With interest in the sequel to Mann’s 1995 crime drama sky-high, the director has offered a take on where things stand right now on Heat 2.
We know that Micheal Mann’s next project is going to be Heat 2, a belated sequel to one of his most beloved films. The original Heat – a crime thriller starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer is still regarded as one of the greatest movies in the genre and as such, there’s plenty of interest in the progress of the planned follow-up.
Mann himself has already co-written (with Meg Gardiner) a novel detailing the events of the sequel, so the story details for Heat 2 are already out in the world. We won’t spoil them here apart from to state that the book (and the subsequent film) serves as both a prequel and a sequel to the original Heat. Naturally, with the story already out there, the hottest point of conversation continues to be casting. Austin Butler and Adam Driver have been repeatedly linked to key roles but nothing has been publicly confirmed as of yet.
Whilst we still don’t have anything to share on that front, Michael Mann has offered an update regarding where he is with the process of getting Heat 2 in front of cameras. Speaking at a recent screening (as reported on by Dark Horizons) of his 2006 crime drama, Miami Vice, Mann had this to say about Heat 2:
“I’m working on the script like seven days a week and… it’s large. It’s as large as the original, which was 2 hours 45 minutes. Some of what the characters do is… beyond the novel itself, particularly the Chris Shiherlis character in the fourth part of it, the last act of it.”
That alone is an interesting revelation, suggesting that the film will go beyond the story covered in the novel. The filmmaker also revealed where the production is set to shoot, adding: “We shoot in Paraguay in Ciudad del Este where we shot for a number of days on this picture [“Miami Vice”], it’s a very wild place. Also in Mexicali, Chicago, LA and then in south-east Asia – probably Bhutan.”
Progress continues then and with locations locked, the production seems to be rumbling towards a start date, with Mann himself saying back in January that the film would shoot this year. When the hugely-anticipated casting announcements do happen, we’ll let you know right here.
