Welcome to B.H.โs Screen Time, where every week, weโll give you the cliff notes on whatโs happening in the entertainment industry. From various stages of development chatter and our take on the newest releases, to a fun throwback worth revisiting, think of it as an insiderโs digest meets movie club.
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Another week, another edition of Screen Time, where we discuss our favourite long-gestating legacy sequel: Michael Mannโs Heat 2 has reportedly engaged Christian Bale to potentially join Leonardo DiCaprio.
Deadline has now learned the legendary director is rather keen on reuniting with his Public Enemies star, although we really donโt have much to go on apart from that. Incidentally, the opening heist sequence from Christopher Nolanโs The Dark Knight drew direct inspiration from Mannโs original Heat.
โIt was not immediately clear which role Bale will play, but the script has drawn strong interest from top talent,โ explains Justin Kroll of the prolific entertainment publication.
โBale and DiCaprio have each won Oscars, giving Mann a chance to match the high bar he set with the original, which had Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer leading the ensemble.โ
Casting has certainly zigged where broad assumptions have zagged for Heat 2.
In something of a plot twist, just a month ago, it was revealed that Leonardo DiCaprio was in pole position to inherit the late Val Kilmerโs iconic role as Chris Shiherlis โ not a young Neil McCauley (originally portrayed by Robert De Niro).
Perhaps this leaves the latter wide open for Christian Baleโฆ that is, if the also-rumoured Adam Driver doesnโt claim it for himself. Then again, perhaps Bale is better suited to be Vincent Hanna.
Other names in the mix include Austin Butler and Bradley Cooper.
The ongoing production has, of course, moved on from Warner Bros โ which famously balked at Michael Mannโs initial US$200 million budget estimate around August, causing it to be lowered to US$170 million โ and is now taking place at the Amazon MGM-owned United Artists.
Based on the last round of industry chatter, it was in โfinal negotiationsโ with producer Scott Stuber; other producers will include Mann himself, the legendary Jerry Bruckheimer, United Artistsโ Nick Nesbitt, along with Eric Roth and Shane Salerno as executive producers.
โWeโre in the middle of doing all the things โ budgeting, scheduling, casting process,โ Michael Mann revealed during a masterclass on Heat at this yearโs Busan International Film Festival.
As for the matter of story, hereโs a synopsis for the best-selling Heat 2 novel Michael Mann penned in collaboration with Meg Gardiner:
One day after the end of Heat, Chris Shiherlis is holed up in Koreatown, wounded, half delirious, and desperately trying to escape LA. Hunting him is LAPD detective Vincent Hanna.
Hours earlier, Hanna killed Shiherlisโ brother-in-arms, Neil McCauley, in a gunfight under the strobe lights at the foot of an LAX runway. Now, Hannaโs determined to capture or kill Shiherlis, the last survivor of McCauleyโs crew, before he ghosts out of the city.
In 1988, seven years earlier, McCauley, Shiherlis, and their highline crew are taking scores on the West Coast, the US-Mexican border, and now in Chicago. Driven, daring, theyโre pulling in money and living vivid lives.
And Chicago homicide detective Vincent Hanna โ a man unreconciled with his history โ is following his calling, the pursuit of armed and dangerous men into the dark and wild places, hunting an ultraviolent gang of home invaders.
Meanwhile, the fallout from McCauleyโs scores and Hannaโs pursuit causes unexpected repercussions in a parallel narrative, driving through the years following Heat.
Heat 2 release date: TBA.
Between his UFO whistleblower movie and the Miami Vice reboot (which may or may not star Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler), Joseph Kosinski is keen to produce a sequel to F1 starring Brad Pitt and Damson Idris.
โI personally would love to see what other adventures Sonny Hayes has in his future,โ Kosinski told Deadline during Contenders Film Los Angeles.
โIโd love to see whatโs happened with the APXGP team and Joshua Pearce, and see how his career goes, so I would love to be able to tell another chapter in that story and itโs something we just started kinda dreaming about and itโs fun to be in this stage of imagining what that might be.โ
Kosinski, who also helmed Tron: Legacy and Top Gun: Maverick, has previously spitballed the narrative dimensions of such a sequel, having even suggested reuniting Pitt with his former co-star Tom Cruise for an ambitious Days of Thunder crossover.
โWell, right now, itโd be Cole Trickle, who was [Cruiseโs] Days of Thunder character, we find out that he and [Brad Pittโs] Sonny Hayes have a past,โ Kosinski explained of his dream pitch.
โThey were rivals at some point, maybe crossed pathsโฆ I heard about this epic go-kart battle on Interview With a Vampire that Brad and Tom had, and who wouldnโt pay to see those two go head-to-head on the track?โ
At one point, such a reunion was on track to happen for the Joseph Kosinski version of Ford v Ferrari. But sadly, the budget was never approved, which was how it ended up with James Mangold behind the camera with Christian Bale and Matt Damon in front of it.
Kosinski continued (via GQ UK): โYeah, I got close with that. But yeah, you know, everything worked out for the best. I got to do F1. But anythingโs possible.โ
F1 sequel release date: TBA.
Ahead of its late-year arrival, Rian Johnsonโs Wake Up Dead Man (the third Knives Out film) now has a full-length trailer.
Following in the Agatha Christie-style mysteries of the past two movies, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is far from the calming beach where we left him at the conclusion of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, trading a flashy private island for a small town location centred around a chapel where another โimpossible crimeโ has been committed.
The suspects featured for this one include Josh OโConnor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
Initially, it was uncertain whether this trilogy-completer would close the book on the franchise, given that Netflix had only purchased the rights to two sequels for over US$400 million. But Johnson and Craig have since clarified that the gravy train will keep chugging along so long as they are both involved. And itโs a crying shame this wonโt receive a wider theatrical release โ by all accounts, the quality of number tres warrants one.
Wake Up Dead Man release date (international): December 12th, 2025, via Netflix.
Justice At Last or Another Circus Act?
ICYMI: Jake Paul has locked in his next boxing opponent in place of lightweight king Gervonta โTankโ Davis, and as sceptical as you might be after all the false starts, he poses a legitimate threat to the YouTuber-cum-athleteโs health and safety.
Paul is scheduled to face none other than former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on December 19th at Miamiโs Kaseya Centre (due to be streamed live and free via Netflix).
The rules are eight rounds, three-minute rounds, and 10-ounce gloves, as per the standard for heavyweight bouts. And to be completely honest, unless thereโs some contract clause f**kery afoot that weโre unaware of, we donโt know what JP is thinking.
This isnโt a mixed martial artist predominantly known for grappling whoโs undergone several hip surgeries or an elderly gentleman who was the worldโs most dangerous man several lifetimes agoโฆ this is an Olympic gold medallist barely in his mid-30s who competed for the IBF heavyweight title just a year ago (albeit unsuccessfully). Prior to that, he sparked out the imposing UFC great Francis Ngannou inside of two rounds, retired Otto Wallin, and finished Robert Helenius.
I suppose weโll only know for certain what the go is come December. Either way, itโll attract major eyeballs and even more dollarydoos.
