‘Thunder’ Burned Rubber and Cash

Ask him about the cost of the race-car movie “Days of Thunder” and director Tony Scott answers with a touch of English whimsy: “I’m an artist, not a businessman. I don’t really like to be reminded of what I’m spending each day.

“It was an expensive movie. I think when you see it, you’ll see where the cost lies: The cost is on the screen. We really have enormous production value. It’s difficult running 15 to 20 cars for almost six weeks of production. The film is about motor racing. In films, time means money.”

In the case of “Days of Thunder,” time means about $55 million, if not more.

The movie was supposed to open May 23, timed to the Indianapolis 500 and the start of the summer movie season. A variety of production delays forced Paramount Pictures to hold the film’s release date to June 27, switching its premiere with the studio’s “Another 48 HRS.”

Robert Towne, the screenwriter of “Chinatown” and “Shampoo” and the writer-director of “Tequila Sunrise,” rewrote the “Days of Thunder” script throughout its making.

While such rewriting is common, the extent of Towne’s efforts were not. New pages were written so late during production that Towne read them on a radio headset to Tom Cruise, the film’s star, even as Cruise whipped around a race track in his car.

The new scenes reportedly focused the story more on the relationship between Cole Trickle (Cruise) and Dr. Claire Lewicki (Nicole Kidman, Cruise’s off-screen paramour). The film is still described by one of its producers as a story about “the difference between courage and bravery.”

Although Cruise himself is a racer (he took up the sport after he and racer-actor Paul Newman completed “The Color of Money”), he didn’t do most of the film’s driving stunts.

“It is dangerous to have your lead actor race around a track with stunt guys,” Scott said.

“We only used Tom when it was necessary, because if he gets hurt it puts us down. But he’s an accomplished driver. He got the second-fastest lap time at Charlotte, running on an open track with other cars.”

Scott, who worked with Cruise on “Top Gun,” found him just as easy this time around. “We’ve sort of grown in tandem with each other. Now he’s an enormous superstar--megastar. But he’s still the same guy I met and worked with on ‘Top Gun.’ ”