HEAT Prequel - Michael Mann

[Walts Ghost]

Michael Mann Developing ‘Heat’ Prequel as Both Book and Film Adaption

It’s always a plus when an author’s work gets picked up for a feature film adaptation (i.e. some major dollars and cents). Some writers, like Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, even pen novels with footage of how they may look on a screen playing in their heads. For Michael Mann, it looks like his main goal is to produce books with the soul intention of them getting the feature film treatment, and his first priority is a prequel to his 1995 crime thriller Heat.

Deadline reports that Mann will be launching the imprint Michael Mann Books, which will churn out a series of books that will simultaneously be developed for film and television. The filmmaker will be working with a team of writers to drum up both fiction and nonfiction books, on which he might shared a cover credit. High on his priority is said to be a prequel story centering on the characters of Vincent Hanna (played by Al Pacino in Heat), Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro), Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer), and Nate (Jon Voight), with more figures to be included.

Mann wrote, produced, and directed Heat, which was based in part on the experiences of Chuck Adamson, a former Chicago police officer. A career criminal tries to execute one last heist (that goes wrong) before retiring as a lieutenant tries to track him down. Also featured among the cast were Tom Sizemore, Ashley Judd, Natalie Portman, William Fichtner, and the Allstate guy Dennis Haysbert.

Many of Mann’s projects are based on books, including The Last of the Mohicans and Manhunter. His upcoming project about the man behind Ferrari, too, is based on the Brock Yates book from 1991 called Enzo Ferrari: The Man, The Cars, The Races, The Machine. Hopefully by returning to one of his most famous films, Mann will be able to resurrect some of his former juice after the less-than-stellar Blackhat.