"Minority Report" Press Conference

Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise should mine Mark Twain for their next collaboration. Shame the Mississippi ain't what it used to be. Aw, heck, they could just up 'n' ask DreamWorks to go an' dredge 'em a new one. Spielberg would change his name for the film, working title: �The Further Adventures of Huck and Tom: Shucks, We're the Bestest Buddies in the Whole Wide World and We Really, Really Admire Each Other, Honest!�

Imagine the franchise and merchandising potential.

I wonder if any of the 700+ people at their press conference at Hibiya's Imperial Hotel walked away with like ideas. Sure, the superstars were there to hype �Minority Report,� which opens here in December, but they spent the majority of their time expressing their love and admiration for each other. It was like "Dueling Compliments. " Musical accompaniment by Hoyt Pollard and Ronny Cox would have really set the mood.

Spielberg, on his first promotional trip to Tokyo in 16 years, was "very, very happy to be back with [his] friend Tom Cruise." After enthusiastic applause subsided, Cruise countered with, "It was a great honor for me to work with Steven, who is my dear friend. I'm a huge admirer of his as a person and also as an artist."

See where this is going?

"This was a very easy collaboration and one of the most inspirational of my career." Spielberg's words floated over the sea of mostly star-struck media. A bearded Cruise volleyed, "It was the easiest collaboration that I've ever had. I [found] myself just standing back, ever excited and surprised about [Spielberg's] creative ability and limitless vision."

�Minority Report� is based on a short story by the late Philip K. Dick, who was also responsible for the stories that inspired/spawned �Blade Runner� (1982), �Total Recall� (1990) and the lesser-known �Screamers� (1995). Cruise plays John Anderton, a detective at Precrime, a branch of the police that employs three precogs -- unerring, know-it-all psychics -- to help sniff out and arrest murderers before they've committed their crimes. When Anderton discovers he's targeted for arrest, he goes underground to get to the bottom of what he knows must be a frame-up or larger conspiracy.

Cruise, who took the idea to Spielberg, said, "I had a visceral reaction to [the story. It was] very compelling, and I also thought it was relevant to what was going on in society. I also felt that it had the opportunity to have a very personal story within the framework of a very large journey."

The director was equally excited, though he cautioned the film comes with some baggage. "I think [it requires] very special tastes and patience," he explained. "It is a very complicated story, but it's worth the adventure, it's worth the investment and the amount of energy you place in trying to figure it out."

But the serious talk soon ebbed in favor of more bosom-buddy back-slapping, often accompanied by Cruise's booming, almost cackling, laugh.

"I felt fortunate to be there," Cruise gushed, albeit sincerely, "because [Spielberg] can accomplish more than any director today. He is a great storyteller, a visionary. I felt privileged to be there and see him create, see how he works and how facile his mind is, and really how limitless his creative abilities are. He is just in total command of his craft."

Not to be outdone, Steven explained, "Tom can do anything." Rattling off a list of Cruise's films -- �Eyes Wide Shut,� �Magnolia,� �Vanilla Sky,� �Born on the Fourth of July,� �Jerry McGuire� -- he continued, "There's no such thing as a 'Tom Cruise movie,' because Tom goes in disguise for each film. I believe that Tom falls into [the same category as] Paul Muni or Spencer Tracy [or] Henry Fonda, where he's different from one film to the next." Yikes! Tom is keeping impressive company.

The love-in ended in typical press conference style: abruptly. Before the two superstars, whom one zealot-reporter called "the golden team," left the stage, Cruise waxed philosophic about the themes of �Minority Report.�

"I think that it is very important that the public recognize what's going on in society with technology so they can have a choice; because freedom [and privacy], if we're not careful, [are] going to be eaten away."

Not surprisingly, Spielberg ended with a director's take: "All good science fiction warns today's readers or audiences about tomorrow's dangers, and I think that this story certainly falls in this category."

If Tom and Steve put half as much love and devotion into the making of the film as they did into today�s press conference, �Minority Report� is sure to be a knock-out. Some on-the-quick research done by yours truly revealed that the two men sitting on that stage at the Imperial Hotel were responsible for films that have generated more the $1 billion at the box office ... You don�t have to be a psychic to predict that their latest cinematic outing will keep the coffers swollen.