Ahead of the upcoming launch of director Michael Mann’s Heat 2 novel, which serves as both a prequel and sequel to the 1995 film, Tribeca Festival had organized a Q&A panel to celebrate the original film’s 25th anniversary. It was attended by producer Art Linson and leading stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
During the panel (via Variety), when asked about the potential film adaptation of Heat 2, Oscar winner Al Pacino suggested that Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet should the actor to take over his role as Lt. Vincent Hanna. Pacino continued to describe Chalamet as “a wonderful actor” with “great looks.”
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Heat 2 is the follow-up novel to the 1995 crime drama film starring Pacino as Lt. Vincent Hanna and De Niro as criminal Neil McCauley. Described as a both a prequel and sequel, Heat 2 will feature stories that occur in both 1989 and 2002 with its cast of characters. The novel is co-written by Mann and Meg Gardiner. It is expected to launch this August 9.
“One day after the end of Heat, Chris Shiherlis is holed up in Koreatown, wounded, half-delirious, and desperately trying to escape LA. Hunting him is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna,” says the synopsis. “Hours earlier, Hanna killed Shiherlis’s brother-in-arms Neil McCauley in a gunfight under the strobe lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now Hanna’s determined to capture or kill Shiherlis, the last survivor of McCauley’s crew, before he ghosts out of the city.
“In 1988, seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their highline crew are taking scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Driven and daring, they’re pulling in money and living vivid lives. And Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna—a man unreconciled with his history—is following his calling, the pursuit of armed and dangerous men into the dark and wild places, hunting an ultraviolent gang of home invaders. Meanwhile, the fallout from McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s pursuit cause unexpected repercussions in a parallel narrative, driving through the years following Heat.”
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Heat also starred Val Kilmer, Natalie Portman, Diane Venora, Tom Sizemore, Hank Azaria, Ashley Judd, Danny Trejo, and more. The 1995 film was Pacino and De Niro’s first-ever on-screen appearance together after they both starred in the acclaimed sequel The Godfather Part II in 1974.
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