Did Robert De Niro and Al Pacino hate each other while creating ‘Heat’?
In the latter stages of the 20th century, few actors were as celebrated as Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, two stars of the Hollywood silver screen who cut their teeth on some of the era’s greatest films. Famously working with Francis Ford Coppola on the gangster sequel The Godfather: Part II, the leading duo went on to become influential figures, along with many of their co-stars, including James Caan, Diane Keaton and Harry Dean Stanton.
Whilst they seem like fellow film stars and exemplary professional actors, a conspiracy theory suggested that both Pacino and De Niro despised each other, so much so that they didn’t want to star alongside each other in Michael Mann’s 1995 film Heat. Though they may take the two leading roles, with Pacino playing the explosive Lt. Vincent Hanna and De Niro as the criminal Neil McCauley, they don’t share a ton of scenes in the Mann classic.
The iconic 1990s crime drama remains a classic of the genre, telling the story of a group of professional thieves who start to feel the pressure from the LAPD after they foolishly and unknowingly leave a clue at their latest heist. Alongside De Niro and Pacino, the film also features such Hollywood stars as Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Natalie Portman, Hank Azaria and Tom Sizemore.
So goes the theory, De Niro and Pacino both refused to share screen time, with stand-ins being used for the shot/reverse shot for the silhouette of the other actor when in conversation. It certainly isn’t the most preposterous fan theory we’ve ever heard, especially when there isn’t a shot in the film that frames the two characters together so that you can clearly see both of their faces.
Take the tense final scene, for example. The entire sequence is filmed in several long takes of either character, with it being entirely believable that both actors may not have been present the entire time. Sure, at the end of the film there is a shot of both actors together, but it’s captured from quite a distance. Can we really be sure that both actors were actually present?
To give you the short answer: yes. Whilst it’s enjoyable to believe the theory, it was debunked by Michael Mann himself back in 2016 during an interview conducted by none other than Christopher Nolan. A keen fan of the 1995 movie, Nolan and Mann were joined by De Niro and Pacino, who laughed off the theory when it was brought up.
Proving the theory wrong beyond all doubt, the director of the crime flick stated, “I had a third camera that was shooting profile that we never cut into the film,” showing the two actors on screen at the same time. Looks like they weren’t enemies after all.
Recently making a switch to lighter dramas and comedy, Robert De Niro, the iconic actor, remains an esteemed performer alongside Pacino, who has taken a similar career path, infamously appearing in the infamous Adam Sandler movie Jack and Jill in 2011. Still, they found the time to re-collaborate in 2019 for Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, once again proving their iconic status.
