I attended this special evening at the Pacific Theater in Hollywood. Tom Cruise, Michael Mann, and actor Barry Shabaka Henley were there, and Kenneth Turan of the L.A. Times was the moderator. Jamie Foxx was a no show because his grandmother was ill. It was a full house with not one seat open in the whole theatre, and they started by showing clips from old films that depict Los Angeles. The first clip shown was Kiss Me Deadly (1955) chosen by the moderator, followed by Touch of Evil (1958) picked by Mann. Cruise picked a clip from Sunset Boulevard of a body in a pool, and Beverly Hills Cop was picked by Barry Shabaka Henley.

They showed a lot of extended clips from Collateral–the look of film is amazing! Michael Mann told Turan that 85% of the film was done with a digital camera so that they could manipulate certain scenes for the film. The Korean disco scene two-thirds through the film is a real keeper. Jada Pinkett Smith plays a taxicab passenger that Max, Jamie Foxx’s character, is making a play for. That scene probably occurs before Max picks up Vincent, the killer played by Tom Cruise.