WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2002
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 27
CONTRIBUTED ART
Tom Cruise flees from the police when he learns they are attempting to arrest him for a crime he hasn't even committed yet in Minority Report. Set in 2080 in Washington, D.C., Minority Report depicts a society in which the government can determine whether a crime will occur before it actually happens.
Spielberg, Cruise say futuristic forays will continue a while
Knight Ridder - Tribune
DALLAS. At first they seem like a couple of guys just sitting around, talking movies.
Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, uberdirector and uber-star, visited Dallas recently to promote their sci-fi noir thriller, Minority Report. Both are consummate pros who project friendliness and sincerity. Spielberg oozes avuncular benevolence; Cruise's jocularity is just a shade beyond bovish. After all, on July 3, he will turn 40.
Even hardened cynics would admit they do a convincing job. If they ever tire of the movie game, they could update How To Win Friends and Influence People. But right now, they're interested in talking about Minority Report, which opens Friday.
If two of the biggest names in show business are in a slump, they're not showing it. Spielberg is more than eager to talk about the science-fiction thriller that comes on the heels of last year's disappointing A.I. Artificial Intelligence, yet another sci-fi film. And Cruise acts as though hasn't been stung by the sci-fi-tinged Vanilla Sky, which racked up both moderate reviews and moderate box-office.
"All I care about from a commercial viewpoint is that the studio doesn't lose money," Cruise said. "And the studio did not lose money on Vanilla Sky."
Spielberg said he would continue to focus on science-fiction movies because "I'm fascinated by the past and the future."
"I've got a great present," he said. "With my wife and family, I'm very connected to the present. So I'm fascinated by what I'm not connected to."
By most gauges, Minority Report is expected to fascinate audiences, too. In this effects-crazed summer, it's got some of the splashest scenes imaginable. What's more, they're all used intelligently to further the futuristic story.
The story itself, in which hunter turns hunted, echoes The Fugitive and other audience favorites, but the 2054 setting
By most gauges, Minority Report is expected to fascinate audiences, too. In this effectscrazed summer, it has some of the splashiest scenes imaginable. What's more they're all used intelligently to further the futuristic story.
allows a unique perspective. In "Minority Report," the hunted hero played by Cruise cannot trust anything, not even his red Lexus sports car.
Cruise, who recognized the movie potential of Philip K. Dick's short story, brought it to Spielberg's attention. The two have been friends for 20 years and almost worked together in Rain Man.
"This story had great potential for eye candy and for drama," Cruise says of Minority Report. "And Steven is great at combining the two. The public definitely wants characterization and drama with its eve candy."
Minority Report's noir-ish mystery is set in 2054, when murder is at an all-time low in Washington, D.C., thanks to an elite Pre-Crime unit. With Cruise as leader John Anderton, the unit captures perpetrators before murders are committed. Three psychic beings, called Pre-Cogs, have flawless visions of future murders.
But now the eerie trio lists Detective Anderton as the killer of a man he does not know. The unit leader is in the ironic position of being chased by those he trained.
"Each film has different needs," Cruise said. "We never really found a structure for Rain Man, and it still worked. It was basically just two schmucks riding in a car. But structure is everything in Minority Report."
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