Colin Farrell Says Alcoholism Affected "Minority Report" & "Miami Vice"

Dan Lalonde
2 days ago
2 min read

Colin Farrell Tom Cruise Miami Vice Minority Report

Have you ever worked on a film set with someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol?

Colin Farrell is opening up to Stephen Colbert on 'The Late Show' about how his alcohol abuse made him ruin a day of filming on the Steven Spielberg film 'Minority Report', which starred Tom Cruise in 2002.

“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 — who did I think I was? — 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, shit.'”

“I got to the trailer, and Dave Venghaus — the [second] AD, God bless him — went, ‘You can’t go to the set like this.’ I went: Just get me, get me six Pacifico Cervezas and a pack of 20 Marlboro Reds.”

After Farrell drank some beers to straighten out, he went to set: “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!”

Farrell has talked before about how his problems with drinking on 'Miami Vice' in 2006 forced him to enter rehab: "It was literally the first time I couldn't say to anyone around me, 'Have I been late for work, have I missed any days, have I been hitting my marks?' Because the answers would have been yes, yes, and no. ... I lost the ability to be confident that I could make a change myself."

Speaking with The Irish Mirror in 2013, Farrell said that he didn't remember "shooting a single frame" of the film. "I was at the premiere and didn’t know what was happening next. But it was strange because I was in it."

What is your favorite Colin Farrell film? Comment below with your thoughts.