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.
Coming Soon
Once again, Michael Mann and his long-awaited Heat sequel are in the headlines โ and by all accounts, weโre one step closer to seeing it on the big screen.
Multiple reports indicate the ongoing discussion has moved on from Warner Bros โ which famously balked at the directorโs initial US$200 million budget estimate around August, causing it to lowered to US$170 million โ and are now taking place at the Amazon MGM-owned United Artists.
If this ends up being direct-to-streaming, we riot.
Variety reports itโs 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 a few weeks ago, during a masterclass on Heat at the Busan International Film Festival.
Later, when the event moderator characterised the original 1995 masterpiece as an โAl Pacino film,โ Mann was quick to clarify: โI donโt think itโs Al Pacinoโs film. That filmโs De Niroโs film, Val Kilmerโs film, Jon Voightโs film, and Mykelti Williamson. It was an ensemble of brilliant actors and one of the best experiences ever as a director.โ
While casting remains unconfirmed, publications and informal online chatter alike involve Leonardo DiCaprio for a lead role. But in something of a plot twist, where the vast majority of speculation had the One Battle After Another star to play a young Neil McCauley (originally portrayed by Robert De Niro), Deadline asserts heโs in pole position to inherit the late Val Kilmerโs iconic role as Chris Shiherlis post-Heat.
If that is indeed the case, itโd mean young Neil McCauley may still be brought to life by past Michael Mann muse, Adam Driver (Ferrari); perhaps even leaving room for Austin Butler to play young Chris Shiherlis (Heat 2 has a Godfather II-esque prequel-sequel story structure). Bradley Cooper is also said to be in the mix.
On the subject 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.
Fresh from crafting more binge fodder for Netflix in Black Rabbit (for which he also co-starred alongside Jude Law), Jason Bateman is now preparing to adapt John Grishamโs best-selling The Partner with Tom Holland set to lead.
The Spider-Man alum will apparently portray a junior attorney at a white shoe law firm who fakes his own death in order to steal $90 million for a dodgy client.
This project has bounced all over the town โ at one point, John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) was on track to helm the adaptation with New Regency, with a previous version of the screenplay penned by Graham Moore (The Imitation Game).
Further details about the current Bateman-Holland version, however, are still being kept under wraps. Standby for updates.
The Partner release date (international): TBA.
Kiefer Sutherland has recently hinted that a continuation of 24 is currently in active development.
โ[24 executive producer and showrunner] Howard Gordon has come up with an idea that I like,โ Sutherland told Montreal Nowโs Aaron Rand.
โBefore, it was just the material had not been written, so I would have to say, โIโm not the one thatโs in the way.โ Something has been written. I think itโs really good. I think itโs really strong.โ
The Emmy-winning actor went on to explain how Disneyโs acquisition of 21st Century Fox complicated the development process: โSo it has to go through different channels before itโs either approved or disapproved.โ
โItโs something I would really like to do. I would like to close that story. It was left kind of wide openโฆ Fingers crossed. Weโve taken some considerable steps forward.โ
God knows the world could use a bit of Jack Bauer right nowโฆ
The original run of Foxโs 24 yielded nine seasons โ which took place in Los Angeles (seasons 1-8), Washington DC (season 7), and London (Live Another Day) โ the Cape Town-set 24: Redemption movie, and the 24: Legacy spin-off. It commanded millions of viewers each episode, critical acclaim, as well as countless awards, ranging from Golden Globes to Primetime Emmys.
24 revival release date: TBA.
Now Showing
I wanted to like this more. Believe me, I really did.
And on paper, Iโm the prime target for A24โs The Smashing Machine: an oft-wanky, MMA-loving, Safdie brothers film cultist, whoโs also a sucker for stunt casting and vibey cinematography.
But the biggest fight I encountered during my preview screening didnโt even involve Dwayne Johnson. It was the one between me and staying awake long enough to see the credits rolls.
While I can respect the effort that went into recreating scenes from the original HBO documentary that inspired this, and providing further emotional context for dramatic purposes, this simply felt like an all-too superficial exercise.
You never truly get the sense that weโre delving too deeply into the core of anything; nor that Johnsonโs portrayal of Mark Kerr is anything more than a Contiki Tour into real-life tragedy, barely scratching the surface of a well-documented struggle โ even his breakdown scenes are mostly obscured by his comically giant hands on a prosthetic-laden face, which is quite a fitting metaphor for The Smashing Machine as a whole.
Then again, thereโs only so much you can explore when you invite the subject matter of a biopic on board for the creative process, as we suspect Benny Safdie did. Even still, from a pure story structure perspective, it meandered and navel-gazed with no real momentum.
The overlap between those who appreciate beautifully-shot arthouse cinema and mixed martial arts was already narrow, at best. And yet for that exact demographic (i.e. me), The Smashing Machine proved alienating.
At the same time, Bennyโs brother Josh Safdie seems to have hit a home run with his own sports drama, Marty Supreme starring Timothee Chalamet, which mostly answers our questions about who truly had the directorial sauce.
They Donโt Make โEm Like They Used Toโฆ
Itโs about that time of the year when dudes (at least in our circles) revisit Band of Brothers.
Once upon a time, miniseries such as this โ produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks โ had a cinematic feel to each episode, instead of being specifically crafted to string you along and bait binge viewership. And this is a perfect reminder of that.
Itโs also got that touch of early 2000s sentimentality vis-a-vis fighting the good fight. A fun game to play along, if you feel so inclined, is spot the hidden megastar in this ensemble affair. My God, the talent is real.
