If director Michael Mann (The Last of the Mohicans, Collateral, Miami Vice) lines things up neatly in his crosshairs, he could be filming his next movie in sunny Singapore with potential leading man Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street, Titanic).
Heat 2, the long-awaited sequel to his 1995 crime drama epic starring acting legends Al Pacino as police detective Vincent Hanna and Robert De Niro as professional thief Neil McCauley, is primed to be the Academy and BAFTA Award-winning director’s next project. While no cast has been linked, Mann has spoken about the long-planned project, including potential filming locations.
“Heat 2 is… an expensive movie to make, but I believe it should be made at the proper size and scale,” he told those present at a press conference on Saturday at the Lumière Festival in Lyon, where he is being presented with its honorary Lumière Award this year.
“It’s going to shoot in Chicago, Los Angeles, Paraguay, and possibly some parts in Singapore,” he continued, though he did not elaborate more.
The original film was based on the true story of Neil McCauley, a criminal and ex-Alcatraz inmate tracked down by Detective Chuck Adamson in 1964. In 2022, Mann, alongside co-writer Meg Gardiner, released the novel Heat 2, which serves as both a prequel and a sequel to his 1995 heist film, as it tracks the early years of homicide detective Hanna, and criminals McCauley and Chris Shiherlis, played by Val Kilmer in the 1995 film.
The sequel novel, which will serve as the premise for the upcoming film, starts with a prologue set immediately after the film’s ending, before jumping to events in 1988, 1995 to 96 and in 2000 and takes place across many locations in North and South America, and in Southeast Asia, which could explain the planned filming in Singapore.
Recently, production for the film was reportedly moved from Warner Bros. Discovery studio, where the original was made, due to disagreements over the proposed budgets. It was reportedly shopped around, including at Apple Studios, before landing at United Artists, a division of Amazon MGM Studios. Plans have also been made to ensure it secures a theatrical release.
“I could have made it anywhere. But it’s complex. I can’t get into all the politics of it, but we moved from Warner Brothers to Amazon and United Artists,” explained Mann.
Aside from DiCaprio, who is reportedly eyed for the role of Shiherlis, Adam Driver (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Austin Butler (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), and even Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) are also reportedly circling the project and up for the same roles, should anyone pass on the project.
In the same interview, Mann also acknowledged that he was exploring the use of AI or artificial intelligence in Heat 2 to support the ageing and de-ageing process of the sequel’s three key characters.
“I don’t experiment with technology gratuitously. [If] I have a dramatic need or aesthetic need for it then I go deep into what I need,” he told Deadline. “For example, ageing and de-ageing will be very important in the film (Heat 2),” he said.
However, it should be noted that his statements do not indicate that he will be using the technology to bring back Pacino and De Niro to reprise their roles from the original and use AI to create younger versions of the actors, as Martin Scorsese did in The Irishman (2019).
As the novel progressively jumps across three distinct time periods, his statements likely mean that he will use de-ageing on the actors cast as his three leads.
Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?
Kevin Low
Si Jia
