While talking to producer Neal Moritz, he brought up an interesting concept. Describing what it was that he looked for in an actor, he stated that he looked for somebody who "popped" off the screen. It wasn’t something inherently specific, mind you, it was just his gut reaction to an actor’s full immersion into his role. Watching Mark Ruffalo play the part of street-smart detective Fanning in director Michael Mann’s latest project, Collateral, I couldn’t help thinking back to Moritz’s comments; Ruffalo simply popped off the screen.

Ruffalo’s Fanning stands out in Collateral because of the uncompromising swagger he possesses. Ruffalo steals any scene he is in, regardless of whether he is next to Tom Cruise or Jamie Foxx, because he has infused his character with a very simple, brusque, take-charge energy.

Instilling this trait into a character is not an easy task for any actor to accomplish, particularly an actor like Ruffalo who has made a career for himself thus far by playing good-spirited romantic leads (13 Going on 30) and softer, more nebbish and mysterious characters (In the Cut and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). There is nothing subtle or vague about Fanning. He wears his emotions on his sleeve, says what he thinks without really thinking about the consequences of his statements and will take on anyone, including his superiors in the LAPD and the FBI, who disagrees with his take on what should be done in a given a situation. Fanning isn’t necessarily argumentative, though his actions could occasionally be seen that way. He is simply driven to do what he thinks is right every situation.

It’s this sense of assurity that Ruffalo has created in the character of Fanning that gives him his considerable screen presence. Foxx and Cruise are good in their roles, but neither possesses the knowledge that they are completely on the path of good and moral righteousness, as does Ruffalo’s Fanning.

This is obvious in one of Ruffalo’s first scenes. Roused out of bed to examine a peculiar blood spla.html>spla.html>spla.html>spla.html>splatter in an alley, Fanning is determined to find out what went wrong; he is the (possible) victim’s only savior. No one else on the crime scene shows much enthusiasm or compassion of any kind. One cop actually tosses evidence out of a third story window down to Fanning on the ground.

When Fanning moodily stalks off the scene to do more investigation into the matter, Ruffalo has already set the pace for his character and every scene in which he appears in Collateral. Ruffalo spent a lot of time and energy preparing for this part so he could make it look effortless as he "popped" off the screen.

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