The finale of FX’s The Bear won’t hurt anyone in the show’s cast, because opportunities have been coming to them fast and often. The latest to snag a huge role is Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who has joined the stacked ensemble in Michael Mann’s Heat sequel.
The Wrap reports that Moss-Bachrach has joined Heat 2 in the role of Kelso, a character originated by Tom Noonan in Mann’s 1995 original. Guy Pearce had been considered for it until Mann decided to go in a different direction.
Moss-Bachrach joins Leonardo DiCaprio as Chris Shiherlis, Christian Bale as Vincent Hanna, Stephen Graham as neil McCauley, Odessa Young as Charlene, and newcomer María Cid as Gabi. Jason Clarke is also in the cast but not mentioned in the report. The same for Adam Driver, who is expected to play villain Otis Wardell.
It’s a big time for Moss-Bachrach, as the two-time Emmy winner is set to return as Ben Grimm in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. He joined the MCU with last year’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. He also reunited with The Bear co-star Jon Bernthal for a Broadway production of Dog Day Afternoon.
Mann’s sequel is set up at Amazon MGM Studios after bouncing around a bit to find a budget he could work with. The film is based on the novel he co-wrote with Meg Gardiner, 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 Southeast Asia and South America. 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.
