With his book Heat 2: A Novel out next month, writer-director Michael Mann has been speaking about his film sequel to the 1995 Robert De Niro and Al Pacino-starring crime classic.
The legendary filmmaker shared more details with fans during an interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast this week.
Today is @MichaelMann day on https://t.co/KBRiPQLutw! Making Heat, writing Heat 2, doing Collateral over The Aviator, Thief, Ali, the action is the juice! Great talk! Do it up!
— WTF with Marc Maron (@WTFpod) July 18, 2022
Episode - https://t.co/P7cZpckf0B
On @ApplePodcasts - https://t.co/395I99KzhD pic.twitter.com/QsEw0KtXkq
"They were alive before I wrote the movie and did the movie - and they're alive after I did the movie," said Mann of the characters he created.
"The invention is much greater than that slice of time that the movie occupies. The movie is a 1995 sliver."
Mann said the novel begins "one day after the end of the movie" and "then it jumps back to 1988 [1989]".
"You couldn't do it the same way in a movie," said Maron.
"This is a book - but it's also going to be a very large movie," Mann revealed.
"When asked by Maron if the film was in the works, Mann replied: "Yes. I can't talk about it, but yes."
"I always wanted to do this book," Mann continued. "I always wanted to explore the early life of these guys and then also to project... to find a way to bring the past into the present, and the present being about 2002, seven years after the events of Heat, the movie."
Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, two heavyweight actors of world cinema, reunited for an anniversary screening of their 1995 film 'Heat' at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City pic.twitter.com/oyLjP9icTr
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 19, 2022
"How do you cast that if you're going to do a film?" wondered Maron.
"Very large ways," laughed Mann cryptically.
Heat 2: A Novel, written by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner, is published in Ireland by HarperCollins on Thursday, August 18.
Previewing the novel, the publisher said: "Heat 2 covers the formative years of homicide detective Vincent Hanna (Oscar winner Al Pacino) and elite criminals Neil McCauley (Oscar winner Robert De Niro), Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), and Nate (Oscar winner Jon Voight), and features the same extraordinary ambition, scope, rich characterisations, and attention to detail as the epic film.
"This new story leads up to the events of the film and then moves beyond it, featuring new characters on both sides of the law, new high-line heists, and breathtakingly cinematic action sequences.
"Ranging from the streets of LA to the inner sancta of rival Taiwanese crime syndicates in Paraguay to a massive drug cartel money-laundering operation just over the border in Mexico, Heat 2 illuminates the dangerous workings of international crime organisations and the agents who pursue them as it provides a full-blooded portrait of the men and women who inhabit both worlds."
Mann is currently filming the biopic Ferrari in Italy.
