Director Michael Mann is co-writing a novel with Reed Farrel Coleman that would feature characters from 1995 action-thriller Heat for Harper Collins.
It sounds like this experience exploring those characters is giving the filmmaker reason to return to that world as he revealed to Deadline that he wants to make a film based on the novel he’s working on. Michael had been shooting the pilot for HBO Max’s Tokyo Vice in Japan before the pandemic pushed filming into hiatus.
MANN: “It’s a stack about 10 inches high on my desk right now. We’re on it, and I’m putting time into that and a screenplay I can’t tell you about. But I absolutely want to make a movie of the Heat prequel.”
In 2016, Michael Mann revealed the book would act as both a sequel and prequel to the film. The novel’s prequel elements are said to cover Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) while he was in spending his twenties in prison and when Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) was a police officer in Chicago.
MANN: “The novel is about two-thirds written, and it’s the prequel to Heat, and it’s the sequel to ‘Heat rolled together.”
Heat is certainly an interesting case as the project is a remake of the original version, L.A. Takedown, which was a failed NBC television series pilot.
HEAT – Master criminal Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is trying to control the rogue actions of one of his men, while also planning one last big heist before retiring. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Hanna (Al Pacino) attempts to track down McCauley as he deals with the chaos in his own life, including the infidelity of his wife (Diane Venora) and the mental health of his stepdaughter (Natalie Portman). McCauley and Hanna discover a mutual respect, even as they try to thwart each other’s plans.
