‘Collateral’ 20th anniversary: Remembering the 2-time Oscar nominee starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx

One of the most acclaimed films of 2004 is “Collateral,” starring Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx and Jada Pinkett Smith. Written by Stuart Beattie and directed by Michael Mann, the movie tells of a cab driver in nighttime Los Angeles who becomes the hostage of a contract killer. Released 20 years ago in August 2004, “Collateral” was a box office success, grossing $220 million worldwide on a $65 million budget. Read on for more about the “Collateral” 20th anniversary.

Most of the nation’s critics were positive on “Collateral.” Todd McCarthy in Variety wrote, “This intensely focused piece soars not only on the director’s precision-tooled style but also on the outstanding interplay between leads Cruise and Foxx.” Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film “a rare thriller that’s as much character study as sound and fury.” And Peter Travers in Rolling Stone said, “Mann hits a new peak, orchestrating action, atmosphere and bruising humor with a poet’s eye for urban darkness.”

With “Collateral” released to strong reviews and huge box office, was it going to be an awards player in early 2005? It had some strikes against it, number one it being a genre action film. Although “Collateral” is made with lots of style and craft, it’s a work of suspense more than anything else. However, Mann had had success at the Oscars in recent years with “The Insider,” which got into Best Picture and Best Director. In addition, Cruise had received three Academy Award nominations up to this point, and Foxx was getting tons of awards buzz for his portrayal of Ray Charles in “Ray,” released in the fall of 2004. “Collateral” didn’t appear likely to get into Picture or Director, but nominations in technical categories seemed possible, along with acting noms for Cruise and Foxx.

At the Golden Globes, “Collateral” only received one nomination — Best Supporting Actor for Foxx, who was also nominated that night for his performance in the TV movie “Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story,” and who won Best Musical/Comedy Actor for “Ray.” As it turned out, Fox had a central role in the 2005 awards season, the man winning Lead Actor prizes for “Ray” and was nominated in Supporting Actor for “Collateral” at not only the Golden Globes but also Critics Choice, SAG, BAFTA and the Oscars. In a way, Foxx coasted on the popularity of his “Ray” performances to consistently show up in the Supporting Actor category as well for “Collateral.”

Despite the great reviews and enthusiastic audience reception for Mann’s 2004 thriller, the movie only received a handful of nominations in other categories besides Supporting Actor throughout the season. It got into Best Picture at the Critics Choice Awards, won Best Director for Mann at the Hollywood Film Awards and from the National Board of Review, and won Best Cinematography from the Los Angeles Film Critics. Its most impressive showing occurred at BAFTA, where it received six nominations total, including Best Director for Mann, Best Original Screenplay for Beattie and Best Supporting Actor for Foxx. At BAFTA that year, “Collateral” won Best Cinematography for Dion Beebe and Paul Cameron.

Unfortunately the movie only got into two categories at the 77th Academy Awards — Best Supporting Actor for Foxx and Best Film Editing for Jim Miller and Paul Rubell. Tom Cruise missed Best Actor in all the precursors that season and ultimately never became a serious awards contender by the time Oscar nominations morning arrived despite his celebrated and memorable against-type turn as a coldblooded villain. And then Beebe and Cameron, who had won Cinematography at BAFTA, shockingly weren’t even nominated at the Oscars, passed over for “The Aviator,” “House of Flying Daggers,” “The Passion of the Christ,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “A Very Long Engagement.”

In Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards, Foxx was going up against Alan Alda for “The Aviator,” Thomas Haden Church for “Sideways,” Clive Owen for “Closer” and Morgan Freeman for “Million Dollar Baby,” the latter winning. Owen prevailed in the category at the Golden Globes and Church won at Critics Choice, but Freeman became the odds-on favorite after his victory at SAG and his never having won an Oscar before, despite numerous nominations for films like “Driving Miss Daisy” and “The Shawshank Redemption.” Since Foxx was already winning Best Actor for “Ray” that night, I would argue he was in the fifth choice slot for “Collateral,” just happy to be that rare person who receives double acting nominations in the same year.

In Best Film Editing at the Academy Awards, Miller and Rubell were up against Matt Chesse for “Finding Neverland,” Joel Fox for “Million Dollar Baby,” Paul Hirsch for “Ray” and Thelma Schoonmaker for “The Aviator,” the latter scoring victory. Again, “Collateral” was likely in fifth place in Film Editing given that it was the only movie in the category not nominated for Best Picture and having no other noms in the technical categories.

Despite “Collateral” only receiving two Oscar nominations total, it continues to be a favorite for many 20 years later. The engaging narrative, strong directing, impeccable performances, and striking cinematography all come together to make for one incredible motion picture for the ages. In the New York Times, Manohla Dargis wrote, “Pitched between interludes of anxious intimacy and equally nerve-shredding set pieces, Michael Mann’s edgy thriller scores its points with underhand precision.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

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