As anyone disregarding mask regulations in the middle of a pandemic on the set of a Mission: Impossible movie would tell you, Tom Cruise takes his job very, very seriously. Sadly, in 2001, on the set of Minority Report, Farrell didn’t. It was a breakout year for Farrell. After slowly building credibility in Hollywood, he landed three roles in major Hollywood productions: Hart’s War, starring Bruce Willis; Joel Schumacher’s one-hander Phone Booth; and Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, opposite Mr. Tom Cruise. Alas, this sudden career boom nearly went bust after a night of hard partying.
Appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night, Farrell regaled the host with tales of his early years in Los Angeles, taking himself to the Santa Monica Pier to play “those games where you win a teddy bear.” “By yourself?” Colbert asks. “Yeah, you spend $15 to win a $2 teddy bear.” “And you gave it to you,” Colbert reminds the actor, cruelly. So maybe Farrell wasn’t in the best headspace when he landed Minority Report, leading to what Farrell describes as “one of the worst days I’ve ever had to film.” Even worse, it was his birthday, and despite doing the responsible thing and asking producers for his special day off, a $120 million film doesn’t stop for birthday parties.
Nevertheless, Farrell says, “Of course, we pick at 6 A.M. on May 31st, and I got up to all sorts of nonsense the night before. I remember getting into bed, and as soon as I turned off the light, the phone rang. It was the driver outside who said, ‘It’s 10 past six,’ and I went, ‘Oh, shit.'” After arriving drunk at his trailer, Assistant Director Dave Venghaus told him, “You can’t go to set like this.” Farrell, who reminds the crowd that this is “not cool because two years later I went to rehab,” orders “six Pacifico cervezas and a pack of 20 Marlboro Reds.” (“It worked in the moment,” Farrell jokes. “All of the holy people that we should look to for the answers to how to live a life say, ‘The present is all that counts.'”) While a few small beers can fire anyone up to bring the sci-fi worlds of Philip K. Dick to life, Farrell first had to get through the line, “I’m sure you all grasped the fundamental paradox of pre-crime methodology.” It was the line he’ll never forget because he couldn’t get it out. All told, it took 46 takes, and “Tom wasn’t very happy with me.”
