Cameron Diaz Interviews 2: A taste of "Vanilla Sky": Cameron Diaz

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Cameron Diaz: A Taste of "Vanilla Sky"

"We've all been the person who's had these feelings for someone and found that they weren't reciprocated. You thought that person might be there with you, but then they're not. And that is heartbreaking."

So says Cameron Diaz about her character Julie in Vanilla Sky, the American remake of the Spanish film Abre los Ojos in which she co-stars with Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz under the direction of the "other" Cameron, filmmaker Cameron Crowe. The actress certainly knows a thing or two about breaking hearts, but it's easier to imagine her on the other side of the unrequited romance equation. Her whippet-thin frame clad in jeans and a clingy (and appropriately vanilla-hued) turtleneck, Diaz's wide, beguiling grin seemed to precede her as she arrived to discuss her latest film.

But just when she delivered what seemed to be a serious spin, she'd break out in an infectious giggle that made you wonder if she was only, in her words, "gaslighting" you. Like when she was asked if she's ever felt inclined to become a stalker and her eyes went wild and crazy as she intoned "many, many times…lots and lots and lots and lots of times!" Then the giggle.

But sometimes a straight answer would surprise you. Like when Diaz revealed that she bypassed checking out the Spanish original. "I actually didn't see it and I still haven't," she said, instead opting to take a cue from Crowe and use music from artists like R.E.M. and Fiona Apple to get into her raw, emotionally exposed character Julie.

In keeping with the mysterious, mind-bending turns that the film's story takes, Diaz took a fluid approach to many of her character's scenes. She and Crowe filmed various interpretations that would keep both audiences and Cruise's character guessing as to what exactly was going on and just who he was really dealing with--without giving away too much.

"We had several different ways that we wanted to try that," she explained. "We wanted to try it as just Julie Gianni not understanding the situation. Then we wanted to play it as Julie tricking him, knowing that she's Julie Gianni but pretending she's Sofia [Penelope Cruz's character] and sort of gaslighting him, letting him know she knows. Like she's kind of winking at him.

"And then there were times we wanted to play it just like Sofia, so there were times where we had Penelope come in and have her sort of act the scene, and then I would go in and I'd act it just like her." Diaz described how she would even adopt Cruz's Spanish accent in many scenes. "It's just making it even more crazy for [Cruise's character] David to figure out…constantly screwing with him.

"That's why it's so much fun to work with Cameron," she added. "It was like hot potato. As soon as you got the potato in your hands you try to keep it in the air as long as you can and then pass it."

She was also supremely thankful that Crowe enlisted his wife, rocker Nancy Wilson of the rock duo Heart, to create the song "I Fall Apart" for her character--until, that is, the director requested that Diaz sing the song herself.

The actress explained that since her karaoke scene in the comedy My Best Friend's Wedding, she had become painfully self-conscious about singing in public. "I'm terrified, I shake, I get tears in my eyes…It was just a huge fear to conquer, standing in that booth in front of Nancy Wilson, who is my goddess since I was a child!"

"For somebody you've loved and admired for so long who wrote a song for you to sing-[laughs]-it was like, Wow! That's so cool! And who can pass up that opportunity," she said, getting a little giddy. "I was so excited, and she just sat there and sang and strummed the guitar and I was just like I can't believe this is happening. I couldn't wait to jump up and call my sister, which I did afterwards."

Despite mastering the song, which now appears on the film's soundtrack, Diaz firmly denies any plans to become yet another movie diva turned pop sensation with any kind of album. Still, when asked if she went to her share of Heart concerts at Long Beach Arena while growing up in Orange County ("Every single time they came, all three night," she says without hesitation), she adopts a convincing rock star pose as she bites her lower lip and jams on an air guitar.

"Oh yeah, waiting for the kick, baby. Just lovin' it," she said with an attitude-laden toss of her blonde hair before proceeding to approximate the sounds of Wilson's axe. "She's so rad!" With that impromptu performance, Cameron might be a little rad, too. --- By Scott Huver

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