Many people dismiss the first type of Déjà Vu, the “I’ve seen this before” type, without much thought. Via video and pictures, it is not uncommon to feel a familiarity with places that we have never been. There is even a current television commercial that references this experience. A man entering his hotel room for the first time tells his wife, “I’ve seen this before.”

The man’s reaction in the commercial is typical of those experiencing deja vu. He shakes his head as though trying to recall the moment when this previous memory comes from. His wife, scoffing, tells him that of course he has, he took the virtual hotel tour online.

All Déjà Vu is not this easy to explain away, but the reaction can be very similar. Reactions to the first type of Déjà Vu are usually mild confusion and disbelief, if it is recognized at all. Some people simply do not even acknowledge the feeling that they have seen or heard this before.

People are much more likely to react to the second form of Déjà Vu, the “I’ve been here before” type. This often occurs when a person first visits a new place. Though it can be a reaction to having seen photos of the place before or reading particularly accurate descriptions, often then is a trick of the mind based in the hopes and planning for a special event.

For example, a person may never have been to Ireland, but anticipates emerald green fields and lush forests from the travel brochures and years of hearing about the island. He might then crest a hill in Ireland to find himself remembering a site he has never seen before. This may be because the brain anticipates that is what Ireland will look like.

Perhaps the most disconcerting form of Déjà Vu and hardest to explain is the “I’ve done this before” type. Although there are some theories that this can occur when the brain takes an amalgamation of previous memories and meshes them with its perception of what is happening in the moment, there is no scientific evidence to support the theory.

This type of Déjà Vu is usually accompanied by the feeling that these precise actions have been done before and are being repeated with the exact same result.

The most common paranormal explanations for Déjà Vu include extrasensory perception, clairvoyance, precognition and past life experiences. Some also attribute the feeling to the shared mind, the concept that all of humanity can tap into a larger consciousness that covers the wealth of human knowledge.

Many of these theories are similar and hard to differentiate when discussing paranormal explanations of Déjà Vu. Extrasensory perception, or ESP, is the theory that we have a “sixth sense” that allows us to see through time and space differently than others do. In comic book terms, this would “spidey sense,” an unexplained warning about things we are doing or about to do.

This is very similar to clairvoyance which allows a person to see events at a remote distance and precognition which allows a person to see events before they happen. All three are used as paranormal explanations for the feelings of Déjà Vu. Some experts would argue that dreaming of an event before it happens can be a form of precognition and lead to Déjà Vu.

Other experts argue that dreams allow us to access long-term memory and make it active in our short term memory. Thus, a person experiencing Déjà Vu may have no conscious memory of a similar experience and may be unable to explain why the feeling persists, but may have a rational past experience that leads to the feeling.

Another common explanation paranormal researchers use to explain Déjà Vu is the past life experience. With this theory, experts say that the feeling is based on an unconscious memory related to one or more experiences in a past life. Their basic conclusion: you get the strange feeling you have done this before because you have.

The past life explanation relies on the concept that most people are unaware, at least consciously, of the experiences of their past lives and that certain moments in current existence can trigger those memories. Proponents of this point of view often look at Déjà Vu experiences as a way to tap into your past lives and gain insight into what they might have been or done in a previous life.

Without the accompanying sensation of unease, Déjà Vu is little more than feeling unusually familiar with the situation around you. That can be a good feeling, such as the reassurance that the workplace operates the same way every day, or in an unexpected place or unusual circumstance, Déjà Vu can be frightening.

The feeling of Déjà Vu can be comforting. Many people face an irrational fear when dealing with the unknown and Déjà Vu can actually be a comfort to them. It may be the mind’s way of saying, “You’ve done this before. There is nothing to be afraid of.” Most people do not even register this type of deja vu as it happens daily when we are at work with repetitive tasks.

On the other hand, most people find the feeling of Déjà Vu unsettling. This is largely due to the efforts to recall the specifics of when they have seen this before. When were the events the same as they are now? When did I experience this conversation, this place, or this activity? This need to identify why we feel a certain way creates an unease and therefore makes the feeling of Déjà Vu seem almost sinister. This may be derived from logical brain’s need to know.

