Summary
- Michael Mann is currently writing the script for
Heat 2
, which will serve as a prequel and sequel starting in ’88. - The sequel will introduce very different versions of the characters from the original film, exploring their evolution.
- Rumors of casting choices like Adam Driver and Austin Butler persist, but Mann has not officially cast anyone yet.
Seminal director Michael Mann has offered another promising update on the development of his action sequel, Heat 2. During a recent interview on Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi, Mann confirmed that he now writing the script, but cannot comment on any of the casting rumors or ideas until that script is complete.
“I’m writing the screenplay right now. And it comes from having so much background and then protracting where some of these lives go. What I had to figure out is a device, a story, that can keep the end of it and the beginning – it is a prequel and a sequel. Starts in ’88, it actually starts on the first day after the end of the movie with Val Kilmer trying to get out of L.A.”
Adam Driver Plays it Cool When Addressing Potential Role in Heat 2
Michael Mann may have confirmed that Adam Driver is in talks to take over as Neil McCauley in Heat 2, but the actor seems less certain.
As well as revealing how the story begins, Mann went on to offer further details regarding how Heat 2 will pick up from the first movie, and where it will introduce “very different” versions of the characters played by Val Kilmer, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino in the original film.
“He’s wounded and half delirious. And then it goes back to 1988 and they’re very different people. They’re not the people they are in the movie. It’s the events of ’88 that made them into the people they are in the movie. So the De Niro character, Neil McCauley, is deep into a relationship with a woman, he has a stepdaughter. He has all these attachments. And then what happens in 2000 takes us into a whole different world, trans-national organized crime and Ciudad del Este, which is a free trade zone in South American and Southeast Asia.”
Who Will Star in Heat 2?
Heat
- Release Date
- December 15, 1995
- Runtime
- 170
- Studio
- Warner Bros.
- Tagline
- An epic tale of crime and obsession and two men on opposite sides of the law
Rumors persist that the likes of Ferrari star Adam Driver and Dune: Part Two actor Austin Butler have been cast in Heat 2, with the former reportedly playing De Niro’s character, the master thief Neil McCauley with the latter playing his accomplice and friend Chris Shiherlis, played in the original by Val Kilmer. However, according to Mann, while he has had “conversations” with some actors, nobody has officially been cast.
“I’ve had some conversations with some people, but I can’t really cast until the screenplay is written.”
This is far from the first update we’ve gotten from Mann regarding Heat 2, with the filmmaker promising last month that the sequel is “definitely” his next project. The Heat follow-up will act as both a prequel and a sequel to the first movie, which follows acting icons Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as a cop, Vincent Hanna, and a robber Neil McCauley, exploring the conflict between the LAPD detective and the career criminal, and how these two careers affect their professional relationships and personal lives.
Heat 2
will be based on the 2022 novel of the same name by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner, which covers the formative years of homicide detective Vincent Hanna and elite criminals Neil McCauley, and Chris Shiherlis.
