Minority Report is among a bunch of science fictions Steven Spielberg has on his resume. It is a classic, grand feature, with an acclaimed critical response, and collected $358 million at the global box office. The movie stars Tom Cruise as John Anderton, Samantha Morton as Agatha, and Collin Ferrel as Danny Witwer. Steve Harris, Neal McDonough, Max von Sydow, and Kathryn Morris also played prominent roles in the movie.
Minority Report has a connection to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Total Recall. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, Total Recall is another era-defining sci-fi classic. Schwarzenegger plays Douglas Quaid who is trying to discover the cause of his recurring dream about Mars. Later, he learns that he is being hunted by the people who implanted false memories in his brain.
Minority Report was Originally Planned as a Sequel to 1990s Total Recall
Spielberg’s Minority Report was originally planned as a sequel to Arnold Schwarzenegger starrer Total Recall. Adapted from Philip K. Dick’s We Can Remember It for You Wholesale, Total Recall was supposed to expand into another movie. The plan was to bring Schwarzenegger back to reprise his character Douglas Quaid. However, in a turn of events, Total Recall studio Carlco fell into bankruptcy in 1996. Eventually, the rights were lost after failing to fund the film and Minority Report replaced the original plan with a sequel. The Spielberg movie is also adapted from a different Philip K. Dick novella, The Minority Report which follows a different Spielberg-esque style.
In 1997, Miramax bought the rights to the story. The studio appointed novelist Jon Cohen for a screenplay that was meant for another director, Jan de Bont. Later, Spielberg joined the movie and said that de Bont didn’t have anything to do with the production of his movie.
Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise Chemistry
Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise wanted to work on a project for a long time. Both the director and the actor were hunting for a project that would be suitable for the style of the director. As per earlier reports, Spielberg had almost directed Tom Cruise starrer Rain Man but chose Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Nearly a decade later, the actor and the director landed on The Minority Report.
However, Cruise had to convince Spielberg to direct the movie. Originally, the Top Gun actor brought Minority Report to Spielberg’s attention. The director said that the screenplay wasn’t good enough. Later, Cohen revised the screenplay, and only then Spielberg agreed to direct.
Further, Spielberg and Cruise keep the budget of the movie under $100 million, which later increased to $102 million. Also, Spielberg and Cruise took zero salary for the film, instead, each got 15 percent of the box-office gross.
The Spielberg Vision for Minority Report
Despite being fiction, Spielberg was all up for creating an authentic-looking future. In 1999, reports said that he gathered a bunch of experts to elevate his vision of 2054 with legitimacy. The incident has created a 2054 Bible consisting of 80 pages of expert ideas of the future world. The director also created a car, specifically designed to fit the plot of the movie.
Also, there are some key differences in the movie from the original novella. Primarily, John Anderton’s character in the novella is out of shape and old, whereas in the movie, a very young and fit Tom Cruise plays the character.
Further, Spielberg wanted to add a “noir feel” to the movie. To achieve that desaturated color of the movie, he overlit the movie, and then bleached bypassed the negatives.
The movie was both a critical and commercial success, earning an Oscar nomination for Best Sound Editing. Over a decade later of the release of Minority Report, FOX created a spinoff TV show set ten years after the original movie timeline.
Also read: Steven Spielberg Refused Making Sequel to Cult-Classic $603M Movie after Clashing With Tom Cruise
Source: Yardbarker
