For Michael Mann’s long-awaited Heat 2, nothing less than an A-list, muscular ensemble will do. Already boasting Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale, Deadline confirms Zero Dark Thirty and Oppenheimer actor Jason Clarke has joined the cast.
Clarke’s role is being a kept a mystery for now, and that’s okay. There’s still a lot we don’t know about how this film is going to play out. It’s expected to shoot in August, but I don’t think that’s been made official. Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists picked up the film after it went through some budgetary issues at Warner Bros. The cost is reportedly around $175M.
Heat 2 is based on Mann’s novel, taking place across two time periods, acting as a prequel and sequel to the 1995 film with young versions of the characters played by Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and Val Kilmer. In the first period, Chris Shiherlis tries to escape the LAPD after the robbery gone wrong, making his way to Southern Asia. The other time period is in 1988 Chicago, as McCauley and Shiherlis and their crew nearly encounter Detective Hannah as he pursues a violent gang of home invaders.
Adam Driver and Stephen Graham are also rumored to have undisclosed roles in the film, with others including Ana de Armas, Austin Butler, Channing Tatum, and Bradley Cooper mentioned but unconfirmed.
Clarke is a natural fit for Mann’s style of male-dominated thriller. The two actually worked together previously in the 2009 gangster flick Public Enemies, so Clarke should know what’s expected and what to deliver. He was recently seen in Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite, and has A Quiet Place Part III and Wind River: The Next Chapter coming up.
