Read Online Nicole Kidman: A Kind of Life by James L. Dickerson - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: James L. Dickerson
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close her eyes and simply wish the unpleasantness away. Sometimes that actually worked!
~ ~ ~
Days of Thunder had a convoluted genesis. Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, the producers of the box-office smash Top Gun , had been pressuring Tom Cruise for quite some time to do a sequel. His response, finally, was to suggest that instead of simply re-doing the previous hit, they give the Top Gun treatment to his latest high-speed passion—car racing, with the goal of making the best race-car movie ever made.
The subject had been on Tom’s mind for three years, ever since he drove Rick Hendrick’s Winston Cup cars around the track at Daytona. He explained to Bruckheimer and Simpson that he wanted to make a behind-the-scenes movie that focused on the personalities of the drivers, the owners and the pit crew. He wrote out a brief outline and took it to Paramount so that executives there could approve the project.
Tom hired Warran Skaaren, who had written the screenplay for Top Gun , to flesh out his ideas for a script. Skaaren did his best to bring Tom’s ideas to life, but the two men had a difficult time seeing eye-to-eye on the storyline. Finally, after several drafts, Skaaren withdrew from the project. Frustrated by the slow progress, Tom approached one of the best-known screenwriters in the business—Robert Towne, who had penned the scripts for classics such as Bonnie and Clyde , and The Godfather. After attending a race with Tom, Towne voiced enthusiasm for working on the project.
Once they had a completed script, Tom and the producers selected a director—Tony Scott, who had directed Top Gun —and then put together a cast that included veterans Robert Duvall and Randy Quaid, chosen for their uncanny ability to appeal to working class moviegoers. Nicole Kidman was the last piece of that puzzle.
Days of Thunder begins with a Daytona 500 race and an announcement that a favored driver has dropped out. Car lot owner Tim Daland, played by Randy Quaid, sees an opportunity to enter the race-car business and pleads with retired pit boss Harry Hogge, played by Robert Duvall, to build him a car. Hogge tells him he first needs to find himself a driver—no driver, no car.
Daland arranges for his driver Cole Trickle, played by Tom Cruise, to test drive another driver’s car. Trickle burns up the track, impressing Hogge and the car’s regular driver, Rowdy Burns (played by Michael Rooker) with his driving skills. Against his better judgment, Hogge agrees to come out of retirement to work with Trickle.
After several unsuccessful races, Hogge and Trickle have a fight and Trickle storms out of the office. Hogge finds him in a bar and utters the words all drivers (and lovers) dread hearing: “We’ve got to talk.” Hogge asks him why he thinks things are not working out. Trickle expresses frustration that he can’t do the “car talk” thing. He admits he knows next to nothing about cars. The paternal Hogge, seeing him in a sympathetic light for the first time, tells him not to worry—they’ll figure it out.
After their talk, Trickle enjoys a winning streak and then crashes while dueling on the track with Rowdy. Both drivers are taken to the hospital, where Trickle meets Dr. Claire Lewicki, played by Nicole Kidman. When she enters his hospital room for her first face-to-face meeting with him, he thinks she is a ringer. A few days earlier Hogge and the boys had played a trick on him with a paid escort dressed up like a cop. He assumes the beautiful neurosurgeon is just another good-ole-boy gag. To the horror of his team members, he takes Claire’s hand and places it between his legs.
“Isn’t this what you’re really looking for?” he asks.
“Well, that’s interesting enough Mr. Trickle, but it’s just not my speciality,” she says and then leaves the room. Trickle is horrified at his mistake. When he is discharged from the hospital, he sends Claire a roomful of flowers and asks her for a date. She says
~ ~ ~
Days of Thunder had a convoluted genesis. Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson, the producers of the box-office smash Top Gun , had been pressuring Tom Cruise for quite some time to do a sequel. His response, finally, was to suggest that instead of simply re-doing the previous hit, they give the Top Gun treatment to his latest high-speed passion—car racing, with the goal of making the best race-car movie ever made.
The subject had been on Tom’s mind for three years, ever since he drove Rick Hendrick’s Winston Cup cars around the track at Daytona. He explained to Bruckheimer and Simpson that he wanted to make a behind-the-scenes movie that focused on the personalities of the drivers, the owners and the pit crew. He wrote out a brief outline and took it to Paramount so that executives there could approve the project.
Tom hired Warran Skaaren, who had written the screenplay for Top Gun , to flesh out his ideas for a script. Skaaren did his best to bring Tom’s ideas to life, but the two men had a difficult time seeing eye-to-eye on the storyline. Finally, after several drafts, Skaaren withdrew from the project. Frustrated by the slow progress, Tom approached one of the best-known screenwriters in the business—Robert Towne, who had penned the scripts for classics such as Bonnie and Clyde , and The Godfather. After attending a race with Tom, Towne voiced enthusiasm for working on the project.
Once they had a completed script, Tom and the producers selected a director—Tony Scott, who had directed Top Gun —and then put together a cast that included veterans Robert Duvall and Randy Quaid, chosen for their uncanny ability to appeal to working class moviegoers. Nicole Kidman was the last piece of that puzzle.
Days of Thunder begins with a Daytona 500 race and an announcement that a favored driver has dropped out. Car lot owner Tim Daland, played by Randy Quaid, sees an opportunity to enter the race-car business and pleads with retired pit boss Harry Hogge, played by Robert Duvall, to build him a car. Hogge tells him he first needs to find himself a driver—no driver, no car.
Daland arranges for his driver Cole Trickle, played by Tom Cruise, to test drive another driver’s car. Trickle burns up the track, impressing Hogge and the car’s regular driver, Rowdy Burns (played by Michael Rooker) with his driving skills. Against his better judgment, Hogge agrees to come out of retirement to work with Trickle.
After several unsuccessful races, Hogge and Trickle have a fight and Trickle storms out of the office. Hogge finds him in a bar and utters the words all drivers (and lovers) dread hearing: “We’ve got to talk.” Hogge asks him why he thinks things are not working out. Trickle expresses frustration that he can’t do the “car talk” thing. He admits he knows next to nothing about cars. The paternal Hogge, seeing him in a sympathetic light for the first time, tells him not to worry—they’ll figure it out.
After their talk, Trickle enjoys a winning streak and then crashes while dueling on the track with Rowdy. Both drivers are taken to the hospital, where Trickle meets Dr. Claire Lewicki, played by Nicole Kidman. When she enters his hospital room for her first face-to-face meeting with him, he thinks she is a ringer. A few days earlier Hogge and the boys had played a trick on him with a paid escort dressed up like a cop. He assumes the beautiful neurosurgeon is just another good-ole-boy gag. To the horror of his team members, he takes Claire’s hand and places it between his legs.
“Isn’t this what you’re really looking for?” he asks.
“Well, that’s interesting enough Mr. Trickle, but it’s just not my speciality,” she says and then leaves the room. Trickle is horrified at his mistake. When he is discharged from the hospital, he sends Claire a roomful of flowers and asks her for a date. She says
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