Michael Mann discusses plans for ‘Heat 2’
Eight years after the release of his cyber-thriller, Blackhat, legendary director Michael Mann is back with his forthcoming Ferrari, set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September.
Starring Adam Driver as the titular Enzo Ferrari, the film is set to follow the famous car manufacturer as “Everything he’s been collides with what he might become, and the company has gone bust,” according to director Mann himself.
Speaking to Variety, the director explained the origins of his passion for the project, the decades of pre-production and development hell in trying to get the ball rolling. Most interestingly, however, he spoke about the potential for a Heat sequel – or, instead, about his lack of urgency to tackle it.
“If I absolutely had to make Heat 2, I wouldn’t have got lost in this beautiful story of Ferrari,” Mann explained. “And I took two years to write a novel.” The novel he refers to is Heat 2, both a prequel and sequel to the seminal 1995 film starring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro that fans are so desperat to see more of.
Rather than continue and explore the story in another feature film, Mann collaborated with thriller writer Meg Gardiner to revisit the characters in book form. “Fortunately,” Mann added, “it became a New York Times No. 1 bestseller.”
Mann spent two years writing Heat 2 with Gardiner, broadening the world and people he established nearly 30 years ago. Nevertheless, it would seem like the director isn’t in a rush to make the next film, despite assurances last year that it was in the works. He clarified: “Don’t misunderstand. I want to make it. But if I don’t, I won’t be incomplete.”
In the meantime, fans can eagerly await the theatrical release of Ferrari, which should hit general cinemas in late December.
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