Hasitha Fernando looks at the story behind Collateral as it turns 20…
Michael Mann’s stylish neo noir crime drama Collateral gave audiences an unforgettable Terminator-esque villain with Tom Cruise’s Vincent and a relatable, everyman hero with Jamie Foxx’s Max. As the suspenseful action thriller celebrates its 20th anniversary we take a look back at its behind the scenes story…
The story was inspired by a cab ride the writer took as a youngster
Australian screenwriter Stuart Beattie hit it big when he contributed to the first installment of the multi-million dollar franchise Pirates of the Caribbean. Hired due to his extensive knowledge on pirates Beattie received a “Story By” credit for Curse of the Black Pearl and three years later saw one of his older scripts brought to life with 2004’s Collateral. However, the inspiration for the movie began many years ago when Beattie was a mere 17-year-old boy.
Whilst taking a cab back home from the Sydney airport the young writer had the idea of a trigger-happy homicidal maniac exchanging pleasantries with a clueless cabby whilst sitting in the back of a cab. Beattie was so pumped with the idea that he hammered out a two-page treatment of his idea once he reached home. After he successfully enrolled at the Oregon State University, he fleshed out this simple draft into his first screenplay and titled it “The Last Domino”. Beattie put the script away for the time being, occasionally revising or rewriting it over the next few years… waiting for that right moment to dawn.
A chance meeting leads to a big break for Stuart Beattie
Beattie was in-between jobs when he had a chance meeting with Julie Richardson, whom he had acquainted with on a UCLA Screenwriting Extension course a few years prior and was now a producer on the lookout for low-budget genre films that could be bankrolled by Frank Darabont’s production company Edge City for HBO. Richardson pitched the idea to Darabont who was enthused by the concept and in turn requested a meeting with Beattie. However, multiple drafts later HBO passed on the project. A few years later, at a general meeting at DreamWorks with executive Marc Haimes, Beattie mentioned about his script and Haimes immediately got down the script through Richardson, read it overnight and put an offer out for it the day after.
Mimi Leder, Fernando Meirlelles & Janusz Kaminski were offered the chance to helm the movie
One of the core directors of the hit TV series ER, Mimi Leder was offered the opportunity to helm DreamWorks’ first feature film with 1997’s The Peacemaker. Afterwards Leder landed consecutive gigs with Deep Impact and Pay it Forward. Leder was one of the filmmakers who was first eyed to direct Collateral but she passed on the opportunity. Acclaimed cinematographer and regular Steven Spielberg collaborator Janusz Kamiński was also considered for the gig but dropped out half-way through.
Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles who helmed the brilliant 2002 crime drama City of God came close to signing on the dotted line but reconsidered the offer as he had to relocate to Los Angeles for eight whole months. Meirelles described his vision as a more humor filled affair that bore similarity to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. Once Michael Mann came on-board, the veteran filmmaker made changes to suit his vision and requirements. Since Mann hailed from a family who owned a cab company and he himself used to be a cab driver, he was able to infuse some of his personal experiences into the story. He even shifted the setting from Manhattan, New York to Los Angeles, California in line with his iteration of the story.
Robert De Niro nearly became the taxi driver once again
Collateral was one of those projects that was intermittently stuck in developmental hell depending on the talent involved. However, things started to fall into place with the involvement of Russell Crowe, who expressed a keen interest in playing the role of Vincent. Crowe was even instrumental in getting his The Insider director Michael Mann involved in process, but even with his star-powered involvement the project continued to get delayed and Crowe departed the production. Mann then approached Tom Cruise to play the villainous lead role and was eyeing Adam Sandler to play the role of Max. However, Sandler too dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and got replaced by Jamie Foxx. Writer Stuart Beattie wanted to cast Robert De Niro as Max, once again making him a taxi driver though nothing like his iconic character Travis Bickle. The studio balked at the idea, insisting on a younger actor for the role – hence the casting of Jamie Foxx.
Michael Mann & Tom Cruise worked out an extensive backstory for Vincent
Being a stickler for detail Tom Cruise was very impressed with the effort director Michael Mann had put into creating the characters for the film. But after the A-list action star joined production both he and Mann added more details to Vincent’s backstory for the movie. During a behind-the-scenes interview Mann revealed a few interesting tidbits about the Vincent’s backstory:
“If he was in a foster home for part of his childhood, and he was back in public school at age 11, that would have been sometime in the 70s. He would have been dressed very awkwardly. He would’ve probably been ostracized ’cause he’d have looked odd. We postulated an alcoholic, abusive father who was culturally very progressive, he was probably part of Ed Sadlowski’s Steelworkers Local, he was a Vietnam veteran, he had friends who were African-American on the South side of Chicago. The Checkerboard Lounge is thirty minutes away on the Calumet Skyway. The father was probably an aficionado of jazz. There was a great jazz scene on the South side of Chicago, but it’s almost as if the father blamed the son for what happened to the mother. The father probably never tutored the boy in jazz and so on.”
