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Minority Report (NRJ 12) – How Steven Spielberg predicted the arrival of artificial intelligence 22 years earlier

Cop and fugitive

Freely inspired by a short story by Philip K. Dicklike the film Blade Runner, Minority Report takes place in 2054, in Washington. Crime has been eradicated thanks to the elite unit which enforces the Precrime law. It is based on the divinatory powers of three humans called precogs, who visualize future crimes and make it possible to arrest the culprit before he commits the act. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) leads the unit and believes the system is infallible. His life is turned upside down when the precogs announce that he will commit a murder within 36 hours. Anderton flees and must obtain the “minority report” containing evidence that he was rigged and falsely accuses him.

Premier duo Spielberg-Cruise

« I almost worked with Steven on Rain Man, then we searched for fourteen years for the ideal project to collaborate on “, tell Tom Cruise. Minority Report had enormous potential and I wondered how Steven would represent this world… I would like to live in a society where the future would be revealed, to make informed choices. » Spielberghe is fascinated by the theme of the excesses of technology: “ SF is the first warning sign of problems to come. It is easier to alert viewers to real dangers through entertainment. »

A nod to Hitchcock

The director pays homage to the master of suspense by recycling an unfinished idea intended for Death on the Trail: a chase on the assembly line of an automobile factory! To underline the harshness of John Anderton's chase, he asks the sound engineer Gary Rydstrom, who made the dinosaurs roar Jurassic Parkto orchestrate a race of vehicles with magnetic suspensions. In order to evoke the lightning accelerations, the latter uses the sounds… of the cycles of his washing machine! Immersed in this very credible future, the public was won over and the film became a classic of the genre.

Accurate forecasts

To imagine the future of 2054 in 2002, Spielberg works with scientists fromMassachusetts Institute of Technology (famous MIT) and with Jaron Lanierpioneer of virtual reality. They predict that artificial intelligence will identify the faces of passers-by in the street (like in China today); recognize gestures allowing you to control 3D applications (Xbox 360 innovation); present targeted advertisements for each consumer (Google); pilot self-driving cars (like Tesla and Uber prototypes) and analyze past crimes to report to police where new offenses are likely to occur. As for weapons, real nausea-producing sticks, never marketed, were invented shortly after. But this business is expensive. To limit the budget to $102 million, Spielberg and Cruise traded their salaries for 15% of the profits.

Minority Report, Tuesday November 19 at 9:10 p.m. on NRJ 12

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