What Challenges Spielberg?

Steven Spielberg, one of the most successful directors of our time, has drawn on film noir techniques of the past for his movie about the future.

For his latest film "Minority Report", which stars Tom Cruise, he decided on a dark, grainy look to emphasize the old-fashioned murder mystery at the heart of the film, he tells The Early Show co-anchor Jane Clayson.

"At the bottom of this movie there really is a sort of old fashioned murder mystery. It's like a whodunit. And in the case of 'Minority Report,' it's a "who will do it," says Spielberg laughing. "It really is what it's about. And I wanted there to be tradition in the way I shot this movie."

"Minority Report" opens nationwide on Friday.

The director has been quoted as saying, "I want to tackle subjects I haven't tackled before. I'm in a period of experimentation. And trying things that challenge me," which brings the question, Is there anything that could challenge Steve Spielberg?

"Everything challenges me," he says. "I try to find things that are different. But I try really, really hard to find things that will be harder for me to make than just a sequel to something. Or an easy action movie or something like that. Something like I know how to do really well and I need that to keep myself interested."

One of his producers said that "Minority Report" may be one of the most complicated movies he's ever made.

"Yeah, it's very complicated," says Spielberg. "It's like there's a movie inside a movie, because a lot of the plot of the movie, you actually watch on big computer screens, large, full-sized computer screens. And some of the plot is one those screens, so pay careful attention and watch those images. Very important, all the clues are on those images," Spielberg says.

This is the first time that Spielberg and Tom Cruise have worked together, though they have been friends since 1983 when Cruise shot to stardom with "Risky Business." Clayson asked Spielberg what is it about Cruise that makes him a superstar.

"It's hard to define what it is. Except, he has a massive amount of nuclear charged energy," says Spielberg. "And he just appeals to people because he kind of looks his audience right in the eye. And what the audience sees when they look into those eyes is an honest man, is a very, very trustworthy, honest man who will represent the stories that he's in, kind of like truth, justice and the American way," he adds with a laugh. "But he is. And he's a wonderful actor."

It wasn't until Cruise came across an early script for the sci-fi thriller "Minority Report," based on a Philip K. Dick short story, that they found something that grabbed them both. The story was written almost 50 years ago. And surprisingly, Spielberg says, it is still relevant today.

"I'm surprised that Philip K. Dick was such a sort of topical man 50 years ago. He saw something that was in sort of parallel with what's happening today, in terms of our rights to privacy and that sort of thing. So yeah, it wasn't even that relevant a couple of years ago. It just sort of has fallen into, you know, the headlines," says Spielberg.

To ensure accuracy in this film, the director brought together his own personal think tank, the best in the world of medicine and technology and the environment to see what life would be like in the future.

"What I found was that the future, if we can have a future, is going to be a wonderful time to be alive. Our kids are going to live between 130, 150 years old. That will bring up some real dilemmas, too, later on. That's a whole other subject. But medicine is going to make tremendous strides. And, you know, the environment is a critical danger. That's pretty scary. There were upsides and downsides to this think tank. The upside was that I got a lot of window dressing for "Minority Report." The downside was, there were things that scared me, Spielberg says.

Besides "Minority Report," Spielberg has done "AI" and "Catch Me If You Can" back to back. He also executive produced HBO’s "Band of Brothers." And recently got his diploma from University of California at Long Beach. So where does he get the stamina to accomplish all of this work?

"The question really is, what would I do if I didn't work so hard and I didn't do so much," says Spielberg. "It really isn't work for me. I get up in the morning I cannot wait to find out what's going to happen today. And so the work really comes going on the road and talking about a movie, because if I have druthers, I would let the movie talk about itself. But this is the first time I've done this since "Private Ryan," where Tom and I have traveled all around the country with "Minority Report." And for me that's the work. But the making movie part is not the work."

As for Spielberg’s plans for the future, he says writer Frank Darabont, who wrote the scripts for "The Shawshak Redemption" and "The Green Mile" is currently working on the screenplay for a fourth Indiana Jones film. Spielberg also hopes to direct Harrison Ford in 2004 for a 2005 release of the film.