Tom Cruise went to the extent of becoming a skilled sharpshooter for the movie
Tom Cruise’s dedication and commitment to the roles he take on are the stuff of legend. For Collateral Cruise underwent a rigorous firearms training for three months under the supervision of Mike Gould, a famous trainer in close quarter combat and firearms in the movie industry. Though this was the first time Cruise had worked with live rounds for a film, his tactical gun drawing in the film was so good that it’s used by experts during their lessons involving handgun training. Cruise even took on the task of covertly making FedEx deliveries in the crowded LA streets in an effort to master Vincent’s skill of getting in and out of any place or situation without being seen.
Jamie Foxx was on a major hot streak that year
All actors have their periods of lulls and resurgences but when it comes to 2004 there was one actor who was on a major hot streak and that was Jamie Foxx. The talented performer gained his career breakthrough by being a regular in the comedy skit show In Living Color. Following its success Foxx was given his own sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show, in which he starred, co-created and produced. He gained wider recognition for his role in Ali which is what prompted director Michael Mann to cast him in Collateral. That same year Foxx also played the lead role of Ray Charles in the critically acclaimed biopic Ray. His electrifying performance as the blind musician won him multiple accolades including an Academy Award, BAFTA, SAG and a Golden Globe Award whilst nabbing an Academy Award nomination for his performance in Collateral.
About that awesome Jason Statham cameo
Very early on in the movie there is a brief scene in which action star Jason Statham does a shady hand off to Tom Cruise’s character Vincent. At the time of its release many wondered if it was Statham reprising his role of Frank Martin from the Transporter series. During an interview with The Transporter co-director Louis Leterrier postulated that this was indeed Statham in character as Frank Martin delivering Vincent’s package. Sadly, this was before the era of shared universes so nothing really panned out from there, save for this small but utterly gratifying cameo.
The movie was predominantly shot in the digital format
Collateral was shot mostly in the digital format using the Viper FilmStream High-Definition camera. The device worked remarkably well in low light conditions so Mann was able to bring a never-before-seen look to the LA nightlife. The sequence in the nightclub was shot entirely in 35mm. Director of Photography Paul Cameron departed the project 3 weeks in due to creative differences and the shoot was taken over by Dion Beebe for the remainder period.
Only half of the music composed by James Newton Howard was used in the film
Award winning composer James Newton Howard was hired to write the score for Collateral at the very outset and he was assisted in this task by the talented Brazilian musician Antonio Pinto. However, only half of what the duo composed ultimately made it into the movie. The rest of the music featured in the effort was made up of songs from the likes of Tom Rothrock, Groove Armada, Miles Davis and Audioslave.
Box-office success, rave reviews and awards glory
The neo-noir crime thriller was made on a production budget of $65 million and went on to make a respectable $220.2 million at the worldwide box office. As of writing Collateral has an approval rating of 86% on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes based on 238 reviews and an average rating of 7.5/10. The critical consensus reads, “Driven by director Michael Mann’s trademark visuals and a lean, villainous performance from Tom Cruise, Collateral is a stylish and compelling noir thriller.” Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post praised the film and Cruise’s performance. He summarized the film as “the best kind of genre filmmaking: It plays by the rules, obeys the traditions and is both familiar and fresh at once”. Roger Ebert praised the performances of Cruise and Foxx, calling Foxx’s work a “revelation”. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote of Foxx’s performance: “Foxx can act. He’s up to the role’s demands, conveying fear, confusion and frustration, but more important the exhaustion and recklessness that can easily follow when someone’s been scared for so long”.
Come awards season the movie received two Academy Awards nominations in the categories of Best Supporting Actor for Jamie Foxx and Best Film Editing. At the BAFTA Awards the movie received six nominations winning the award for Best Cinematography and the Golden Globe Awards saw Foxx receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Although Foxx would end up sweeping awards season for his performance in Ray, there is no denying that Collateral features a masterful performance by the actor which is aided by an unforgettable villainous turn from a relentless Tom Cruise. All in all, Collateral is an effort that has aged like fine wine over the years, going on to become one of the greatest neo noir actioners to come out from the early 2000s era.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.