Michael Mann would like Adam Driver in the sequel to Heat

The duo is already collaborating on Ferrari, the new film by the American director.

At 80 years old, Michael Mann, one of, if not the greatest American action film director, intends to go out with a bang on a film set. While he is about to premiere his biopic Ferrari at the Venice Film Festival, the filmmaker is already contemplating his next feature film, and it’s no small matter as it could be the sequel to Heat, a challenging project to finance, the development of which may depend on Ferrari’s box office results.

Technically, the sequel to his cult classic crime thriller already exists in the form of a 700-page novel, “Heat 2,” co-written with Meg Gardiner, which was released last year and quickly became a bestseller. However, this publication has not diminished his desire to adapt it for the big screen; on the contrary.

In a lengthy interview with Variety, Michael Mann discusses some possibilities for the continuation of Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and Neil McCauley’s adventures. Because, yes, the robber portrayed by Robert De Niro, who dies at the end of the first film, could make a comeback in Heat 2.

While the novel serves as both a sequel and a prequel to the story, Michael Mann wants to prioritize the origin story route with the sequel, giving us younger versions of McCauley and Hanna. There have been ongoing rumors about the casting of these two antiheroes, with Timothée Chalamet mentioned for the role of the detective (suggested by Al Pacino himself) and Adam Driver for the criminal.

The question remains whether, at 80 years old once again, Michael Mann will have the time and the money to direct it himself. The filmmaker assures that he will have no regrets if that’s not the case, but Heat fans know that only the maestro can make a film that lives up to the first one. Heat is a masterpiece in the history of cinema, inspiring numerous films that followed, including Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.