Christian Bale has confirmed his role in Michael Mann’s upcoming thriller Heat 2 with a tongue-in-cheek joke about having “big shoes to fill.”
It was revealed earlier this week that the Batman Begins star will appear alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the much-anticipated sequel to the classic 1995 heist movie.
The new film will be based on Mann’s 2022 novel Heat 2, written with Meg Gardiner. The book serves as both a prequel and a sequel to the original that starred Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
Much of the speculation about the project has centered on how Bale and DiCaprio will take on the characters played by the two A-listers.
Speaking to Extra on the red carpet for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride, Bale said: “Yeah, I’m doing it. My god, nobody better than Michael Mann at doing a crime drama. Very excited about it.”
He added: “Big, big shoes to fill. You know, Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock.”
McCarthy and Bullock starred in the unrelated 2013 buddy cop comedy The Heat.
Production on Heat 2 is reportedly set to begin in August. Shoots have been planned all over the world, including in locations like Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Singapore and Paraguay.
Heat, which centers around a group of thieves in Los Angeles, is considered one of the best thrillers ever and has been acclaimed over the years for its star-studded performances as well as its action scenes. In addition to its leading men, the cult classic starred the late Val Kilmer, Ashley Judd, Jon Voight and Natalie Portman.
The novel Heat 2 features characters from the original film like detective Vincent Hanna, played by Pacino, and criminal Neil McCauley, played by De Niro.
Due to the new story taking place before and after the events of the original film, speculation has risen over how Mann will tackle portraying younger versions of Pacino and De Niro’s characters.
The legendary filmmaker said at the Lumiere Film Festival in October that he might experiment with artificial intelligence to solve the issue, saying at a press conference: “I don’t experiment with technology gratuitously. When I have a dramatic need or aesthetic need for it, then I go deep into what I need.” He added, “Aging and de-aging may be very important in the next film.”
After previously suggesting Timothée Chalamet to play a younger version of him, Pacino said during a 2022 interview with The Independent that he would be open to using Irishman-style de-aging technology to reprise the role himself.
Meanwhile, Adam Driver is rumored to be attached to the film as a younger version of De Niro’s character, while Elvis star Austin Butler has played coy amid speculation that he will play character Chris Shiherlis, the role originally made famous by Kilmer.
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