In reality, Déjà Vu is just a feeling, something that can be brushed away as easily or with as much difficulty as the person experiencing it chooses. It can be a subject of wonderment, trying to figure out where the feeling came from, or met with a simple thanks for the connection between the current activity and some other time.

It may be a misfunction of the brain or evidence of greater mental capacities that science has not learned to tap. Déjà Vu might be a leftover of human instincts, a group memory, or a simple chemical imbalance in the brain. It may be the brain’s way of dealing with multiple stimuli at once, either from delays along a neural pathway, or from resurfacing memories. Whatever it is, Déjà Vu is interesting to study and interesting to experience.

Déjà vu, though a common phenomenon, has defied easy explanations by biologists, psychiatrists, neurologists and physicists. Current theories, as the filmmakers discovered, range from the psychological to the downright fantastical and include:

• Some neurologists believe that déjà vu happens when the brain latches onto a single detail –a smell, sight or sound – the familiarity of which causes it to confuse the past and present for*a split second
• Doctors point out that many patients with temporal lobe seizures experience the feeling of déjà vu so it may originate from unexpected stimulation to that part of the brain
• Some psychoanalysts believe déjà vu is a form of “wish fulfillment” – in which deep-seated psychological desires come to the fore, as they usually do in dreams, but in waking life
• Those who subscribe to the theory of reincarnation believe detailed episodes of déjà vu are evidence of memories of previous lives
• Scientists on the fringes of new discoveries in quantum physics have suggested that déjà vu could be the result of parallel universes that accidentally intersect when the fabric of spacetime*is disrupted

It is the latter theory that plays a vital role in the development of DÉJÀ VU’s suspenseful and thought-provoking twists. In order to get a better handle on what pioneering physicists believe about how time really operates, Jerry Bruckheimer and Tony Scott went right to the source: they picked the mega-sized brains of several world-class physicists including Dr. Brian Greene, an expert on String Theory and a professor of physics at Columbia University who has written such popular explorations of general relativity and quantum mechanics as The Fabric of the Cosmos and The Elegant Universe. Says Bruckheimer, “We wanted to do our best to really explore what the various characters do in DÉJÀ VU, including the scientists in our time window lab. I’ve made a career of telling stories that take you inside a world you’d never be a part of, yet, we make you part of it through this movie. Balancing science fiction and science fact can be tricky and complex, but we wanted to start this dialogue in DÉJÀ VU and open our eyes to possibilities that perhaps are not as far fetched as they seem.”

To get inside the surprising world of quantum physics, Bruckheimer and Scott sat down with Dr. Greene and asked him to explain some of theories behind time travel and parallel universes to them as simply as possible. Greene, in turn, simplified the concepts on a blackboard for Bruckheimer and Scott. He explained that we live in a world in which we are not always aware of the tricks our minds play on us when it comes to the medium of time. For example, he noted that when you look at yourself in a mirror that is 8 feet away, you might think you’re seeing yourself right now, but you are actually looking at yourself as you existed 16 nanoseconds ago! (That 16 nanoseconds is the time it takes for light to reflect off your face at the mirror and come back.) So, in a sense, you are actually looking into the past. We do it all the time. It happens whenever you look up in the night sky to admire the North Star – even though it appears to be twinkling right at you, in fact you are actually peering at the star as it was 630 years ago. So one thing we know for sure is that time isn’t always what it seems to be.

Getting into even more mind-bending concepts, Green explained how some physicists now believe, based on the latest evidence, that there exist an infinite number of parallel universes in the cosmos — and that we just happen to lead our lives in one of them, unaware of the others. Once considered pure science fiction, the theory of parallel universes has now been directly implicated by recent cosmological observations. Though there are many different views of how parallel universes might operate, one of the most elegant explanations comes from an exciting new frontier in contemporary physics: String Theory. String Theory posits that the universe consists of tiny strings or membranes that vibrate in 11 dimensions. In this theory of a multi-dimensional cosmos, parallel universes could be separated from our own by as little as a fraction of a millimeter. Greene uses the analogy that our universe and everything in it might be just one thin slice of bread in an inconceivably vast loaf.

