Jason Clarke is being considered to join the cast of Michael Mann’s Heat 2 for Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists, though his role is still unclear and no cast deal is confirmed. Mann is set to direct from his script based on his and Meg Gardiner’s best-sel
The message came with a familiar kind of Hollywood suspense: Jason Clarke is being looked at for a part in Heat 2, but nobody involved is saying what it is.
Clarke is being eyed to join the cast of Michael Mann’s Heat 2 from Amazon MGM Studios and United Artists. multiple sources told Deadline. Reps for Amazon and the actor declined comment, and what role Clarke will play is not yet clear. While sources say there are no cast deals in place. Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale are also rumored to be circling. as previously reported.
Heat 2 is the kind of follow-up that doesn’t just continue a story — it grows the world around it. Mann will direct Heat 2 from his own script, based on his and Meg Gardiner’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel. Producers include Mann, Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ Jerry Bruckheimer, and UA’s Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt. Eric Roth and Shane Salerno will exec produce, with Amazon MGM to release the film in theaters.
That theatrical release plan matters because it frames what’s coming next: this isn’t a project designed only for screens. It’s built for them. And for Clarke, the timing carries extra weight — the possibility of returning to Mann’s orbit after their last collaboration.
Mann and Clarke previously worked together on Public Enemies, the Universal crime film starring Johnny Depp as Great Depression-era gangster John Dillinger.
Mann’s 1995 crime thriller Heat, meanwhile, is the foundation that still pulls people in. The original follows master thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) as he plans one last score while obsessive LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) closes in. with both men wrecking their personal lives in service of the job. Mann wrote and directed Heat and produced alongside Art Linson. The film grossed over $187 million — what would be close to the $400 million range if released today — at the worldwide box office. It stars Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, and more, and the film from Warner Bros. and New Regency has influenced generations of filmmakers while retaining major viewership on streaming and home entertainment for decades.
Heat 2, published in 2022, is both prequel and sequel. It examines Vincent Hanna’s Chicago years, Neil McCauley’s earlier criminal life, and the survival of Kilmer’s Chris Shiherlis after the original film’s bank-robbery climax.
For Clarke, the Heat 2 door would open while other work is still moving. Clarke recently wrapped the thriller Ally Clark opposite Viola Davis. also for Amazon MGM. as well as Tom McCarthy’s The Statement for Sony Pictures Classics. He is currently shooting A Quiet Place 3 for Paramount/Skydance and director John Krasinski. Other credits include Oppenheimer; Murdaugh: Death in the Family; the upcoming F.A.S.T.; Zero Dark Thirty; Mudbound; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Chappaquiddick; Everest; and Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers.
Clarke is represented by Robert Stein Management, CAA, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman.
For now, Heat 2’s casting questions remain unanswered — and that’s exactly where the buzz is sticking. The role itself hasn’t been clarified, no cast deal has been confirmed, and the project still feels like it’s waiting for the right names to lock in its next chapter.
Jason Clarke Heat 2 Michael Mann Amazon MGM Studios United Artists Leonardo DiCaprio Christian Bale Public Enemies Heat Jerry Bruckheimer Eric Roth Shane Salerno