Michael Mann plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to experiment with “ageing and de-ageing” in Heat 2.
The 82-year-old director is continuing to work on a sequel to his acclaimed 1995 crime epic and has indicated that he will use technology in the making of the movie, which he hopes to begin shooting next summer.
Mann told reporters at Lumiere Film Festival in France: “I don’t experiment with technology gratuitously. When I have a dramatic need or esthetic need for it, then I go deep into what I need.”
The filmmaker – who received the 2025 Lumiere Award at the festival – added: “Ageing and de-ageing may be very important in the next film.”
Heat 2, which is based on Mann and Meg Gardiner’s novel of the same name, was axed by Warner Bros. in August due to budget concerns but the director feels that the project’s move to Amazon MGM-owned United Artists will allow the blockbuster to be made in the way he wants.
The Last of the Mohicans filmmaker explained: “Heat 2 is an expensive movie to make, but I believe it should be made at the proper size and scale.
“It’s going to shoot in Chicago, Los Angeles and Paraguay, and possibly some parts of Singapore.
“People make dramas at a certain budget level, because of the costs, not because of anybody being greedy. If it was at a lower price, I could have made it anywhere. But it’s complex. I can’t get into all the politics of it.”
Mann promised that the Heat sequel will get a widespread cinematic release after his 2023 movie Ferrari ended up being sold to Amazon after it wasn’t released on the big screen in international territories.
He said: “We moved from Warner Bros. to Amazon and United Artists, but it will absolutely be released theatrically, in the United States, probably in about 4,000 cinemas and for at least 45 days.”
Mann explained that the plot of Heat 2 would move both backwards and forwards in time from the original movie, which starred Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and the late Val Kilmer.
He said: “The characters of Heat are so alive to me. An idea occurred to me, based on the rapport between two lethal adversaries, Pacino’s Hanna and De Niro’s McCauley, about how to do both before the events of Heat and after.”
Mann also gave an update on the project he will be working on after the Heat sequel, which will be set amid the 1968 Battle of Hue during the Vietnam War.
The director said: “It’s a very human, a very powerful piece, and I spent a lot of time and talked with a lot of survivors of that battle.”
Mann even revealed that the book had inspired Pacino’s LAPD officer in Heat.
He explained: “Al Pacino’s history, that he was a Marine who was in the Battle of Hue in 1968 and that in 1988 he’s still suffering from PTSD.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.movies.yahoo.com ’