Though most of these theories still leave many questions unanswered, the potential they suggest for time travel and manipulation of the past or future is mind-boggling. As Dr. Greene says, “The realization there’s more to the universe than we are directly aware of helps us appreciate our place in the cosmos.”

Continues Bruckheimer, “Understanding parallel universes was one of our biggest challenges in developing the DÉJÀ VU story. We wanted to know by consulting the experts in this area how we could convince audiences that there really are parallel universe – that, even as I am sitting here right now, there might be yet another Jerry talking somewhere else saying something completely different. An then how do you bridge these parallel universes? That’s another area we explore in DÉJÀ VU.” At the time window lab, things become more peculiar as the scientists utilize “wormholes” to journey across the gap between past and future. Wormholes, also known as “Einstein-Rosen bridges” (based on a paper by Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen in which they proposed a bridge that could travel between a black hole and white hole at a speed faster than light) and “space tunnels,” are a hypothetical feature of space-time that could provide a shortcut between one point in time and another. Wormholes, similar to black holes, are created by sources of intense gravity that cause the space-time fabric to fold or distort. Just as a worm can get to the other side of an apple by journeying through its center, wormholes could provide a quick path to an alternate place in this or other universes.

So can we alter events that have already happened? Can our future really change our past? The answers are very much open to debate – and that just adds to the fun of DÉJÀ VU. Says Tony Scott, “I want audiences to leave the theater thinking this type of travel through time is really possible. If they haven’t quite perfected this technology today, scientists will do it tomorrow. When the audience takes that leap with us, they’ll be swept up in the story.”

The spine-tingling sensation of déjà vu has mystified humankind for centuries. The feeling hits at the strangest moments – when we fall instantly and madly in love with a total stranger, when we arrive at a brand new place we know like the back of our hand, whenever events occur that inexplicably feel like they have must have played out somehow, somewhere before in our lives. From philosophers to filmmakers, we have all wondered: Where does this feeling come from? Is it all in the mind or does it emerge from some deeper reality? Why does it happen? And most of all, what does it mean?

“It is these fascinating gray areas that lie at the heart of our film,” says the star of DÉJÀ VU, Denzel Washington.

A two-time Oscar® winner who is regularly offered the cream of the current screenplay crop, Washington was swept up when he encountered DÉJÀ VU’s uniquely time-shifting, backwards-moving structure and its provocative exploration of one of life’s most inexplicable experiences through the lens of a love story and a crime-solving thriller. “I think we all have had the feeling that we have been somewhere before – I’ve had it, too,” Washington admits. “I used to have this dream about a particular place in Brooklyn, and then one day I went there and I couldn’t help but feel like I had been there before. It’s one of those big mysteries in life that I think everyone wants to get to the bottom of.”

Indeed, everyone who first came into contact with DÉJÀ VU was instantly intrigued. It’s not often that a screenplay arrives in leading producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s office and is purchased within a matter of hours – but DÉJÀ VU, written by Bill Marsilii & Terry Rossio, was an exception to the rule. Bruckheimer, who has become a brand unto himself with a roster of films that span many of the most popular and influential films of the last two decades, felt right away that the script was something special. Screenwriter Rossio (along with another partner Ted Elliott) had already written the wildly entertaining and phenomenally successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” series for Bruckheimer, as well such runaway hits as “Aladdin,” “Shrek” and “Zorro,” among others. But with DÉJÀ VU he and newcomer Bill Marsilii had ventured into fresh territory – taking a sleek modern thriller and poignant romance out onto the edges of modern physics’ understanding of time.

