There are several crazy theories about certain movies, but the truth is that very few became as widespread as the idea that the character he played Jason Statham in ‘Collateral’ it was actually Frank Martin, the unforgettable protagonist of the saga ‘transporter’. Until now it was impossible to give a definitive answer on this, but that has just changed.
stuart beattiescreenwriter of the film directed by Michael Mannhas been in charge of confirming that the theory is true, at least as far as he is concerned, making the following clarification about it on the Collateral Confessions podcast:
Of course it’s Frank Martin from Transporter. I asked Jason about it… Yes, absolutely. Yes, he is canon. The same world… the studio will never admit that, but in my head, it absolutely is him.
It is clear that it is the closest we’re going to get a confirmation, because Beattie himself makes it clear that it will be impossible for him to be seconded by anyone from the studio. At the end of the day, ‘Collateral’ and ‘Transporter’ have different producers and distributors, so on that side it’s going to be impossible for things to go beyond this.
Of course, on the other side we also had confirmation years ago, because louis leterrier, director of ‘Transporter’ and ‘Transporter 2’, assured at the time that Statham’s character in ‘Collateral’ was Frank Martin. However, he had no involvement in ‘Collateral’, so everything could be reduced more to a wish than to a reality.
The ones who never got wet were Mann and Statham himself, but here Beattie has said that he spoke with the latter about it…