Did Adam Sandler reject Michael Mann movie ‘Collateral’?
An iconic filmmaker of the 1980s, sharing the cinematic pedestal with the likes of John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg and James Cameron, American director Michael Mann became responsible for some of the greatest movies of the decade. Working with the likes of James Caan, Brian Cox, Daniel Day-Lewis, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer, Mann developed his style from one movie to the next, establishing himself as a creative with a fondness for smart, stylish thrillers.
Announcing his name on the world stage with Thief in 1981, Mann gave cinema one of the greatest debuts of all time in the form of a story that followed a safe cracker wanting to do one last heist before quitting for good. More success followed for the director, too, releasing Manhunter in 1986, The Last of the Mohicans in 1992 and the iconic action flick Heat in 1995, which would have a dramatic impact on Hollywood cinema.
Due to his influence, Mann has several filmmaking fans, including Quentin Tarantino who said that Thief blew his mind. “When Michael Mann came out with Thief with James Caan, he blew our minds,” he stated on his podcast with friend and filmmaker Roger Avary, “It was like roll over John Carpenter, tell Walter Hill … there’s a new guy out there on the crime film scene who wrote great, gritty dialogue, he had a wonderful visual sense”.
Although his career arguably peaked in the 1980s and 1990s, Mann continues to make movies to this very day, releasing his greatest 21st-century flick Collateral in 2001. Starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx, the neat crime film tells the story of a cab driver who is held hostage by a contract killer doing his rounds around LA.
Whilst Cruise thrives in the role, he almost didn’t get the gig, with Russell Crowe being originally attached to play the character. In fact, the Australian actor was the person to get the ball rolling with the production, encouraging Mann to join the project before consistent delays saw him depart. The director then went to Cruise, offering him the role, whilst the unlikely comedian Adam Sandler would play Max.
Indeed, it was only due to scheduling conflicts with the 2004 rom-com Spanglish that Sandler left the project, replaced by Foxx. Meanwhile, screenwriter Stuart Beattie wanted Robert De Niro as Max, thinking that the actor playing the opposite of his Taxi Driver role would be a humorous turn of events.
“It was one of those funny screenplays,” Mann said of the film during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, “Nothing’s wrong with Adam Sandler, but it kinda envisioned a – it took place in New York, the Jamie Foxx character was a badly-written Jewish cab driver, with the kind of stereotypes that can only come from someone writing that kind of a character who’s foreign, who’s not American, that doesn’t live in New York”.
Yet, Mann admits, “I didn’t like the screenplay, I didn’t like the dialogue, I didn’t like writing, but if you took the screenplay, and put it under an MRI, or an X-ray machine, and took a look at it, you realize this thing has beautiful, beautiful bones. It’s one of the most beautifully constructed stories I’d had ever run into”.
