‘Heat 2’: Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale To Star In Michael Mann’s Sequel To Classic Heist Movie
The long-awaited sequel to the iconic 1995 crime movie will reportedly start shooting this November.
Although it might sound too good to be true, the long-awaited Heat sequel has reportedly landed both Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale as co-stars, with shooting set to roll this November under the direction of Michael Mann.
The follow-up to the legendary 1995 bank robbery epic landed at its new home at United Artists, a division of Amazon MGM Studios, last fall, and The Wrap is now confirming the involvement of both DiCaprio and Bale. DiCaprio is set to take on the role of Val Kilmer’s Chris Shiherlis, while Bale will put his own deeply intense spin on Vincent Hanna, played by Al Pacino in Mann’s original caper.
Fans have long awaited credible news of a follow-up to the film, as the likes of Bradley Cooper, Austin Butler and Adam Driver have also been attached to the project. In Heat, Pacino as played by Hanna doggedly chases down a robbery crew led by Robert De Niro, a role rumored to be played in the sequel-prequel film by British actor Stephen Graham, The Wrap reports. Driver will reportedly take on the villain role of the sadistic Waingro, the outlet also notes.
A veritable arms race has taken place across the years as Mann looks to finance the follow-up to one of his signature films, with various outlets reporting budget concerns around location and timing of the multi-decade epic. Previously, the likes of Amazon’s United Artists, plus Paramount and Sony, looked to produce the follow-up to a modern classic.
The original film has become a much-discussed epic, and Heat 2 is also the subject of Mann’s 2022 crime novel, with the book serving as fodder for the second film as well as both a sequel and a prequel to the original. As The Wrap also notes, “DiCaprio, Bale, Driver and (Stephen) Graham have been connected to the project for some time.” Even more remarkable is the fact that Mann wrote and directed a television pilot in the late 1980s that would later turn into the original, titular film.
The original unaired series itself, prior to the first movie, serves as what The Wrap calls a “fascinating, alternate universe version” of the story as Scott Plank and Alex McArthur play versions of characters played in the film by Pacino and De Niro. For now, the buzzed-about follow-up has its stars attached and filming date set, although fans would perhaps be wise to not get too attached to any news of this long-awaited crime epic.