Colin Farrell admitted that Tom Cruise “was not happy” with him during the filming of their 2002 movie “Minority Report.”
During a Tuesday appearance on “The Stephen Colbert Show,” the 49-year-old actor recalled that the science-fiction action thriller was one of his first major Hollywood movies, and he was thrilled to be working with Cruise, 63, and director Steven Spielberg.
However, Farrell, who was battling alcoholism and substance-abuse problems at the time, told Colbert he had a wild night out on his birthday and showed up to set hungover.
“I had one of the worst days I’ve ever had on a film set,” the “Phone Booth” star shared. “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 continued, “So of course my pickup was 6 a.m. 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, [who] said, ‘It’s 10 past 6.’ And I went, ‘Oh, s—.'”
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Farrell recalled that the first assistant director David H. Venghaus Jr. met him when he arrived at the shoot and immediately 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 [Marlboro] Red,'” he said as the audience laughed.
“Now, listen, it’s not cool because two years later I went to rehab, right?” Farrell said to more laughter from the crowd.
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“But it worked in the moment,” he continued. “All the holy people that we look to on how to live a life would say the present is all that counts.”
The Oscar nominee remembered that he drank “a couple of beers” before heading to the set.
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“It was terrible,” Farrell admitted.
“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.’ That was the line that started the scene,” he recalled.
“I remember one of [the crew] coming up and saying, ‘Do you want to go out and take a breath of fresh air?’” Farrell continued. “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.'”
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“We did 46 takes,” Farrell admitted. “Tom wasn’t very happy with me. Tom, who I love, was not very happy!”
“Minority Report” was based on famed science fiction writer Philip K. Dick’s 1956 short story of the same name. Set in Washington, D.C. in 2054, the movie followed Chief John Anderton (Tom Cruise), who works for a police unit that arrests people for crimes before they commit them by using the visions of three psychics called “pre-cogs.”
Colin Farrell portrayed Danny Witwer, a skeptical Justice Department agent sent to audit the Pre-Crime program. When the system predicts that Anderton will commit a murder, he goes on the run to prove his innocence. He later kidnaps the most powerful of the psychics, Agatha, played by Samantha Morton. Together, they work to uncover the truth about the program.
“Minority Report” was both a critical and commercial success and raked in $358 million at the worldwide box office.
