television director and Christine's husband Ludacris as Anthony, a violent carjacker and Peter's partner Thandiwe Newton (credited as Thandie Newton) as Christine Thayer, Cameron's wife Michael Peña as Daniel Ruiz, a Hispanic locksmith Ryan Phillippe as Officer Tom Hansen, a rookie policeman and Ryan's partner Larenz Tate as Peter, a laid back carjacker, and Anthony's partner Shaun Toub as Farhad, a Persian shop owner Bahar Soomekh as Dorri, Farhad's daughter Ashlyn Sanchez as Lara Ruiz, Daniel's daughter Karina Arroyave as Elizabeth Ruiz, Daniel's wife Loretta Devine as Shaniqua Johnson, a HMO administrator Beverly Todd as Mrs. Waters William Fichtner as Jake Flanagan, Rick's campaign manager Keith David as Lieutenant Dixon, Tom's superior officer Jack McGee as Gun Store Owner Greg Joung Paik as Choi Chin Gui, a human trafficker Alexis Rhee as Kim Lee, Choi Chin Gui's wife Daniel Dae Kim as Park Nona Gaye as Karen Bruce Kirby as 'Pop' Ryan Tony Danza as Fred Kathleen York as Officer Johnson Sylva Kelegian as Nurse Hodges Marina Sirtis as Shereen, Farhad's wife Production Development Writer and director Paul Haggis was inspired to make the film after being carjacked by two African-American men at a Blockbuster Video on Wilshire Boulevard while driving home from the premiere of The Silence of the Lambs in February 1991. Afterwards he began thinking more about the impact of race, ethnicity, and class in American society. He later stated that he wrote Crash not simply to criticize racists but to "bust liberals" for the idea that the United States had become a post-racial society. Haggis cowrote the first draft of Crash with Robert Moresco in 2001 after being fired from Family Law. Casting Haggis initially tried to sell the script to television producers before it gained the attention of producers Cathy Schulman and Bob Yari. Yari offered Haggis $7.5 million to produce the script as a film, on the condition he could assemble an ensemble cast of major stars. Don Cheadle was the first actor to be cast and also came on board as a producer, which helped attract other big names to the production. Forest Whitaker was originally attached to play Terrence Howard's role but dropped out. The casting of Brendan Fraser as the district attorney, which came last, was pivotal in getting the film green-lit. Heath Ledger and John Cusack were also attached to the roles of Tom Hanson and John Ryan, respectively, but