If you pay attention closely, you can spot cameos in the train scene of the movie. Cameron Crowe, who directed Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire” and “Vanilla Sky”, plays the role of a commuter on the train. He is the man who looks at Anderton after looking over the top of his newspaper. In this article, you will learn of other interesting cameos, as well as information regarding the classic director that influenced parts of the film.
As stated above, a handful of interesting cameos are seen in “Minority Report,” such as Cameron Diaz who co-starred in “Vanilla Sky” with Cruise. She is also seen on the same train, playing the role of a blond woman who is positioned right behind director Cameron Crowe. Also on the train is Paul Thomas Anderson, who directed Tom Cruise in “Magnolia.” However, it is pretty hard to locate the director, as it is said that even he (Anderson) has trouble finding where he appears in the film.
For the role of Danny Witwer, Matt Damon was considered for the role.
“Minority Report” was recognized all over the world. In Germany, the movie won a Bogey Award at the Bogey Awards. At the Cinema Writers Circle Awards in Spain, the film was nominated for a CEC Award for Best Foreign Film. France’s César Awards nominated Steven Spielberg for a César in the Best Foreign Film. At the European Film Awards, Steven Spielberg was nominated for a Screen International Award. At the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, Steven Spielberg took home the Silver Ribbon for Best Director – Foreign Film.
If you are a fan of Alfred Hitchcock, then you probably already caught onto the homage paid to the director in the opening sequence of “Minority Report,” which includes the pair of scissors (“Dial M for Murder”), the eyeglasses (“Strangers on a Train”); and the lengthy shot of the eye (“Psycho”). Another association to Alfred Hitchcock appears in the car factory scene, which is based upon an idea that the director had that never made it into his “North by Northwest” film.
The gun that Tom Cruise’s character uses is called a Beretta 9000.
Interestingly, the scene involving the kidnapping of Agatha, Colin Farrell’s character asks “How much time do we have, meaning that he wanted to known how much time did they have before Anderton committed a murder. The response is “51 minutes 28 seconds,” which is also the exact amount of time that remained until the credits begin to roll for the end of the movie.
Originally case as Iris Hineman, Meryl Streep was slated to appear in “Minority Report,” but had to back out of the film.
The co-writer of the film (Scott Frank) makes a cameo in the film, as a customer speaking to imaginary guests in the cyber parlor. He utters the words, “You’re the man.”
“Minority Report” marks the first film that Steven Spielberg directed in conjunction with 20th Century Fox. Dreamworks was also involved, as they released the film on DVD and VHS in North America, while Fox was in charge of DVD and VHS rights worldwide.
To film the scene that showed what a futuristic yoga class might look like, Spielberg hired 12 of the best contortionists from all over the world to assist.
An original script title for the movie was called “Total Recall 2.”
Filming locations for “Minority Report” include Ambassador Hotel on 3400 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California (where the Pre Cog visions take place); Angelus Plaza on 255 S. Hill Street (Downtown Los Angeles) served as the high rise apartments shown in the film; Arlington, Virginia; Beaverdam Park – 8687 Roaring Springs Road in Gloucester, Virginia; Descanso Gardens on 1418 Descanso Drive, (La Cañada-Flintridge, California); El Dorado Hotel on 416 S. Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles, California (used for the skid row hotel scenes); Gloucester, Virginia; Hawthorne Plaza on 12124 Hawthorne Blvd (Hawthorne, California); Infinite Horizon Studios (Orlando, Florida); Nuttall, Virginia; Ronald Reagan Federal Building on 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in Washington, District of Columbia; The Gap located on 1258 Wisconsin Avenue NW in Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia; Universal Studios on 100 Universal City Plaza (Universal City, California); Ware Neck Marina and Ware Neck Yacht Club in Ware Neck, Virginia; Warner Brothers Burbank Studios on 4000 Warner Boulevard (Burbank, California); Willard InterContinental Hotel on 1401 M Street NW in Washington, District of Columbia; and Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, District of Columbia.