Happy birthday, dear Colin…Colin Farrell used to have quite a reputation for his hard-partying lifestyle. And while it positioned him as one of Hollywood’s bad boys of the time, it could greatly interfere with his work – more so if he’s working alongside one of the industry’s true professionals who absolutely does not screw around on the set. So what happened when Farrell tested the waters when making Minority Report with Tom Cruise?
As he recounted on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Farrell was turning 25 when Minority Report was halfway through filming. “I begged production – who did I think I was? – of a $120 million film if they [would] not have me working on my birthday…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 sh*t.’”
After being told by the assistant director that it wouldn’t be too smart to show up to the set like that, he requested – what else? – beer and cigs. So he downed a couple of beers and headed to the set of Minority Report. “It was terrible. 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.” Bit of a mouthful for a dude that’s hungover, eh?
But Farrell pressed on, although his status caught the attention of at least one crew member. “I remember one of them 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…’” Forty-six takes later…“Tom wasn’t very happy with me. Tom, who I love, was not very happy.”
Probably by design, Tom Cruise has never worked on a movie with Colin Farrell since Minority Report.
