Michael Mann Says He Wants to Make HEAT 2, but Won't Feel Incomplete If He Doesn't

Director Michael Mann is best known for making hard-hitting dramas like The Last of the Mohicans, Heat, Ali, and Collateral, and fans were stoked when they discovered that Mann had gone back to the characters he had created in the crime drama Heat, and had written a 500-page novel that serves as a prequel and sequel to the film. Since then, Mann confirmed that he would want to create the film version of this book, and fans were stoked.

It’s been a while since we’ve gotten any news on Heat 2, but Mann had a discussion with Variety, who did a profile on his most recent projects, and he said the story he wrote will touch on who his characters were before we met them in the original film:

“In the prequel, I don’t want them to be the same people that they are in the movie. I want them to be very different. It’s what befalls them — the conflicts, the tragedies that happen to them — that made them into the people they are.”

Michael Mann turned 80 earlier this year, and when asked if he felt that he was running out of time to make this movie, the director said:

“The thing is, I don’t think about mortality. I’m busy. What good would it do me? If I absolutely had to make ‘Heat 2,’ I wouldn’t have got lost in this beautiful story of Ferrari. And I took two years to write a novel. Fortunately, it became a New York Times No. 1 bestseller. The things I’m into are things that fascinate me and keep me moving forward.”

He then clarified:

“Don’t misunderstand. I want to make it. But if I don’t, I won’t be incomplete.”

I hope it happens for him, and for the fans of the franchise. But if it doesn’t happen, we won’t be incomplete.