Many of director Michael Mann’s films have been based on novels but who’d have thought he would want to give it a go himself? According to Deadline, Mann wants to pen a prequel novel to one of his most celebrated films: Heat.
One of the quintessential crime films, Heat tells the story of criminal Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and L.A.P.D. robbery-homicide detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). After a lucrative heist Hanna sets out to track down McCauley and his crew, starting a fierce rivalry which results in the famous eatery scene.
Mann’s proposed prequel novel will be launching his new venture: Michael Mann Books. However, he won’t be giving up the director’s chair to make this a full-time pursuit; instead he shall simply be overseeing the process as various other writers work on it.
It has been reported that these novels are being written with a view to translate them for film and TV, so it is always possible that we may have a Heat TV series on our hands. What will the novel contain? Perhaps it will introduce us to Hanna as a rookie cop; or maybe it will follow McCauley’s ascent to power. Anything is possible at this point.
Michael Mann is currently working on a biopic of racing legend Enzo Ferrari. Christian Bale was once attached to play Ferrari but left the project due to health concerns. Back in 2015, Robert De Niro announced that he would play Il Commendatore in a new biopic; could it be the same film?
If so, we would likely see a narrative similar to The Godfather Part II, for which De Niro won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. However, very little else is known about the project and there is no release date set as of yet.
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