Arizona Dream
About the Film
Axel Blackmar is a dreamy young New Yorker who is happy tagging fish in the bay and drifting through life until his cousin drags him back to Arizona for the second marriage of his loud, Cadillac-selling uncle Leo. There Axel is pulled into a strange new orbit around two eccentric women: the older, free-spirited Elaine, who is obsessed with building a flying machine, and her fragile, death-haunted stepdaughter Grace, who dreams of being reincarnated as a turtle.
Falling for Elaine and drawn to Grace, Axel abandons his own plans to help launch Elaine’s ramshackle aircraft, while the household spirals through comedy, obsession and tragedy. Emir Kusturica’s surreal American fable blends deadpan absurdity with dream sequences and melancholy, using Axel’s wandering narration to explore longing, family and the elusive nature of happiness.
Plot synopsis by johnny-depp.org.
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp plays Axel Blackmar, a gentle, aimless daydreamer who narrates this offbeat fable and serves as its still centre amid a whirl of larger-than-life characters. It was one of Depp’s earliest collaborations with a major European auteur, and he gives Axel a soulful, watchful quality — a young man more comfortable with fish and daydreams than with the chaos of the adults around him — that suits Kusturica’s blend of whimsy and heartbreak.
Cast & Crew
Cast
Axel BlackmarJohnny Depp
Leo SweetieJerry Lewis
Elaine StalkerFaye Dunaway
Grace StalkerLili Taylor
Paul LegerVincent Gallo
MilliePaulina Porizkova
FabianMichael J. Pollard
Crew
DirectorEmir Kusturica
ScreenplayDavid Atkins
StoryEmir Kusturica & David Atkins
MusicGoran Bregović
CinematographyVilko Filač
ProducersClaudie Ossard, Yves Marmion
StudioUGC / Constellation
Filming Locations
- Arizona, USA (Douglas & the desert)
- Alaska (opening sequence)
- New York City
More about this film
Trivia
- The shoot stretched to about a year — partly due to a break during director Kusturica’s exhaustion — and Depp’s changing hair length is visible across scenes.
- An early cut, titled American Dreams, reportedly ran around four hours before being trimmed to 142 minutes.
- Tom Petty’s “Into the Great Wide Open” music video, also starring Depp, was shot during the same period.
- The film won the Silver Bear Special Jury Prize at the 1993 Berlin International Film Festival.
Awards
- 1993 Berlin International Film Festival — Silver Bear, Special Jury Prize Won
