HOLLYWOOD -- As a cab-bound contract killer, Tom Cruise appears to be shifting gears in more ways than one.
While his villianous turn may be generating much of the buzz surrounding the new thriller Collateral, it would also seemingly signal the 42-year-old actor -- who spent his formative years playing the straight man to the likes of Paul Newman and Dustin Hoffman -- wants to take on the very roles those past on-and-off-screen mentors would have once inhabited.
It's easy, when watching Collateral, to imagine, circa 1986, Newman or Gene Hackman gobbling up the backseat scenery, while Cruise agonized as the tormented taxi driver.
Instead in the film, opening Friday, it's Jamie Foxx -- on the cusp of stardom himself -- who does the narrative heavy lifting while Cruise, sporting gun-metal gray hair and a monochromatic suit, delivers a charismatic, award-friendly performance.
But speaking to journalists, Cruise dismisses the notion of a conscious change in his career trajectory or acting choices.
"I don't look at it that way. I look at roles I'm interested in and different kinds of characters ... I take on characters I feel are a personal challenge to me and definitely (his Collateral character) Vincent is a role I've never played before."
Not surprisingly, when the topic of his much-publicized personal life arises, the actor is far more concise.
"Life is good," Cruise says, adding he's spent his summer working and "hanging out with the kids. I've been very busy. We're releasing Collateral and prepping a Cameron Crowe picture called Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon and that's going good. I haven't had a break."
As for his next film, M:I 3, it remains without a director mere weeks before shooting.
Asked who might take the helm, Cruise would only say he's "evaluating" a list of candidates without confirming any names.
In addition to providing Cruise with his first bad guy role, Collateral also marks the first time the actor has worked with Michael Mann, a director known for generating memorable, even career-best, performances from his actors - whether it be Will Smith in Ali or Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in Heat.
"The biggest compliment I can pay Tom, who is definitely one of the most recognizable people on the planet and has been a huge movie star for a long time is that ... when Tom comes to work, he is an actor and takes it 100 percent seriously," Mann says. "If the shoot starts at 9 a.m., then he's there at 10 to nine. And the more difficult it gets, the more it excites him."
Cruise says it was Mann who decided on departing drastically from the star's expected on-screen image.
"It's not a disguise, but it is anonymous," Mann explains. "If somebody actually witnesses (Vincent killing someone) and asks for a description, they'll say he was kind of middle height, with a white shirt ... it describes anybody or nobody."
Far from a traditional star vehicle, Collateral, despite its action thriller trappings, unfolds largely like a two-man play within the confines of the taxi. Because of this, much of the movie hinges on the rapport between Cruise and Foxx. Asked about the unlikely chemistry between the two actors, Mann smiles, remembering Foxx's screen test with Cruise.
"Sometimes as a director you just know when you know."
An off-screen friendship appears to have outlasted Collateral's production: "He's the most well-adjusted millionaire you'll ever meet," Foxx says of Cruise.
Already making the rounds in advance of Collateral's release is the story of how Foxx crashed his cab during filming -- with Cruise in the backseat. The scene called for Foxx to sideswipe a parked Mercedes. Instead, he smashed headlong into the vehicle, tossing Cruise -- or as Foxx calls him, "a billion dollars of man" -- around.
"I made a mistake. It wasn't on purpose," Foxx says, adding the story has become so overblown it's now " 'I've killed Tom Cruise.' "
Recalls Mann, "All I heard (after the accident) was these two guys driving away after wrecking two cars laughing hysterically."
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