agent 47 Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 (edited) Quote Director Michael Mann is working on a prequel to his classic 1995 crime thriller, Heat. The director of Collateral and The Last of the Mohicans has just closed a deal to launch Michael Mann Books, and he’s digging into his past work to find potential stories to tell. The Heat prequel, which will first be published as a novel, is apparently a major priority for Mann at the moment. Deadline reports the imprint will collaborate with a stable of writers, and the material they generate, including the Heat prequel, will be simultaneously developed for TV and film. The Heat prequel will focus on the formative years of detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), criminal Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), Chris Shihirles (Val Kilmer), Nate (Jon Voight), and other characters featured in Heat. Mann wrote, produced, and directed the thriller, based on cops and criminals he’s encountered. Mann might share credit on some of the stories Michael Mann Books generates. The gang of writers assembled will collaborate with the director on both fiction and nonfiction books. Deadline notes that discussions with potential publishers will take place soon. The venture is repped by The Story Factor’s Shane Salerno, a screenwriter who’s working on the Avatar sequels and an adaptation of The Cartel. Salerno also who wrote early drafts of Meg, the long-awaited killer shark movie we recently wrote about. A Heat prequel, at least as a novel, actually sounds promising. Mann worked on the film for well over a decade, trying to get it made. At one point, he even reworked Heat‘s script into the 1989 TV movie, LA Takedown. Over that long period of time, Mann did extensive research, and the director probably still has a wealth of material at his disposal he’s yet to use. Hanna and McCauley’s relationship was loosely based on that of Detective Chuck Adamson and criminal Neil McCauley, and the two men did in fact once have a conversation over coffee. Perhaps there is more to their story Mann is interested in telling as well. Hanna, McCauley, and Shihirles are all fascinating characters, so it’s understandable the director would want to return to them. If all goes according to plan with Michael Mann Books and this Heat prequel, maybe we could see Heat follow in the footsteps of Training Day and Lethal Weapon, which are both currently being adapted for television. Some of Mann’s fans will likely be skeptical of this idea, understandably, but a prequel to Heat, especially with Mann involved, sounds a whole lot more interesting than a remake of Heat without Mann’s involvement, which will is probably bound to happen one day. http://www.slashfilm.com/heat-prequel/ Looks like Michael has made himself busy lately. While I have mixed feelings about the prequel in film and TV form a book would be very welcome. Hopefully since Michael's open to expanding on Heat maybe we could finally see LA Takedown released in the U.S. at last on disc or maybe a worldwide Blu-ray release. Edited September 8, 2016 by agent 47 Changed thread title 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cageyJG Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Yeah, some interesting news! Came aboard today to post just that. I usually like "sequels" as opposed to "prequels", but I can definitely deal with more added to the story. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Roman Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 I am a big fan of Michael Mann, what with Heat being my all time favorite film, ever. Being an Angeleno by heart and upbringing, this is one of those films where I literally LIVED down the street as a kid, and there are some amazing shots of my City of Angels in there (Collateral too) and so I love it from A to Z. However. This screams of rehashing. A prequel, probably end up worse than a sequel. Hmmm, what's next? Heat COMIC BOOKS? cards? There are so many great real life stories out there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt5 Posted March 17, 2016 Report Share Posted March 17, 2016 Interesting concept - Heat was a great movie with such good LA area locations with elements of Miami Vice all over it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Roman Posted March 18, 2016 Report Share Posted March 18, 2016 it's one of the many things I like about Vice . . . the palm trees and incredible colors in the sky. Training Day has some excellent LA takes too. And Straight Outta Compton too. The memories. I lived in Compton as a kid late 80's for a couple of years. I wonder whether Mr. Mann has perused some of the Federal Criminal Case law opinions published. The background sections of many of those, short as they often are, feature reality that defies fiction. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent 47 Posted March 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 (edited) http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/michael-mann-once-again-eyes-directing-movie-about-crime-kingpins-tony-accardo-sam-giancana-20160318 Also looks like Mann is eyeing a movie about the Chicago mob. I gotta admit Mann has quite a bit of energy to be taking on so many projects at the same time. Edited March 19, 2016 by agent 47 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Ferrariman Posted March 19, 2016 Administrators Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 "Training Day" and "Lethal Weapon" are being adapted for TV? I hope they do better than "Rush Hour"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D. Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 How about Michael Mann putting his creative energy into a Miami Vice movie sequel.....which we've all been asking for? Do I hear an AMEN ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Roman Posted March 19, 2016 Report Share Posted March 19, 2016 Tony D.: Amen! Though if it's anything like the first movie, no way. Something about Sam Giancana would be interesting, I read "Double Cross" as a teenager, definitely movie worthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kavinsky Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 Hmm so GTA 5 does a what if kinda deal with a post heat like storyline, and now a prequel, hmmm, maybe he just wants an excuse to set a movie in the 1980's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent 47 Posted September 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2016 I decided as we've already got a few topics on Heat I'd just change the title on this one to be more inclusive towards Heat-related news. Anyway updating this thread as Heat has recently been given a new restoration and Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan sat down last night with the cast and Mann for a Q&A and screening of the new print. https://deadline.com/2016/09/heat-michael-mann-robery-de-niro-al-pacino-christopher-nolan-1201815118/ Sadly no transcript or video as of yet but some interesting trivia (especially sheds some light on why Pacino's character acts as crazy as he does) in the article above as well as an indication that the new print will be made available on Blu-ray next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agent 47 Posted September 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2016 The cast Q&A is now up. http://theplaylist.net/watch-christopher-nolan-lead-30-minute-qa-mann-de-niro-pacino-talking-heat-20160910/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AzVice Posted September 10, 2016 Report Share Posted September 10, 2016 there were little touches of Crime Story in Heat. Mann returns repeatedly to things he's done before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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