20th Century Fox
Academy Award nominated actor Colin Farrell recently recalled angering Minority Report co-star Tom Cruise as he battled through a hangover while filming.
As Colin Farrell recalled, his call time to be on the set of Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Minority Report the morning after his birthday was 6 a.m., thus creating a conflict of interest for the then-infamously hard-partying Farrell.
It ultimately wasn’t much of a conflict, though, as Farrell went out drinking all the same, or as he put it, “all sorts of nonsense.” In order to get his head right the next day, he asked the assistant director for two things: a six-pack of Pacificos and a pack of Marlboro Reds.
Colin Farrell recalled the time he angered Tom Cruise by being hungover on the set of Steven Spielberg’s film Minority Report
“I had one of the worst days I’ve ever had on a film set [on Minority Report]. It was my birthday on May 31, and we were shooting, and I begged production of a $120 million film if they [could] 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, s—‘” Farrell said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert while promoting his new film Ballad of a Small Player
“[I told the assistant director], ‘Just get me six Pacifico Cervezas and a packet of 20 [Marlboro] Red.’ Now, listen, it’s not cool because two years later I went to rehab, right? But it worked in the moment… It was terrible,” he continued.
Despite his best efforts to lock in, though, Farrell recalls requiring 46 takes to film this seen, making Tom Cruise not “very happy” with him.
“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. I remember [the crew] 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 to be better.’ And I went, ‘No, we’ll just go through it.’ We did 46 takes. Tom wasn’t very happy with me. Tom, who I love, was not very happy!”
Ballad of a Small Player, directed by Oscar-nominated Conclave filmmaker Edward Berger, began streaming on Netflix on Wednesday, October 29.