Recalls Bruckheimer, ”The concept of DÉJÀ VU was completely original, a real page-turner, and different from any other love story I had ever read. We were fortunate enough to be the first ones to get a peek at it, so we bought the screenplay within forty-eight hours of receiving it.” Rossio and Elliot first formed their unusual writing partnership in the most modern of ways: in cyberspace. Around ten years ago, Rossio was in an America On Line chat-room talking to different aspiring writers about their careers, when he came across Marsilii, and was immediately impressed by his insights and smarts about movies. The two seemed to have an instant creative rapport.

But Terry lived in Los Angeles and Bill in New York, so they began exchanging ideas and script concepts by e-mail over the course of several years. One of those ideas was for an unconventional, intricately woven thriller/love-story that would take place unmoored from the usual rules of time. Starting with a deadly, heartbreaking tragedy, a federal agent would have to follow his sense of déjà vu and, using top-secret technology, trace his steps all the way back to the moment in time when he might have a shot at altering the catastrophe — and with it, his own chance for a once in a lifetime love affair.

The idea seemed to have enormous potential but was also unusually complex, pushing the thriller into realms where it usually doesn’t go. Soon Rossio and Marsilii were simultaneously developing the nuances of a romance-in-reverse, while also exploring next-generation surveillance technology and conversing with leading experts on the cutting-edge of String Theory and parallel universes.

Over time, Terry and Bill had each written different scenes that were fragments of DÉJÀ VU, but had never attempted to put it all together into one continuous narrative. Then, Rossio heard Jerry Bruckheimer Films was looking for a new large-scale film project and he had a feeling this story of romance, crime and time travel would resonate with the producer. He and Marsilii cleaned up what they had, and sent a first draft of DÉJÀ VU to Bruckheimer. They never looked back. The result was wholly unlike the usual run-of-the-mill Hollywood thriller – and Bruckheimer loved that. Says Bruckheimer, “We felt that DÉJÀ VU had enormous drama to it because of what takes place around the love story. The idea that you can bring somebody back to life again is a wonderful concept. This story is risky, it’s entertaining and it’s romantic. And by bringing in Tony Scott to direct, we knew it would be filled with exciting action.” Bruckheimer knew that Scott would bring his distinctive panache with visceral thrills to the film – but also something more.

“Tony, Denzel, and I had all worked together on ‘Crimson Tide,’” says Bruckheimer, “but Tony and I hadn’t really done a love story together since ‘Top Gun.’ DÉJÀ VU presented those same elements of action and drama, but with the underpinnings of a beautiful romance tinged with incredible mystery. This was just the project to reunite us.”

Scott brought with him to DÉJÀ VU a well-deserved reputation for being not only one of the most accomplished, but also one of the hardest-working, directors in Hollywood. Famously, his vision is so specific and well-crafted that he wakes up every morning at 3 AM in order to draw his own storyboards for the day, mapping out every inch of every action scene before anyone else is even awake. Yet, typically sporting his signature pink baseball cap, khaki shorts and Cuban cigar, Scott is also renowned for making the non-stop pace of an action-thriller feel effortless to the cast and crew. Most of all, Scott is highly regarded for his unique ability to generate visual excitement and dramatic fireworks on the screen.

Sums up Bruckheimer, “Tony brings the amazing scope of his artistry to every visual aspect of a movie. That is why you hire Tony Scott. He is a great storyteller who is extremely dedicated to his craft. We both had the same goal for this film: to take you away for two hours so you can forget

about everything else and just get lost in the magic on the screen….and when those lights go down you are in another world, the world of DÉJÀ VU.”

In the captivating new action-thriller from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Tony Scott, written by Bill Marsilii & Terry Rossio, it is déjà vu that unexpectedly guides ATF agent Doug Carlin (DENZEL WASHINGTON) through an investigation into a shattering crime. Called in to recover evidence after a bomb sets off a cataclysmic explosion on a New Orleans Ferry, Carlin is about to discover that what most people believe is only in their heads is actually something far more powerful – and will lead him on a mind-bending race to save hundreds of innocent people.

