4 February 2002: For Lexus, it's every Hollywood hopeful’s dream come true: a featured role alongside Tom Cruise in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming summer blockbuster.

The filmmaker has cast the luxury brand as ‘the car of the future’ in his futuristic ‘Minority Report’, due to be released by Twentieth Century Fox this summer and widely tipped as the ‘must-see’ movie of 2002.

Car buff moviegoers got an advance preview of the ‘Future Lexus’ when it made its world debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show in early January.

The film also features Irish actor, Colin Farrell.

When it came to conceptualizing the fantasy car of the future, Steven Spielberg's didn’t have to look any further than his own driveway for inspiration to his Lexus SUV. He thought Lexus ‘might be interested in holding hands with us, going into a speculative future to see what the transportation systems and cars would look like on our highways in 50 years’.

The futuristic car is a two-seat personal sports car for the year 2054 and flexes a muscular design with the ultimate in cab-forward seating, a low enclosed wheelbase for sportiness, aggressive lines, and proportions so unexpected that at first glance it’s not entirely evident which end is the front and which is the rear.

Commenting on the development, Mark Teevan, director of Lexus Ireland, said that the youth of the Lexus brand ensured that Lexus designers were able to focus on a vision of the future without being distracted by design preconceptions from the past. “Even more exciting for all of us in the Lexus family is that we were able to embark upon this journey with Steven Spielberg's, arguably the worlds most famous director.” TW