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Collateral

Genre:
Thriller.

Studio:
Dreamworks Pictures/Paramount Pictures.


Production Company:
Unknown.

Project Phase:
Released.

Who's In It:
Tom Cruise (Vincent; Jamie Foxx (Max); Jada Pinkett-Smith; Mark Ruffalo; Dennis Farina; Irma Hall.

Who's Making It:
Michael Mann (Director); Stuart Beattie (Screenwriter); Julie Richardson (Producer); Frank Darabont, Rob Fried, Chuck Russell (Executive Producers).

Premise:
As Variety describes it, "A Gotham cabbie realizes he is driving a hit man from murder to murder, and unwittingly becomes 'collateral' -- that is, a witness who is then forced to commit murder himself, so as to discourage any report of the crimes."

Release Date:
August 6, 2004.

Comments:
Filming began in Los Angeles in October 2003.

Scoop Feedback:

June 3, 2003... Director Michael Mann (ALI, THE INSIDER) has chosen the DreamWorks thriller COLLATERAL as his next project. Written by Stuart Beattie with a rewrite by Frank Darabont, COLLATERAL has been in development for about four years at DW. Mann's involvement isn't new; Coming Attractions was scooped as to Mann's interest in directing the project last October. What is new is the interest of the world's biggest action star, Tom Cruise. Cruise is considering playing the villain role in the picture, a hitman who takes a New York City cab driver hostage so he can travel around the city and make his hits. The cabbie is forced to take part in some of the killer's murders, which makes him an accessory to the act.

Cruise hasn't committed to starring in the film yet. According to Variety the actor and Michael Mann have been trying to find a project to collaborate on for a while now. [Source: Variety.]

July 15, 2003... Jamie Foxx is getting behind the wheel of Michael Mann's COLLATERAL, set to start filming in October. Foxx will play the cab driver who is kidnapped by Tom Cruise's hitman character and taken around the town while the killer makes his stops. The script was written by Stuart Beattie.

Mann was very careful choosing Cruise's co-star for this film. Of the many actors who came in to read with Cruise, Foxx's take on the character of Max, the cabbie, read the best. Maybe it also had something to do with Foxx's comedy roots, as Max the cabbie is supposed to be an amateur comedy writer. [Variety.]

September 26, 2003... There won't be a TOP GUN reunion after all. Val Kilmer has exited Michael Mann's COLLATERAL citing a conflicting schedule with his work in Oliver Stone's ALEXANDER, now filming. Kilmer was to play a detective who was hot on the trail of Tom Cruise's hitman, a killer who has taken a NYC cabbie (Jamie Foxx) captive and is forcing him to drive around town while the assassin completes his hits. Mann will now have to look for someone to replace Kilmer.

Meanwhile, it's not all bad news for COLLATERAL. Character actor Dennis Farina has landed a part in the film as a different detective trying to track down the killer and his hostage.

COLLATERAL is scheduled to start shooting next month. [The Hollywood Reporter.]

October 13, 2003... When Val Kilmer exited Michael Mann's new thriller, COLLATERAL, the project was left without a good guy to counter Tom Cruise's menacing assassin. Kilmer's replacement may have been found: actor Mark Ruffalo, soon to be seen in the thriller IN THE CUT.

Ruffalo would play the New York City detective who is trying to track the movements of a cab containing a killer for hire who's taken the cabbie hostage. Ruffalo just finished working with Jennifer Garner in the upcoming comedy 13 GOING ON 30. COLLATERAL is scheduled to start filming this month, leaving Ruffalo little time to make a decision. [The Hollywood Reporter.]

May 7, 2004... Today is the launch day for the COLLATERAL teaser trailer, DreamWorks' upcoming summertime thriller starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx and directed by Michael Mann (THE INSIDER). In the picture Cruise plays a professional hitman who arrives in Los Angeles with a mission: kill five people and be out of town on a flight by 6 AM. To make sure he gets his work done, Vincent the hitman "hires" cabbie Max (Foxx) to drive him to his victims' homes. If Max is able to keep his cool and not cause any trouble, Vincent promises he'll be out of his life and still be alive come sunrise.

That is, if Vincent keeps his promises.

Take a look at what kind of film COLLATERAL is shaping up to be by downloading the trailer from the film's official website. COLLATERAL opens in theaters on August 6. [Official website.]

May 28, 2004... If the trailer for Michael Mann's COLLATERAL caught your eye, a positive review of the film's script over at Screenwriter's Voice is worth your read. While the draft that the Voice reviewer grades is a couple of years old (the action here is set in New York City instead of Los Angeles where events now happen), the site feels safe to say that Stuart Beattie's screenplay will deliver a tightly wound thriller people will enjoy.

"This story works quite well told quickly, has a similar feel to PHONE BOOTH and goes everywhere it needs to go in order to unfold," writes "T.H." in their assessment of the draft. "Beattie uses a minimal of characters, writes in some turning points that are truly unexpected, but not overblown 'twists'; and he truly manages to create an interesting tone."

For those unfamiliar with COLLATERAL, the film stars Tom Cruise as a hitman and Jamie Foxx as his "collateral", a cabbie who's been forced to take the killer through the city as he carries out assassinations. The hitman has promised that if the driver does what he asks he'll be let go unharmed, but will he live up to that promise or should the cabbie make a run for it?

Click here to read the COLLATERAL screenplay review, and if you like what you see, count the days down until the picture opens on August 6. [Screenwriter's Voice.]

After Its Release:

August 8, 2004... Once again the star power of Tom Cruise is on display at the movies. Michael Mann's COLLATERAL is the number one film at the box office this weekend earning an estimated $24.4 million dollars in its first three days of release, easily besting the second place challenger, THE VILLAGE.