46 Takes on Minority Report: Tom Cruise’s Reaction to Colin Farrell Says It All
An understated confession—Tom wasn’t very happy with me—ignited a scramble to contain a rift now spilling into public view, with finger-pointing, frantic calls, and a leadership test no one expected.
Colin Farrell told a painfully funny war story this week: the day he needed almost 50 takes to say one line in Steven Spielberg's Minority Report. The culprit? A late night, an early call, and, yes, a couple of beers before stepping in front of the camera with Tom Cruise. Never ideal.
The take that would not end
On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Farrell looked back at his 2002 gig as Department of Justice agent Danny Witwer and the single line that broke him. He showed up to set after a night out, got an early pick-up call, and then made the worst on-set beverage choice imaginable. The result was a meltdown over a mouthful of sci-fi jargon while Cruise waited, increasingly unamused.
- Early pick-up to set after a night out
- Had a couple of beers before shooting
- Scene opposite Tom Cruise
- Turned down the crew's offer to step outside for a breather
- Needed 46 takes to get through one line
- Tom Cruise, understandably, was not thrilled
"I will never forget the line I had that I couldn’t get out. It was, 'I’m sure you’ve all grasped the fundamental paradox of pre-crime methodology'."
Farrell says he refused to pause and insisted they keep rolling, which only made things worse. He also added that Cruise was not happy with him that day — and he loves the guy, which makes the memory sting a little more.
Minority Report refresher
Spielberg's Minority Report drops you into a slick future where 'precogs' help the Precrime division stop murders before they happen. Cruise leads the film, with Farrell as the DOJ watchdog poking holes in the system, plus Max von Sydow and Samantha Morton rounding out the cast. It pulled in just under $360 million worldwide and has only grown in stature since — one of those mid-aughts sci-fi bangers that ages better than it has any right to. It also basically kicked off a killer Cruise run that includes Collateral, The Last Samurai, and his chaotic cameo as Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder.
Where Farrell is now
Farrell recently chewed up Gotham as Oswald Cobblepot in The Batman and the spin-off series The Penguin, and he is set to return for The Batman 2. Not a bad arc for a guy who once got stuck on 'pre-crime methodology' for 46 takes.