Michael Mann plans to shoot Heat 2 this year

While speaking on Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast, Michael Mann confirmed that Heat 2 will be his next film, adding that his plan is “absolutely to make it [in 2024].“

Heat 2 will be both a prequel and a sequel to the original 1995 movie which boasted a star-studded cast that included Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Natalie Portman, and more. Michael Mann added that he’s busy writing the screenplay for Heat 2, “So I get very respectful, very pleasant calls from Warner Bros. saying, ‘Anything we can do to help?’ Which translates to, ‘Where’s the screenplay?’“

Heat 2 takes place one day after the events of the original movie as it follows a wounded Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer) desperately trying to escape Los Angeles. The story flashes back and forth to events years before the heist and the years immediately following. I can’t imagine anyone else taking on the iconic roles of the original movie, but Michael Mann has said that audiences are ready for a new story in the Heat universe. “It’s sustained in culture. It’s known,” Mann said. “I could delude myself into thinking that the whole world is familiar with it, but when you check out its prominence in home video for over 20 years, this thing really has legs. People are still watching it, people are still talking about it. It’s a brand. It’s kind of a Heat universe, in a way. And that certainly justifies a very large ambitious movie.“

There have also been rumblings that Mann may reteam with Adam Driver for the Heat sequel, with the Ferrari star said to be playing the younger incarnation of De Niro’s Neil McCauley. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but Mann hasn’t denied it. “Perhaps. We don’t talk about that yet,” Mann said last fall. “Let me put it this way: Adam and I got along like a house on fire [on Ferrari]. We have the same work ethic – which is pretty intense. We like each other, and we had a great time working together artistically.“

Following Heat 2, Michael Mann says that he has a couple of potential movies in the works, including a Vietnam War movie and a science fiction project. Ferrari is currently playing in theaters, and you can check out a review from our own Chris Bumbray right here.