Michael Mann has provided a cautious, if not quite upbeat, update on Heat 2, the movie version of his best-selling 2022 novel that picks up where his 1995 crime-thriller masterpiece left off.
Mann said, “The thing is, I don’t think about mortality,” in a chat with Variety that covered everything from his most recent movie Ferrari to his remaining working years. “I am busy. What purpose would it serve me? If it weren’t for Heat 2, I wouldn’t have become engrossed in [Enzo] Ferrari’s stirring memoir. A novel I wrote took me two years to complete. Fortunately, it became the No. 1 bestseller in the New York Times. Things that fascinate me and keep me moving forward are what I’m interested in”.
“Don’t get me wrong, I want to succeed”, he said, “but even if I don’t, I won’t be lacking in anything.” The success of the Adam Driver-starring picture Ferrari, which had its world premiere at the Venice picture Festival on August 31 and opens in US theatres on December 25th, is considered to be a requirement for the production of Heat 2, which has been described as a “longtime dream,” further in the article.
Heat, a 1995 film written and directed by Mann, stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in commanding mid-career peaks as career criminal Neil McCauley and his following LAPD detective Vincent Hanna, respectively.
Co-written by Mann and Meg Gardiner, the 2022 novel (buy here) serves as both a prequel and a sequel by introducing its ensemble characters to their full backstories and by continuing up where the events of the first movie left off. As Mann and Warner Bros. were negotiating to develop the movie in April 2023, Driver was rumoured to play a younger version of Neil McCauley in the project.
Mann defended his choice of cast members in an accompanying Variety video, saying, “Adam and I discussed extensively about it, from before the strike occurred, when we were still shooting Ferrari. He was gonna play the Robert De Niro role, in my opinion”.