- Heat 2 was originally written as a novel by Mann and Meg Gardiner
- Adam Driver and Austin Butler have been linked to major roles
- Mann revealed the first draft has been handed to Warner Brothers
Heat 2 has edged a little bit closer to becoming a reality. The heavily anticipated sequel to Michael Mann’s iconic 1995 LA crime drama now has a script that is in the hands of Warner Brothers. Mann confirmed his first draft was completed in a recent interview.
Speaking to Vulture, the octogenarian auteur revealed his screenplay – adapted from the novel he co-wrote with Meg Gardiner in 2022 – had been submitted, although he couldn’t divulge much more information than that.
“I just finished the screenplay and handed in the first draft. In this case it was Warner Brothers. Any more than that, I can’t talk about. But it’s an exciting project.”
Heat 2: The Novel
While Mann cannot say much more about the project, the details of the plot are widely available in the novel of the same name, which received widespread critical acclaim upon its appearance on the New York Times Bestseller list, three years ago.
The book acts as both a prequel and a sequel to the 1995 original, and is set across Chicago, Los Angeles, Mexicali, Paraguay and Indonesia, with a handful of excerpts taking place in Las Vegas.
Heat focuses on the cat-and-mouse hunt between LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (played by Al Pacino) and career criminal Neil McCauley (played by Robert De Niro) after an armoured truck robbery leads to three homicides. While somehow staying off the radar of the major award shows, Heat has emerged as an enormously influential work, with Christopher Nolan citing the film as a huge inspiration on The Dark Knight. Rolling Stone ranked Heat as the 28th best film of the ’90s.
Hanna’s Previously Deleted Past Plays a Bigger Part in Prequel/Sequel
In his memoir, Sonny Boy, released last year, Pacino explained that Mann cut a scene from Heat of Detective Hanna snorting cocaine, which would certainly explain the explosiveness of his dialogue throughout the film.
Pacino wrote, “Hanna had problems as a human being, problems in his life. He was volatile and edgy and apt to go crazy. He was also chipping cocaine, and I sort of based my entire character on that.
“We shot a scene where I went into a club, and you actually saw my character taking a hit of coke before he enters. For some reason, Michael kept that scene out of the film.”
Hanna’s cocaine use is referenced in the novel of Heat 2, as is his past life in the US Marines and serving during the Vietnam war.
With neither De Niro or Pacino expected to star in Heat 2, due to both actors now being in their 80s, Adam Driver and Austin Butler have been linked to the prequel/sequel, along with Ana de Armas, although no casting has been confirmed at this time.
