Stuart Beattie thought of the idea of Collateral based on how easily cab drivers trust their passengers and engage with them

Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx have both done various movies that have contributed to their filmography greatly. Both of them have done iconic roles and some of the biggest blockbusters in Hollywood. Despite their massive list of films individually, one of their successes coincides. Michael Mann’s star-studded Collateral was a movie that both of them did alongside Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, and Jason Statham.

Tom Cruise
The movie is a thrilling ride of events, however, it was not a script that was born out of thin air. The screenwriter of the film, Stuart Beattie had an interestingly disturbing experience that later became the inspiration for a film that involved an assassin. The script of the Collateral is proof that ideas can come from absolutely anywhere.

Tom Cruise’s Movie Had an Interesting Inspiration

Screenwriter of Tom Cruise’s Collateral, Stuart Beattie proved that the most absurd accounts of inspiration can strike with events as mundane as possible. Hajime Isayama, the creator of Attack on Titan, came up with the idea of the Titans after looking at drunk men. In a similar manner, as per IMDb, Beattie came up with the idea of what it would feel like if there was an assassin sitting in the back of a cab on a random day.

Tom Cruise in Collateral
The idea struck him when he was only seventeen. He was going to the airport in a cab when the vivid idea came to him. He wondered what it would be like were there to be an absolutely disturbing man sitting in the back of the car and the cab driver communicating with him in a sense of familiarity, without once realizing the things he was involved in. Not only that, but it was about how easily cab drivers can trust their passengers, even if they are assassins in secret. However, it was not an idea that developed immediately.

Stuart Beattie Took His Time with the Script

The idea for Collateral was not one that was perfected in an instant. Although the concept came into being almost immediately, Stuart Beattie took his time perfecting the script as a whole. He penned down the idea in only two pages at the age of seventeen. According to IMDb, It was at Oregon State University that he began expanding on that idea. He wrote an entire script and titled it The Last Domino.
Michael Mann with Jamie Foxx during the filming of Collateral
Afterward, he took it out time and again to revise certain aspects of the script. It was not a fast process and the hit film came into being because of this patient and slow process.