While Tom Cruise could see into the future in Minority Report, his co-star Colin Farrell might have benefitted from a little foresight while making the movie.
The Oscar nominee recalled getting drunk one night before “one of the worst days I’ve ever had on a film set” while making the 2003 sci-fi film based on Philip K. Dick’s 1956 novella, noting that Cruise “was not very happy” with him.
“It was my birthday on May 31, and we were shooting, and I begged production — who did I think I was? — of a $120 million film if they [could] not have me working on my birthday,” he recalled on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “So of course my pickup was 6am on May 31, and I got up to all sorts of nonsense the night before. And I remember getting into bed, and as soon as I turned off the light, the phone rang and it was the driver, he said, ‘It’s 10 past 6.’ And I went, ‘Oh, shit.’”
Notably disheveled, Farrell was stopped by assistant director David H. Venghaus, who told him, “‘You can’t go to the set like this.’”
“And I went, ‘Just get me six Pacifico Cervezas and a packet of 20 Red.’ Now, listen, it’s not cool because two years later I went to rehab, right? But it worked in the moment. All the holy people that we look to on how to live a life would say the present is all that counts,” added Farrell, who has been sober since checking into a rehabilitation facility in 2006.
Farrell admitted he “had a couple of beers” before filming the scene, noting “it was terrible.”
“I will never forget the line I had that I couldn’t get out,” he said. “It was, ‘I’m sure you’ve all grasped the fundamental paradox of pre-crime methodology.’ That was the line that started the scene. I remember [the crew] coming up and saying, ‘Do you want to go out and take a breath of fresh air?’ And I remember thinking, ‘If I go out and take a breath of fresh air, then I’ll be under more pressure when I come back in to be better.’ And I went, ‘No, we’ll just go through it.’
“We did 46 takes. Tom wasn’t very happy with me. Tom, who I love, was not very happy!” added Farrell.
Colin Farrell Says ‘Minority Report’ Scene Took 46 Takes While Drunk
