Collateral 2004

Collateral is a 2004 American neo-noir action thriller film directed and produced by Michael Mann, written by Stuart Beattie, and starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx. The supporting cast includes Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Javier Bardem, and Bruce McGill. The film follows Max Durocher (Foxx), a Los Angeles cab driver, and his customer, Vincent (Cruise). When offered a high fare for driving to several locations, Max agrees but soon finds himself taken hostage by Vincent who turns out to be a sociopathic hitman on a contract killing spree. Beattie conceived the film's concept while taking a taxi home from Sydney Airport. He shared the idea with producer Julie Richardson, who showed it to director Frank Darabont. The film was pitched to HBO but was declined. It was purchased by DreamWorks Pictures but would not see development for three years. Before the trio of Mann, Cruise and Foxx joined the film, Mimi Leder, Janusz Kamiński and Fernando Meirelles were each considered as director, and Russell Crowe and Adam Sandler were in talks to star as Vincent and Max, respectively.