Michael Mann has been cooking up some Heat with the sequel to his iconic 1995 film.
Now, as the project enters casting the casting stage, they’ve found a new star. Per WorldofReel, Austin Butler is in final talks to join Mann’s Heat 2, where he’ll play Chris Shiherlis, the character made famous by Val Kilmer in the 1995 film.
With Butler striking an uncanny resemblance to a young Val Kilmer, many will not be shocked by this news. We are still awaiting final confirmation however, as Mann is hesitant to confirm any casting beyond teasing Adam Driver as a young Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro).
The film is an adaptation of Mann’s published novel Heat 2, which became a New York Times #1 best-seller in August 2022. It takes place both before and after the original film.
Per the official book synopsis: “One day after the end of Heat, Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) is holed up in Koreatown, wounded, half delirious, and desperately trying to escape LA. Hunting him is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). Hours earlier, Hanna killed Shiherlis’s brother-in-arms, Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), in a gunfight under the strobe lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now Hanna’s determined to capture or kill Shiherlis, the last survivor of McCauley’s crew, before he ghosts out of the city.
In 1988, seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their highline crew were taking scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Driven and daring, they’re pulling in money and living vivid lives. And Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna—a man unreconciled with his history—is following his calling, the pursuit of armed and dangerous men into the dark and wild places, hunting an ultraviolent gang of home invaders. Meanwhile, the fallout from McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s pursuit cause unexpected repercussions in a parallel narrative that drives through the years following Heat.”
SEE ALSO: Heat: Still the Best Crime Thriller of the Modern Era
Production on Heat 2 is set to begin this November. Let us know over on our socials @FlickeringMyth if you’re excited about this sequel and casting…
