Heat Director Offers Update on Making Sequel

Michael Mann isn't guaranteeing the film will ever get made.

By Patrick Cavanaugh

Filmmaker Michael Mann has offered audiences a number of thrilling experiences throughout his career, though it is arguably his heist thriller Heat that will serve as his most monumental achievement. Mann even released a follow-up novel that served as both a prequel and sequel to the events of the film, with reports emerging earlier this year that he aimed to bring that novel to life. While speaking with Variety, however, Mann revealed that, while he's excited to potentially make the film, he won't necessarily feel wounded if that chance never comes to fruition. The filmmaker's latest movie, Ferrari, is set to open the 80th Venice International Film Festival on August 31st and land in theaters on December 25th.

"The thing is, I don't think about mortality. I'm busy. What good would it do me?" Mann shared with the outlet in regards to making the follow-up film. "If I absolutely had to make Heat 2, I wouldn't have got lost in this beautiful story of Ferrari. And I took two years to write a novel." 

He added, "Fortunately, it became a New York Times No. 1 bestseller."

A riveting tale in its own right about two men on opposite sides of the law, Heat was also a notable experience for offering up the first time that acclaimed actors Al Pacino and Robert De Niro shared a scene together. The Heat 2 novel both took place six years before the events of the film to showcase how De Niro's master thief Neil McCauley developed his code as a criminal and also how the events of the movie impacted Pacino's lieutenant Vincent Hanna.

"The things I'm into are things that fascinate me and keep me moving forward," Mann pointed out. "Don't misunderstand ... I want to make it. But if I don't, I won't be incomplete."

Mann previously teased that the scope of the film and how his novel, along with a potential adaptation, would help extend the narrative in exciting ways.

"It's sustained in culture,"  Mann revealed to Empire Magazine back in 2022. "It's known. I could delude myself into thinking that the whole world is familiar with it, but when you check out its prominence in home vid for over 20 years, this thing really has legs. People are still watching it, people are still talking about it. It's a brand. It's kind of a Heat universe, in a way. And that certainly justifies a very large ambitious movie."  

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Stay tuned for possible updates on Heat 2.

Are you hoping the filmmaker gets to bring the project to life? Let us know in the comments!

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