Summary
A gun expert breaks downHeat’s bank heist scene and why Val Kilmer is so impressive in it. Released in 1995, Michael Mann’sHeatchronicles a showdown between professional bank robber Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and obsessed cop Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino). The film remains one of the most beloved entries in Mann’s filmography, due in large part to a stunning bank heist sequence in which McCauley’s crew, which includesKilmer as Chris Shiherlis, engage in a shootout with Hanna’s task force on the streets of downtown L.A.
In a new video fromCorridor Crew, gun expert and weapons trainer Taran Butler takes a look at theHeatheist sequence, explaining why the firearm action is so realistic and well-done.
According to Butler, Mann himself really “knows guns” and “knows shooting,” which gives the shootout scenes in his movies an extra level of authenticity. Kilmer’s shooting and reloading inHeat’s shootout, in particular, Butler calls “super awesome,” and he praises Mann for showing the reload in its entirety instead of cutting around it as so many Hollywood movies do.
Why Heat’s Bank Heist Scene Is So Memorable
Michael Mann Made A Few Key Decisions
The main shootout inHeatis arguably one of the best shootouts in movie history, in large part due to its authenticity. Unlike many action movies of the era,Mann made sure that lead actors like De Niro, Pacino, and Kilmer received extensive weapons training in order to look convincing. As Mann reveals in a behind-the-scenes featurette for the film, ex-SAS soldier and prolific author Andy McNab played a key role in designing an exhaustive training regimen, and key actors are all shown doing impressive real shooting on a training course.
Kilmer’s reload scene inHeatwas shown to Marines as an example of how to carry out a tactical reload in the heat of battle.
This authenticity also comes across through the bank heist’s unique sound design. Most movies add gunshot sound effects during post-production, and this sometimes results in weapons that don’t sound particularly powerful or realistic. While there’s nothing wrong with this approach, as some films obviously benefit from having more subdued gunshot sound effects to complicate lighter, less realistic tones,Mann opted to capture the sound of real weapons firing blanks in the downtown city setting, making the shootout sound terrifyingly real.
Heat 2 Is Easily Michael Mann’s Most Exciting Movie 20 Years After $220 Million Hit
Director Michael Mann is back with a sequel to his 1995 crime thriller Heat, his most anticipated project since his 2004 office smash thriller.
Heat’s shootout sets up a big challenge forMann’sHeat 2.Mann and author Meg Gardiner released a follow-up novel in 2022 that serves as both a sequel and a prequel, and the director has expressed his intention to turn the novel into a feature film. The follow-up film will likely be expected to include at least one action sequence that rivals the bank heist scene, but that evidently sets the bar very high. It remains to be seen whether the follow-up film will succeed, butHeat’s bank heist evidently remains a thrilling watch even 29 years later.
What Is The Status Of Heat 2?
Michael Mann’s Follow-Up Movie Is Closer To Becoming A Reality
Heat, in many ways, didn’t seem like a movie that really needed any sort of continuation, but its persistent popularity evidently led Mann to expand on the lives of some of the film’s key characters. The book was a bestseller upon its release, and it was well-received critically. Before the release of 2023’sFerrari, Mann’s racing drama about the titular car designer, the director expressed interest in turning hisHeat 2novel into a film, but a timeline for the project wasn’t clear until relatively recently.
Ferrariearned mostly positive reviewsbut was a disappointment at the box office, grossing only $43.3 million worldwide on a $95 million budget.
In a recent interview, Mann revealed that he plans forHeat 2to start filmingat the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025. The follow-up film, then, is seemingly full steam ahead behind the scenes, andmore information could be revealed in the coming months as pre-production gets underway. A major point of interest forHeat 2is, of course, casting, and who will be playing younger versions of characters like McCauley and Shiherlis.
Nate
Jon Voight
While nothing is confirmed just yet, Adam Driver is reportedly being eyed to play a young McCauley. Driver recently led thecast of Mann’sFerrariin the title role, so it certainly wouldn’t be surprising if the two reunited. As for Shiherlis, Austin Butler is reportedly a top choice, and Taran, in the sameCorridor Crewinterview above, confirmed that theDune: Part Twostar spent time training with firearms at his California shooting range for an audition. It’s not clear, yet, who is being eyed to play a younger Hanna.
What Is Heat 2 About?
Expect A More Globe-Trotting Crime Thriller Story
UnlikeHeat, which tells a fairly focused story over the course of several days in California,Heat 2is more expansive.The follow-up features storylines in 1988, 1995, 1996, and 2000, chronicling how McCauley’s crew got together in the first place, and what the fallout was after the events of the first film. The prequel part of the novel, much of which takes place in Chicago, more fully explores characters like McCauley and Hanna, following both as they contend with a violent criminal named Otis Wardell.
In the portion of the novel that takes place after the events ofHeat, Shiherlis is the main focus. The book chronicles how the wounded bank robber escapes and eventually makes his way down to South America, where he falls in love with a local woman named Ana and becomes embroiled in a war between two rival Taiwanese crime families. Though it’s now been almost thirty years sinceHeat, Mann will hopefully be able to recapture the magic of his original film in this upcoming sequel.
Heat
Cast
Michael Mann’s classic crime thriller Heat was released in 1995 and stars Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro as two men on opposite sides of the law whose live become tangled and destabilized in an intense game of cat-and-mouse. When one heist led by master thief Neil McCauley is compromised due to a clue left behind, LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna finds himself obsessed with pursuing them in an ever-escalating war - one that may cause significant collateral damage.
