Are Tom Cruise's Collateral & Jason Statham's Transporter Connected?

In Michael Mann's "Collateral," Los Angeles cab driver Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx) spends his nights picking up and dropping off customers across the bustling city. Mann hones in on the vivid texture of the city at night, the subtle beauty of the busy neon-lit streets, and the eerie silence that fills up the cramped, empty alleyways. Something ominous seems to be lurking beneath the lull of everyday mundanities, and this sentiment manifests in the form of Vincent (Tom Cruise), a hitman who takes Max hostage after boarding his cab as a customer. A game of tense cat-and-mouse follows ... but an odd incident occurs even before Vincent boards Max's cab and terrorizes the man to no end.

When Vincent arrives at the airport in the film's opening, he bumps into a man who hands him a bag. This man, played by none other than Jason Statham, is credited solely as "Airport Man," raising questions about this abrupt cameo that doesn't amount to anything later on. But if we wrack our brains and go through the list of Jason Statham characters that would fit the bill, we are left assuming this is Frank Martin, the freelance driver for hire in "The Transporter" movies. In that trilogy, Frank's job is to transport shady items with a no-questions-asked policy, but this changes after he gets involved in a horrifying deal that pushes his ethical limits.

While this could suggest Statham's cameo in 2004's "Collateral" as a tie-in to the "Transporter" films, Frank is a getaway driver and does not usually hand parcels in public places. However, there is reason to believe that "Collateral" and "Transporter" might share the same universe, as folks involved with both films have confirmed this connection. Let's explore this theory in detail.

Louis Leterrier, who helmed the first two "Transporter" films, spoke to IGN in 2005 and confirmed that the Statham cameo character in "Collateral" is none other than Frank Martin:

"If [2005's 'Transporter 2' is] not successful, or fairly successful, maybe we'll do a TV show. It would be a good idea for a TV show. The transporter, every week, he gets a new package or something. If it's a failure, then bye, bye. Bye, bye 'Transporter'. He'll just be a cameo in other people's movies; in Michael Mann's movies."

While this is confirmation enough, "Collateral" screenwriter Stuart Beattie also weighed in on this shared-universe theory on the "Collateral Confessions" podcast (via Dark Horizons). It is worth noting that Beattie's tone here is closer to fun banter as opposed to him stating a concrete fact, especially if we scrutinize the latter half of his statement:

"Absolutely, Frank Martin of 'Transporter'. I asked Jason [Statham] about that [...] Yeah, absolutely. Yes, it's canon. Same world [...] The studio will never admit to that, but in my head, absolutely it's him."

If we take Leterrier and Beattie's words at face value, it is worth building up a plausible timeline that could act as a bridge between the first "Transporter" and "Collateral." Let's look at the facts: By the end of "Transporter," Frank leaves France and relocates to Miami, Florida, deciding to become a temporary chauffeur to leave his past behind (as shown at the beginning of "Transporter 2"). This alone makes his presence in Los Angeles unlikely, but it is also rather strange that Frank would deliver a package in person (and not in a car, which is his M.O.). The shared universe theory only works if the timeline is out of order, where Frank's presence at the airport can be explained as a pre-"Transporter" aspect of his life. This could be a time period in which Frank had unsavory connections with a grander organization that warranted dealings with hitmen like Vincent.

But again, this is just a theory, and we can never know for sure until Mann or Statham himself affirms this connection. Until then, we can draw fun parallels between an unhinged, unpredictable hitman and a shady driver-for-hire who ends up growing a spine.