Michael Mann’s thriller sequel Heat 2 is said to be filming this November, with Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio to star. Update: A film we’ve been writing about for what feels like an eternity, Heat 2 appears to be finally getting underway. Director Michael Mann has previous teased that the sequel’s production is imminent on ... Heat 2 | Filming to begin in November, DiCaprio and Bale roles confirmed
Michael Mann’s thriller sequel Heat 2 is said to be filming this November, with Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio to star.
Update: A film we’ve been writing about for what feels like an eternity, Heat 2 appears to be finally getting underway. Director Michael Mann has previous teased that the sequel’s production is imminent on Instagram, and now comes a report from TheWrap that filming is expected to begin in November.
We’d previously heard that Christian Bale, Leonardo DiCaprio and Adam Driver were all up for roles in the thriller, all playing characters previously occupied by Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer.
There was previously a bit of confusion, however, over who DiCaprio would play: would it be thief Chris Shiherlis (played in 1995’s Heat by Kilmer) or detective Vincent Hanna (Pacino)?
According to TheWrap’s sources, this has finally been sorted out. DiCaprio will play Shiherlis, while Bale will star as Hanna.
As for Adam Driver, the natural assumption might be that he’d play Neil McCauley, the ice-cool bank robber previously embodied by Robert De Niro. Instead, TheWrap’s sources suggest, Driver will play the antagonist, Wardell, while Adolescence star Stephen Graham will play McCauley.
Money has long been a stumbling point for Mann’s sequel. Based on a novel Mann co-wrote with Meg Gardner, it’s a sprawling affair that takes in multiple global locations and time periods. Warner Bros was bankrolling Heat 2 for a while, but then got nervous about the budget; it’s now being funded by Amazon MGM. The action set-pieces, per TheWrap’s sources, are said to be much bigger in scale than those in the 1995 original, which is where some of the reported $170m budget may be going.
Can Mann make a sequel that comes remotely close to matching what is arguably one of the great 20th century thrillers? With filming a matter of months away, we’re edging closer to finding out.
We’ll bring you more on Heat 2 as we hear it.
