Gservo
19th June 2002, 01:07 AM
Bonnie Curtis, producer of Steven Spielberg's upcoming Minority Report, told SCI FI Wire that the director strove to differentiate the futuristic story from his previous SF movie, A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Based on a Philip K. Dick short story, Minority Report is set in the near future—2054—but that's where the resemblance to A.I. ends, Curtis said in an interview. A.I. "is what I've always dubbed ... a futuristic fairy tale," Curtis said. That film brought to life "very outlandish worlds," she added.
By contrast, with Minority Report, Spielberg's "edict ... was for us to make a future reality film, not a science fiction film," Curtis said. "There's some science fiction sprinkled in there, particularly ... this transportation system he helped create. But more than that, it's just a great story and a great detective thriller. ... [Spielberg has the] ability to mix the unfamiliar with the extremely familiar, so that you're comfortable with what you're seeing. It all seems like it could actually happen."
Curtis added, "We had the seed of the idea from Philip K. Dick, but it's so just the seed: ... the concept of the 'pre-cogs' and 'precrime' and ... these beings being able to pick murderers before they happen. That's really about as much as we got from the short story. And then Steven and our writer, Scott Frank, went about creating this whole thriller and detective story, ... just a really, really rich, rich layered world. ... Having gone through this fairy-tale experience [on A.I.], Minority Report continued to become more and more realistic and based in some sort of factual [basis]. ... You know, this is what phones will look like. This is what advertising will be like. This is what our transportation system will have become. ... You're still going to be able to have a good old fist fight." Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, opens June 21.
By contrast, with Minority Report, Spielberg's "edict ... was for us to make a future reality film, not a science fiction film," Curtis said. "There's some science fiction sprinkled in there, particularly ... this transportation system he helped create. But more than that, it's just a great story and a great detective thriller. ... [Spielberg has the] ability to mix the unfamiliar with the extremely familiar, so that you're comfortable with what you're seeing. It all seems like it could actually happen."
Curtis added, "We had the seed of the idea from Philip K. Dick, but it's so just the seed: ... the concept of the 'pre-cogs' and 'precrime' and ... these beings being able to pick murderers before they happen. That's really about as much as we got from the short story. And then Steven and our writer, Scott Frank, went about creating this whole thriller and detective story, ... just a really, really rich, rich layered world. ... Having gone through this fairy-tale experience [on A.I.], Minority Report continued to become more and more realistic and based in some sort of factual [basis]. ... You know, this is what phones will look like. This is what advertising will be like. This is what our transportation system will have become. ... You're still going to be able to have a good old fist fight." Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, opens June 21.