Arizona Dream
Short description
Axel Blackmar works for New York's fish and wildlife department and spends his free time studying fish and wondering what they dream about. His uncle Leo, a Cadillac dealer in Arizona who is about to remarry, summons him west to serve as best man and, Leo hopes, to take over the family business. Axel had been raised by Leo after his parents died, and although he has no interest in selling cars, he agrees to stay. He becomes involved with Elaine, an older, eccentric woman, and her stepdaughter Grace, who also has feelings for him. Elaine dreams of building a flying machine and taking to the air; Grace imagines becoming a turtle; Axel thinks about the Alaskan wilderness. Leo has dreams of his own.
Emir Kusturica directed the film, his fifth feature and his first made in the United States, following When Father Was Away on Business and Time of the Gypsies; David Atkins wrote the screenplay, and Claudie Ossard and Yves Marmion produced. Johnny Depp plays Axel, with Jerry Lewis as Leo, Faye Dunaway as Elaine, Lili Taylor as Grace, and Vincent Gallo as Axel's cousin Paul. Made for about 19 million dollars, the film runs 142 minutes and is a co-production between the United States and France.
On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.2 from roughly 48,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7.1 from around 800 votes, showing a fairly consistent response across both audiences. A critics' rating of 7.5 from 15 reviews places it slightly above those audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film quotes several times the famous crop duster scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" (1959), as well as dialogues from the first and second parts of "The Godfather".
- Kusturica edited "Arizona Dream" (1993) for several years, and despite winning the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, the film flopped at the box office. French producers, who had invested a lot of effort, money, and time in the project, deemed the collaboration between the "Balkan Fellini" and Hollywood stars a failure. Despite this, many film buffs consider "Arizona Dream" (1993) to be the director's best work.
- The screenplay for 'Arizona Dream' (1993) was based on a story by one of Emir Kusturica's students, David Atkins.
- Lily Taylor was the first to be cast in the film; Kusturica referred to her as his muse.
- Johnny Depp was initially reluctant to work with Kusturica, as he strongly disliked Emir upon their first meeting.
- Filming was interrupted for three months because Kusturica was depressed about the war that had begun in his native Yugoslavia.
- Due to the prolonged filming of 'Arizona Dream' (1993), Johnny Depp turned down roles in 'Interview with the Vampire' (1994) and 'Legends of the Fall' (1994).
- During a break in filming, Faye Dunaway and Johnny starred in Tom Petty’s music video “Into The Great Wide Open”.
- Johnny Depp seriously intended to learn the Eskimo language for several scenes in the film, but Jerry Lewis suggested creating a 'fake' Eskimo language.
- At the beginning of the film, there's a scene where Paul tries to persuade Axel to go home in a bar. The man loudly talking on the phone at that moment is Johnny Depp’s childhood friend, Sal Jenko. Shortly after, Emir Kusturica appears in the frame in the same scene – Axel throws cereal at him.
- Several songs from the film's soundtrack are performed by Iggy Pop, an old friend of Johnny Depp.
- The film “Raging Bull” (1980) directed by Martin Scorsese is being shown in the cinema.
- In the list of actors that Paul mentions to the girl in the cinema while watching the film "Raging Bull" (1980), there are: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, and Johnny Depp.
- The DVD extras include several scenes that didn't make the film and completely change Axel's character and the essence of the film.
- In the scene of the uncle's death, a clock stands behind Axel showing 1:45 PM, but judging by the lighting outside, it is night.
- Grace plays on the accordion the very melody that is heard in the end credits of the animated film “Vincent” (1982).
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