Earlier in the year it was reported that Michael Mann was looking to adapt his New York Times Best-Seller Heat 2 for the big-screen, and that Adam Driver had been in discussions to play the younger version of Robert De Niro’s iconic L.A. criminal, Neil McCauley.
Well, now that the 80-year old director is parking his Adam Driver-led Enzo Ferrari biopic on the starting grid of the 80th Venice International Film Festival, he has been giving a career retrospective to Variety, in which he speaks about Black Hat being ahead of its time, but shooting with an unfinished script, Tom Cruise’s work-ethic on the set of Collateral, and how he and Driver have spoken “extensively” about reuniting on Heat 2.
The Thief director said “Adam and I talked about it extensively before the strikes began, while we were still shooting Ferrari,” he continued “I wanted him to play the Robert De Niro character”.
SEE ALSO: Heat: Still the Best Crime Thriller of the Modern Era
Variety also hint that the possibility of Heat 2 may depend on how well the $115 million budgeted Ferrari performs, with Mann adding “I want to make it. But if I don’t, I won’t be incomplete.”
Published in August 2022, Heat 2 picks up a day after the events of the film, with Val Kilmer’s injured Chris holed up and plotting his escape from L.A., while Al Pacino’s Vincent Hanna is desperate to catch or kill the fugitive bank-robber.
Let us know what you think of the potential casting of Adam Driver as young De Niro, and whether you’ve read Mann and Meg Gardiner’s novel by heading to our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
