sky’s Kurt Russell & Tom Cruise Almost Worked Together On Backdraft

This post contains spoilers for “Vanilla Sky.”

Cameron Crowe’s bafflingly convoluted yet intriguing “Vanilla Sky” opens with affluent businessman David Aames (Tom Cruise) in prison. Donning a prosthetic mask to hide his supposed facial disfigurement, David is initially reluctant to open up to court psychologist Dr. Curtis McCabe (Kurt Russell), only to end up recounting the events that led up to his arrest and confinement in prison. The narrative structure of the film unwinds like a labyrinth with no exits, mirroring David’s inexplicable brush with strange visions that overlap and shift around to create unreliable memories — that is, until the last 10 minutes introduces a twist that renders everything crystal clear. 

Lucid dreams and cryonic suspensions emerge as a part of David’s reality, revealing that a chunk of his experiences are products of his muddled subconscious, including McCabe, whose insistent proclamations of being “real” start to feel hollow with every step David takes. In the end, the dream is left to shatter, along with the promise of the surreal vanilla skies.

While this is the first time Russell and Cruise worked together, the duo came very close to playing firefighter brothers in a 1991 action thriller, which Cruise eventually had to opt out of due to conflicting schedules. This could-have-been scenario feels too perfect to be true, as both Russell and Cruise enjoyed the premise of the film — titled “Backdraft” — in which the McCaffrey brothers take differing approaches to their jobs while being embroiled in an arson investigation that ends up exposing a conspiracy. After Cruise declined the role, William Baldwin ended up playing Brian McCaffrey, while Russell assumed the role of Stephen, the risk-taking older brother whose unorthodox methods land him in trouble.

In a 1991 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Russell spoke at length about the thrilling, risk-laden process of making “Backdraft.” Meanwhile, director Ron Howard explained that Russell and Cruise almost worked together on the film before the latter had to bow out:

“I had been pursuing Tom Cruise, and Tom asked who would play the role of his older brother. I thought Tom and Kurt would be good together. […] He [Russell] was born to play this character.”

It’s worth noting that it was Cruise who first mentioned “Backdraft” to Russell during a time when they sat in the cockpit of Russell’s plane en route to Catalina Island; both actors bonded over their love for extreme sports and adrenaline-soaked outdoor hobbies while discussing potential projects they could work together in. At first, Cruise suggested “Days of Thunder” — the 1990 NASCAR raceway drama where he plays rookie racer Cole Trickle — but Russell seemed uninterested. This is when the conversation steered toward Howard’s “Backdraft,” piquing Russell’s interest in a narrative that felt as thrill-inducing as his interest in outdoor adventures.

Although “Backdraft” does not offer anything novel in terms of emotional or narrative depth, its special effects stand out to this day, as the titular backdraft sequences (sudden explosions that occur in a high-temperature, oxygen-depleted zone when gases suddenly rush in) feel visceral enough to grant impetus to the film. Russell told EW about “getting burned every day” during filming, recounting the events with pride:

“All of us were getting burned every day. Your hair would burn. You’d put this gel on to keep your skin from burning, but it also attracted these little bits of ash which stuck to your face […] I got set on fire three times. If you took a fireman’s 10-year career and asked him what were the three best fires he had been in, those are the fires in our movie.”

Although Cruise missed out on the opportunity to perform such fiery stunts alongside Russell back in 1991, he’s since mad up for it with the ongoing, long-running “Mission: Impossible” franchise, where the stakes only keep getting higher with every installment.