The Big Bang Theory's Johnny Galecki Was Frustrated Working On A Tom Cruise Sci-Fi Movie

Before he disappeared from Hollywood, "The Big Bang Theory" star Johnny Galecki definitely knew his way around a movie set. But while preparing to play Peter Brown in 2001's "Vanilla Sky," he ran headlong into a frustrating experience engineered by the movie's secretive director. "Cameron Crowe wouldn't give out scripts, and I'm a homework guy, so I called him and I said, 'You've got to tell me something. Give me something I can invest myself in so I feel prepared when I show up in the morning,'" Galecki told AV Club. Crowe's response? He advised Galecki to listen to The Beatles, a request the actor followed, but found only marginally helpful.

Frustratingly, Galecki would only get a page or two of the script at a time, and sometimes Peter was given nothing to say at all. As a result, he had no way of knowing how much of his part would survive the final edit. Eventually, Galecki became so hungry for information about his character that he did something Crowe asked him not to do: He watched "Abre los ojos" (or "Open Your Eyes"), the 1997 Spanish film that "Vanilla Sky" is a remake of. Galecki said that the experience was edifying. "I was blown away. That's one hell of a film. I had to keep switching back to cartoons so I wouldn't have an anxiety attack."

Johnny Galecki now believes that Cameron Crowe was writing the film as he went along. That would explain why the filmmaker stonewalled him whenever he wanted more input. It also might account for the movie's unfulfilling ending. And yet, Galecki doesn't have any resentment about the experience, since he had a lot of fun on the shoot — mainly because it allowed him to spend time with some pretty ladies. "I got to hang around New York for three or four weeks and play Boggle with supermodels," he told AV Club, adding that you "can't complain about spending a month in New York playing Boggle with Shalom Harlow."

Models and board games aside, Galecki also enjoyed working with the movie's leading man. Tom Cruise has a reputation for being kind to his co-stars, and he lived up to his nice guy image on the set of "Vanilla Sky" according to Galecki. "Tom Cruise was amazing — a really, really nice guy," he said. While the movie was a mixed bag for the former sitcom star, it seems to have turned out for the best in the end. Even if Galecki's role was limited, he helped create a mesmerizing movie that leaves viewers feeling paranoid for days after watching it.