Minority Report
Short description
In the Washington, D.C. of 2054, a police unit called Precrime stops murders before they happen. Its officers act on visions supplied by three gifted people known as precogs, whose readings of future killings have proved reliable. John Anderton, a senior officer in the unit, has devoted himself to the work since a personal loss years earlier. That certainty collapses when the precogs name him as the future killer of a man he has never met, leaving him only a short time to work out what is happening before his own colleagues close in.
Steven Spielberg directed the film, working from a screenplay by Scott Frank and Jon Cohen, with Tom Cruise as Anderton. Colin Farrell plays a justice department investigator looking into the unit, Samantha Morton plays the precog Agatha, and Max von Sydow, Lois Smith and Peter Stormare appear in supporting roles. Made between Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal, it is the twenty-sixth of forty features Spielberg has directed.
The production cost about 102 million dollars and returned roughly 358 million worldwide, a strong result for a science-fiction thriller of its length. On IMDb it holds 7.6 from around 619,000 votes; on TMDB it holds 7.4 from fewer than 10,000. The critics' rating of 8.4 from 262 reviews is noticeably higher than either audience figure, suggesting reviewers responded to the film more warmly than general viewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- After John kidnaps the oracle Agatha, Colin Farrell's character asks: 'How much time do we have left?' (implying the time remaining before John commits the murder). He is told: '51 minutes 28 seconds.' This is exactly how much time remains until the end of the film (until the credits roll).
- Initially, this project was supposed to be a sequel to “Total Recall” (1990). The hero of Tom Cruise was to be played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the Precogs were to be Martian mutants with telepathic abilities.
- The film is based on the short story of the same name by Philip K. Dick.
- The role of Danny Vitver was offered to Javier Bardem. The actor declined, stating that he wasn't interested in simply running after Tom Cruise.
- The film's release was repeatedly postponed due to Spielberg and Cruise's heavy workload on other projects (first 'Mission: Impossible 2' interfered, then 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence', and later 'Vanilla Sky').
- Matt Damon was considered for the role of Danny Witwer, and Meryl Streep for the role of Iris Heineman.
- Steven Spielberg directed three films in a row featuring a protagonist forced to flee. This film was the second in a "trilogy," appearing after "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" (2001), but before the release of "Catch Me If You Can" (2002).
- In order to build a model of the cars of the future, the director turned to Lexus. However, the appearance of the cars was designed by Harald Belker, the author of similar projects for the films “Armageddon” and “xXx”.
- Throughout the film, Tom Cruise's character wears a mask. Previously, a mask had been associated with Tom Cruise's face to varying degrees in the following films: 'Mission: Impossible' (1996), 'Eyes Wide Shut' (1999), 'Mission: Impossible 2' (2000) and 'Vanilla Sky' (2001).
- The film's character Lamar Burgess is named after Anthony Burgess.
- For the scene where Anderton holds his breath in the bathtub, Spielberg planned to use computer graphics to depict a bubble of air appearing on the surface of the water. However, Tom Cruise learned to “blow bubbles” himself, which allowed them to save a little money from the budget.
- Three years before filming began, Steven Spielberg assembled a team of 16 future forecasting experts to collectively take a virtual journey to the year 2054. The team included architects, doctors, priests, and inventors of virtual technologies.
- The film was shot in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Spielberg last used such proportions when filming 'Hook' (1991).
- Cameron Diaz played an episodic role in the film. She is sitting behind a man carefully studying Anderton during the scene on the train.
- For the first time in his career, Steven Spielberg directed a film for 20th Century Fox. It should be noted, however, that in addition to Fox, the film was also financed by DreamWorks. As a result, upon the film's release, the following decision was made: DreamWorks would handle distribution in North America (the United States and Canada), while Fox would take on the responsibility for releasing the film in the rest of the world.
- In the first draft of the script, the main character was named Paul Anderson. However, it was subsequently decided to rename him John Anderton, as a Paul Anderson already exists in Hollywood. This is the name of the director of "Alien vs. Predator" (2004) and "Resident Evil" (2002). There is also Paul Thomas Anderson, director of "Boogie Nights" (1997) and "Magnolia" (1999).
- Jan de Bont was mentioned in the credits among the producers, but in reality, he was originally intended to direct the project. According to Steven Spielberg, from the moment Spielberg himself joined the project, de Bont did nothing at all, and therefore did not deserve a credit.
- Steven Spielberg always wanted Greta, played by Caroline Lagerfelt (the assistant to Dr. Solomon Eddie, played by Peter Stormare), to sing something from ABBA's repertoire in the corresponding scene, but Stormare suggested she sing something else that would make everything even more absurd. He also chose Sm grodorna, or 'The Little Frogs' – a song traditionally sung in Sweden to celebrate Midsummer's Eve.
- Lead actor Tom Cruise and director Steven Spielberg waived their usual fees to keep the film's budget within $100 million. Instead of a salary, they agreed to 15% of the film's box office earnings.
- The scene in which Lois Smith's character kisses the character played by Tom Cruise was not in the script, so the actor's surprise was not acted at all.
- Kate Blanchett or Jenna Elfman were initially planned for the role of Agatha.
- The names of the Precogs were borrowed from the greatest masters of the detective genre: Dashiell Hammett, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Agatha Christie.
- Tom Cruise began work on the film a couple of days after completing filming on “Vanilla Sky” (2001).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
