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The Rewatchables · August 6, 2019

Collateral

host Bill Simmons host Chris Ryan producer Craig Horlbeck

Casting what-if: Russell Crowe as Vincent
Sequel or remake: A ten-episode adaptation

All 16 categories

Who won the movie Tom Cruise
Roger Ebert
Dion Waiters Award Javier Bardem
“That Guy” Award Barry Shabaka Henley

Most Rewatchable Scene · 38:02

The Fever nightclub

Bill Simmons: The opening cab ride combines Groove Armada, an implausibly empty 105, chemistry, and a rare narcotic feeling of effortless Los Angeles motion.

Bill Simmons: The corpse falling onto the cab is a terrifying first-viewing shock, followed by Cruise’s calm calculation, Max’s panic, and the darkly comic distinction that the fall killed him.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 1:10:40

“We got to make the best of it. Improvise. Adapt to the environment. Darwin. Shit happens. I Ching. Whatever, man. We got to roll with it”

Chris Ryan: “Don’t get me cornered,” “you don’t have the trunk space,” the Amnesty/Oxfam/Greenpeace exchange, and Vincent’s warning about dying in a recliner are preserved alternatives.

The film

Collateral (2004)

Directed by Michael Mann · Action

120 minutes

IMDb Letterboxd JustWatch Find on Rotten Tomatoes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Tom Cruise Vincent

Jamie Foxx Max Durocher

Jada Pinkett Smith Annie Farrell

Mark Ruffalo Detective Ray Fanning

Peter Berg Detective Richard Weidner

Bruce McGill Frank Pedrosa

Irma P. Hall Ida Durocher

Barry Shabaka Henley Daniel Baker

Richard T. Jones Traffic Cop #1

Klea Scott Fed #1

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

36:15

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (1)

Approx. transcript time · 00:36:15Read transcript

The panel endorses Ebert’s short-film observation because each stop acts like a distinct episode in the night. — Chris Ryan

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59:35

Casting What-Ifs

Russell Crowe as Vincent; Adam Sandler as Max and Edward Norton in either lead (uncertain); Val Kilmer as Fanning

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 00:59:35Read transcript

Mimi Leder and Janusz Kamiński were attached before Crowe’s interest brought Mann to the project; Spike Lee, Scorsese, and Spielberg were also approached. — Bill Simmons
Crowe would make a different but exciting Vincent, while Sandler would make the movie funnier but might prevent viewers from accepting Max. — Bill Simmons
Edward Norton was reportedly offered both leads, Colin Farrell Vincent, and Cuba Gooding Jr. Max. — Bill Simmons
Val Kilmer withdrew from Fanning because of Alexander, leaving the hosts imagining his facial-hair choices and 80-take phone scene. — Bill Simmons
Dennis Farina was the original Bruce McGill possibility. — Bill Simmons

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1:05:42

Half-Assed Internet Research

Stuart Beattie’s teenage cab-ride premise, Mann’s character biographies, and Vincent’s sixteen kills

In the discussion (3)

Approx. transcript time · 01:05:42Read transcript

Beattie reportedly conceived a calm killer behind an unsuspecting cab driver while riding home from Sydney airport at seventeen. — Bill Simmons
Mann wrote unseen background documents so the actors could answer questions about Vincent and Max’s earlier lives. — Bill Simmons
The hosts count sixteen people killed by Vincent. — Bill Simmons

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1:08:23

Picking Nits

The surviving cab, jazz expertise, open-air double murder, empty station, travel-time certainty, and implausibly unus...

The surviving cab, jazz expertise, open-air double murder, empty station, travel-time certainty, and implausibly unused freeway bridges

In the discussion (5)

Approx. transcript time · 01:08:23Read transcript

A body falling four floors should cave in the cab roof and prevent a full night of driving. — Bill Simmons
Vincent may know Miles Davis history because he prepared for Daniel, but the breadth of his jazz fluency still feels tailored to the scene. — Chris Ryan
Two loud close-range killings near Santa Monica should cause more attention than the easy escape suggests. — Chris Ryan
The operating train station has no staff or other people, and Max treats Los Angeles drive estimates as exact despite traffic variability. — Chris Ryan
The film uses pedestrian freeway bridges that the hosts have never seen Angelenos use outside action movies. — Bill Simmons

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1:12:19

Probably Unanswerable Questions

How Felix’s case proceeds, why a major witness visits Fever, whether Max and Vincent should switch roles, and why Man...

How Felix’s case proceeds, why a major witness visits Fever, whether Max and Vincent should switch roles, and why Mann repeatedly names characters Vincent

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:12:19Read transcript

With most witnesses dead and Annie alive, the panel is unsure whether Felix faces a mistrial, a retrial, or a viable prosecution. — Bill Simmons
A key witness going to a crowded nightclub instead of witness protection exposes the prosecution’s weak security. — Chris Ryan
Switching Foxx and Cruise is judged worse but intriguing; a Gosling and Michael B. Jordan remake is another hypothetical. — Bill Simmons
Mann’s repeated use of Vincent, including in Heat, remains unexplained. — Bill Simmons

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