Michael Mann Sees ‘Heat 2’ Next Movie With Warner Bros In Talks With Director For Sequel; Adam Driver is in talks with Mann to play the young Neil McCauley

EXCLUSIVE: Almost three decades have passed since Michael Mann’s crime classic heat is hitting theaters via Warner Bros., and it now feels like Mann and the studio are finally feeling more heat for a sequel around the corner. While rumors have been circulating for weeks, Deadline hears that Warner Bros. is now in negotiations to continue development heat 2, a sequel to the 1995 classic that Mann recently turned into a novel. The book, published in August, became the New York Times #1 bestseller.

In addition to Warner Bros talking about a return, insiders add Adam Driver, who recently starred in Mann’s. Ferrariis in talks with Mann to play the young Neil McCauley in the film.

Warner Bros. and representatives for Mann did not comment.

Sources say WB is engaged in negotiations to finance the development of the project, with no partner yet involved. Arnon Milchan’s New Regency co-financed the first film, and insiders add that they will have an opportunity to co-finance once the project is in a good position to move forward. As of now, Mann is the guiding force in moving this project forward and it is moving in the right direction to find a home.

heat 2 is written by Mann and Meg Gardiner and is not a novel of Mann’s film, but tells the story of everything that happens before and after to the main characters. The book bounces between two time periods, the first following Chris Shiherlis as he tries to avoid LAPD and Detective Vincent Hanna after the bank robbery gone wrong and ventures into new territory in the Tristate and Southeast Asia. The second story takes readers back to Chicago in 1988, with McCauley, Shiherlis and their Highline crew filming on the West Coast, on the US-Mexico border, and in Chicago. At the same time, Hanna cuts his teeth as a rising star with the Chicago Police Department hunting down an extremely violent gang of intruders.

The aftermath of McCauley’s scores and Hanna’s chase lead to unexpected repercussions in a parallel story.

Since its release in August, when it became one of the biggest releases of the year, Mann has hinted that he eventually wanted to adapt the novel into a feature film. However, it was then that he started production Ferrari with Driver and all his focus was on this photo. Although it is still deep in post-production Ferrari, At the beginning of the year, things began to take shape heat 2 To become Mann’s next film, which he has been passionate about directing for nearly three decades.

Rumors have been swirling since the beginning of the year about which talent would return or which new actors would take on younger versions of these now-iconic roles. From Al Pacino returning to play Hanna in the present to Ana de Armas playing McCauley’s love interest in the 1988 timeline, many are hoping to join, but Driver is the one we hear is tied on.

The original 1995 film starred Pacino, Robert De Niro as McCauley and Val Kilmer as Shiherlis. Although it was a solid hit, it has since grown into a venerable crime classic with a global following, and that development is sure to please fans.

Mann is represented by CAA and the book deal was brokered by The Story Factory.