As Carlin’s investigation deepens, it not only probes through the very fabric of space and time, but becomes an innovative love story that unfolds in reverse, when Carlin discovers his puzzling emotional connection to a woman whose past holds the key to stopping a catastrophe that could destroy their future. In the split second of a glance, without words yet with complete trust, Carlin takes one chance to change everything.

(From the Production Notes of Déjà vu)

Though there is still no indication directly of the cause of Déjà Vu, scientists have been able to document an association between epilepsy that effects the temporal lobe and Déjà Vu. Often, patients with this from of epilepsy will report that they experienced a strong sense of Déjà Vu immediately before the onset of an epileptic attack. Other patients have reported that experienced Déjà Vu while in the midst of seizure activity.

However, 70 percent of people claim to have had a Déjà Vu experience at some point and scientists are not willing to diagnose them all with some form of epilepsy or other brain disorder. However, some will acknowledge that as much as 65 percent of the population has occasional non-pathological epileptic seizures, like the full body muscle jerk as one is falling asleep.
Scientists have also been able to associate Déjà Vu experiences with anxiety and schizophrenia, but argue that the mostly likely cause of Déjà Vu is a mix-up with memory.

This theory is based in the idea that people experiencing Déjà Vu can often not provide details of when they experienced this event, feeling or place before. It is also argued that sometimes the feeling of Déjà Vu itself cannot be explained later. The person who had the feeling may not even been able to explain what it was that they had already seen or done. Scientists argue that this is evidence that the brain is playing tricks on itself.

It has also been argued that Déjà Vu may be a side effect of mind-altering drugs distorting a person’s sense of reality and time. Scientists have been able to replicate Déjà Vu in the laboratory using recreational drugs and pharmaceuticals designed to treat other conditions, like the common cold.

One final theory, though incredibly hard to quantify, is the concept that Déjà Vu is caused by the brain reacting to two different stimuli inputs a fraction of a second apart from one another. In this theory, the concept is raised that perhaps if the optic nerves misfired. One eye provides the brain with an image and the same image is transmitted to the brain with a miniscule delay from the other eye, confusing the brain into thinking that it has experienced this event previously.

This theory though scientifically sound cannot be tested because we do not have the technology to measure brain reactions in the tiny amount of time involved. Any experiment trying to delve into this theory would be hampered by the amount of time it would take researchers to provide duplicate images to the brain and by the subject’s awareness that the delay is occurring.

Literally, Déjà Vu is French meaning to see again, but the most common experience with Déjà Vu is to feel like you are doing something you have already done once.

Though the feeling of Déjà Vu has fascinated scientists around the world, no one is sure of the exact causes or even physical reactions that create the feeling. This is at least partially due to the fact that the feeling of deja vu is not something easily replicated in a laboratory for additional study. Therefore, much of the study of Déjà Vu is hypothetical.

The situations in which people experience Déjà Vu can be extremely varied. Sometimes, this experience is associated with dreaming of the event or even lucid dreaming, a semi-conscious state in which we allow ourselves to project or “dream” about an upcoming event.

People can be so focused, or worried, about an upcoming event that the minds plays through a multitude of scenarios prior to the event, filling in the details with the most likely reactions of other people based on our past experience with them. When the event actually occurs, it can feel like, been there and done that, because in our minds, we have. This will usually happen with familiar people in unfamiliar places.

Déjà Vu can also occur when a person’s mind fills in the blanks regarding an experience before they actually happen. This can happen because you are so familiar with the people around you that you anticipate how they are going to react and imagine that you have heard their reaction before, or perhaps have heard an identical reaction in a similar situation. This is more likely to occur in every day situations when the outcome is predictable.

Other scientists argue that Déjà Vu is a form of mixed memory when a scent or a portion of a current moment calls to mind a memory. The memory meshes with the current events and the brain is confused into feeling that it has experienced these sensations before.

Although there is some evidence to indicate that Déjà Vu could be associated with a mild form of epilepsy in the temporal lobe of the brain and minor seizures, it is very common and not generally indicative of larger brain problems. Most of the time, Déjà Vu falls into the category of “Wow, that was weird” and then people move on.