Most of us have been watching Tom Cruise on screen since the early days of Top Gun, which became known as his breakthrough in the world of action. Over the years, we have watched the Jerry Maguire star try various genres before completely establishing himself as an action star. Though recent films would have us think of the Mission Impossible franchise, there is one movie that seems to have slipped through the cracks, Michael Mann’s 2004 thriller.

Among the actors’ many roles, this one stood out as it is one of the few times that he has taken up the responsibility to portray a character so different from his usual ones. What many fans do not know is that this happened only after the persuasive powers of Mann finally rubbed off on him.

How Tom Cruise bagged the role

A step above Tom Cruise’s usual roles, Collateral portrays the star in a role that is not the most likable. But as always, he gave us a performance that was enchanting and left fans reeling. After almost twenty years, it is hard to imagine anyone else suiting the role apart from Tom Cruise. But he was initially not supposed to be in Michael Mann’s Collateral.

After Russell Crowe quit due to conflicting schedules and a lot of convincing later, he was cast as the antagonist in the film alongside Jamie Foxx, who is the protagonist. With a duo as big as these two, who would need a more star-studded line-up? To add to the list, they have got Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Javier Bardem, and even a surprise cameo that the fan absolutely loved from The Transporter star, Jason Statham.

Even though Collateral brought in over 220 million dollars when it came out, streaming it was rather difficult until recently when Netflix added it to their library.

Foxx and Cruise could bounce off of each other’s personalities and give the audience a performance that was absolutely riveting. But what stood out was how America’s favorite actor donned the hat of a villain perfectly.

The performance that changed America’s favorite actor

Considered one of Tom Cruise’s best performances in his career, it is not surprising that the thriller portrayed the actor in a different light. As any good actor does, he brought life to the role along with suspense that lasted throughout the film. With fans usually seeing the actor as a protagonist in most of his films, it gave fans a nice change of perspective and finally made things interesting.

For his first time being a villain, Tom Cruise proved that he is more than just our Mission Impossible hero. The character, Vincent, was a perfect fit for Tom Cruise who embodied the hitman and enamored his audience.

Do you think Tom Cruise was the right choice for Vincent? Let us know what you think in the comments.