Behind The Scenes: Tom Cruise & Steven Spielberg On The Set Of MINORITY REPORT

In a career filled with many great films, Minority Report stands as one of director Steven Spielberg‘s finest efforts. Visually impressive, energetically propulsive and complexly plotted – it’s a cinematic blockbuster with a grown-up edge.

Released in 2002, the film was Spielberg’s first teaming with Tom Cruise (the pair would later make War Of The Worlds), and it captures both men at the peak of their powers – and it shows.

An adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s 1956 novella, Minority Report is set in the near future where murder has almost been eradicated. Along with Cruise, the Minority Report features an impressive cast working at the top of their game – Colin Farrell, Max Von Sydow, Neal McDonough, Samantha Morton, Peter Stormare, Mike Binder.

Cruise is John Anderton, a cop with PreCrime – a police division which uses three ‘PreCogs’ (Dashiell, Arthur, Agatha) to foresee crimes so that they’re stopped before they’re committed. Things go bad and Anderton finds himself framed for a murder that he hasn’t committed…yet.

Like Paul Verheoven‘s fellow Dick adaptation, Total Recall, Minority Report is an on-the-run thriller, where the protagonist is always one-step behind. Ironically, Minority Report co-star Colin Farrell would go on to take the lead in a Total Recall remake. 

The world-building within Minority Report is stunning. The futuristic designs (the film is set in 2054) have become incredibly prescient and cinematographer, Janusz Kamiński‘s milky cinematography gives the film an Apple/iPhone style. Sometimes Kaminski’s visuals verge on black and white – something which leans into the 1940s film noir tone. This can be seen in the names of the precogs – Arthur (Conan Doyle), Dashiell (Hammett), Agatha (Christie) and Colin Farrell’s double-breasted suits and braces (suspenders). Even a pivotal greenhouse sequence has echoes of Howard Hawks’ influential Raymond Chandler adaptation, The Big Sleep.

Composer John Williams‘ score is also fantastic – you can tell that Williams was in the middle of his work for George Lucas’ Star Wars prequels because the films all feature a similar sonic companionship. 

This blend of past and future gives Minority Report a timeless quality – which means that it still holds up almost a quarter of a century after it was first released. 

Opening in June 2002, Minority Report grossed $132 million at the U.S. box office and $358.3 million worldwide.