Warner Bros. Pictures is reportedly in negotiations for a film adaptation of “Heat 2,” the recent novel sequel to Michael Mann’s iconic 1995 crime drama epic “Heat” which starred Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer among many others.
Deadline broke the news, adding that Adam Driver is in discussions with Mann to play the younger version of De Niro’s Neil McCauley in the movie. It would re-team Driver and Mann, who just worked together on a Ferarri biopic.
The novel became a New York Times #1 best-seller when it was published last August and was penned by Mann and Meg Gardiner, becoming one of the year’s biggest novels.
The story jumps between two time periods, the first following Chris Shiherlis (Kilmer’s role in the original) as he tries to evade LAPD and Detective Vincent Hanna (Pacino’s role in the original) following the events of the original film.
The second takes us back to Chicago in 1988 when McCauley, Shiherlis, and their high-line crew took scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago.
Hanna, meanwhile, is cutting his teeth as a rising star in the Chicago police department chasing an ultraviolent gang of home invaders. The fallout from those past events causes unexpected repercussions in the present.
The outlet says Warners is in negotiations to fund the project’s development, and as of right now, no partner is involved. New Regency co-financed the first film and will be given the opportunity to co-finance production.
Mann is said to be the guiding force behind the film which is shaping up to be his next work once he’s finished “Ferrari”. Casting speculation about who would play a young McCauley and the older and younger versions of Hanna and Shiherlis have run rampant in recent months but aside from Driver, no other actor is currently on board.
