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Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? When Empire spoke to Michael Mann in the summer of 2022, the iconic filmmaker told us his then-upcoming Heat prequel/sequel novel was "totally planned to be a movie," and "one large movie" at that. In the years since, whispers of that film coming to fruition have been rife, with names from Adam Driver to Austin Butler all tied to a follow-up of Mann's seminal cat-and-mouse thriller. Now, per THR's reporting, we know that Heat 2 is officially happening — and what's more, none other than Leonardo DiCaprio is circling to star.
Pivoting from Warner Bros. to Amazon-owned United Artists to accommodate Mann's "one large movie" vision, Heat 2 is set to be produced by Top Gun legend Jerry Bruckheimer and UA's Scott Stuber, with Mann back in the directorial hotseat to prove that the action is the juice one more time. As for DiCaprio, while it's important to stress that no deals have been struck for what will doubtless wind up being an all-star blockbuster just yet, Deadline's sources state that the One Battle After Another actor is up for the role of Chris Shiherlis, played in the original Heat by the late, great Val Kilmer.
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In Mann's bestselling Heat 2 novel, which takes place both before and after the events of the original 1995 film, Shiherlis and Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino's cop character in Heat) are ostensibly the leads. Told non-linearly, the book alternately chronicles the younger years of a then-rookie cop Hanna and up-and-coming crook Neil McCauley and his gang in the 1980s, and then also Hanna's pursuit of an on-the-run Shiherlis in the present as past actions come to bear upon present events. The sequel book also introduces an all-new antagonist, the outright evil and downright psychopathic home invader, murderer, and rapist Otis Wardell.
There's no shortage of talent eyeing up Mann's long-gestating sequel (Adam Driver Macauley hive, where are you?). The book on which it's based already proving that not only is there plenty more story to tell here, but that Mann knows precisely how to tell it. And movies like Weapons, One Battle After Another, and Sinners are serving as very recent, very timely reminders that audiences are more than ready for more big-screen, adult, non-franchisified blockbuster experiences. All of which is to say buckle up — we feel the Heat around the corner once again. And we are ready for the burn.