tellurikwaves blog : , CINEMA :Les blessures narcissiques d'une vie par procuration (75 Paris)

In an interview with Al Pacino on the DVD Special Edition, Pacino revealed that for the scene in the restaurant between Hanna and McCauley, Robert De Niro felt that the scene should not be rehearsed so that the unfamiliarity between the two characters would seem more genuine. Michael Mann agreed, and shot the scene with no practice rehearsals.

In June of 2002, the scene involving the shootout after the bank robbery was shown to United States Marine recruits at MCRD San Diego as an example of the proper way to retreat while under fire.

In the director commentary, Michael Mann noted that Al Pacino ad-libbed the line "Because she's got a... GREAT ASS!" and Hank Azaria's look of exasperated shock was totally genuine.

The first film to ever feature both Robert De Niro and Al Pacino acting together, which created much hype prior to release. They both starred in Le parrain, 2ème partie (1974) but never shared the screen together as split chronology prevented this. When this movie was finally released, even its advertising material promoted the film as a De Niro/Pacino "showdown."

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro were Michael Mann's first choices for Hanna and McCauley.

Waingro tells the bartender he spent time at Folsom State Prison and then at the "Shu" (secure housing unit) at Pelican Bay. Pelican Bay State Prison is where California houses the most dangerous of its most dangerous prisoners, and the Shu is where the worst of all of them go.

Much of the film is based off a real-life confrontation between Chicago cop Chuck Adamson and the real Neil McCauley. Adamson was a retired police officer whom director Michael Mann had been working with off and on since the film Le solitaire (1981) starring James Caan (and based upon the career of famed Chicago burglar Frank Hohimer whom Adamson had arrested). They had later worked together on two shows produced by Mann: Deux flics à Miami (1984) and Les incorruptibles de Chicago (1986).

According to Chuck Adamson (and confirmed by Michael Mann) in the Heat-Special Edition DVD Documentary "Crime Stories", McCauley was a professional robber whom he had frequently crossed paths with. Events such as the scene between Vincent Hanna and Neil McCauley in the coffee shop where they basically tell each other that the last time they meet will be their last, and the warehouse sting where McCauley got tipped off that the cops were around due to an officer making a noise really happened. In real life, Neil McCauley was killed during a robbery of a grocery store (similar to the bank heist shootout) by Adamson's team who were tipped off to the robbery.

The meeting between Robert De Niro and Al Pacino over coffee was shot at Kate Mantilini on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. The L.A. mainstay is a noted top spot for a stylish late supper. The restaurant now has "heat" spelled in neon above the door and a large poster of the actors in the now famous scene. Diners may request the very table featured in the scene, table #71, which wait staff are familiar with as "The Table", and are happy to seat De Niro Pacino fans at their famous meeting place.

Filmed in 65 locations around Los Angeles, without a single soundstage.

Michael Mann visited inmates in Folsom prison to gain some insight into prison life to aid his depiction of Neil. Mann later commented that Neil's collars were always perfectly starched, as they would have been in prison.

In an early draft of the script, Vincent Hanna had a cocaine habit, which, according to Al Pacino, explains his bombastic outbursts.

Amy Brenneman disliked the script and didn't want to be in the movie, saying it was too filled with blood with no morality. Michael Mann told her that with that mind-set she would be perfect for the role of Eady.

Kevin Gage's Waingro character is based on a real Chicago criminal named Waingro who ratted out some influential Chicago criminals. According to Michael Mann, Waingro went missing; his body was found in northern Mexico, where it had been nailed to the wall of a shed.

The two main characters used to be in the Marine Corps. Det Hanna is talked about during the briefing for McCauley's final robbery. McCauley is clearly seen with an Eagle, Globe, and Anchor tat on his arm, when getting up from bed with Eady.

The character of Nate, played by Jon Voight, is based on real-life former career criminal Edward Bunker.

Bosco, at the party, tells a story of a grade school friend of his name Raoul. Michael Mann said that the story was completely ad-libbed by Ted Levine and that he had no idea how Levine came up with it.

For the restaurant sequence where McCauley and Hanna finally meet, Michael Mann ran two cameras simultaneously in order to generate a greater level of fluidity between both rivals. Since there were no rehearsals for the scene, this approach afforded both men a more generous margin for improvisational experimentation.

Although this is the second film on which Al Pacino and Robert De Niro have shared top billing, in Le parrain, 2ème partie (1974), they didn't have a single scene together. In this movie, they only have two scenes together, for a total of less than 10 minutes.

Ted Levine was originally offered the part of Waingro but turned it down because he felt that he was being typecast. He asked to play the part of Bosko instead.

Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) only smiles four times in the entire movie: once, when he sees Donald Breedan (Dennis Haysbert) in the diners' kitchen while working as a short order cook, once when he first meets Eady in the restaurant, at dinner with his "crew" and their respective ladies, and finally (briefly) as he is driving in the car with Eady on their way to the airport.

The cast was given weapons and tactics training by former British Special Air Service members Andy McNab and Mick Gould. Gould has a cameo as one of the cops who breaks into Henry Rollins's flat.

Michael Mann made the movie as tribute to a detective friend of his in Chicago who obsessively tracked and killed a thief (named Neil McCauley) he had once met under non-violent circumstances.

The scene involving the shootout after the bank robbery was particularly tricky to film since they were only allowed to film on the weekends.

Dennis Farina, a former Chicago police officer, was a consultant on the film since the story was based on a Chicago police officer and criminal. Farina had previously played a Chicago cop in Michael Mann's television series Les incorruptibles de Chicago (1986).

In the director's commentary, Michael Mann said that Neil's trademark gray suits were designed to help him blend into a crowd and not draw attention to himself.

The scene where Vincent catches his wife cheating, removes the television set and later throws it from his car was lifted from a similar scene with Dennis Farina in Les incorruptibles de Chicago (1986), also produced by Michael Mann.

Keanu Reeves was originally signed to play Chris Shiherlis, and Carsten Norgaard was also one of the director's options, but they both lost the part when Val Kilmer was able squeeze it into his schedule while making Batman Forever (1995).

Jon Voight initially turned down the part of Nate, telling Michael Mann that there were several actors who could perform the part better. Mann told Voight that he wanted him for the role since he'd always wanted to work with him.

In Japanese TV interview in 1995, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino got asked "which role-play, Police or Robber, did you do when a boyhood?" De Niro replied, "Police", Pacino did "Police doing robbery".

The scene of McCauley standing against a window and watching the ocean was inspired by the painting "Pacific" by Alex Colville.

The manager of the Kate Mantilini restaurant in Beverly Hills said in the Heat special edition that even though the restaurant doesn't technically take reservations, people often call to try to reserve the table that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino sat at in the movie.

Val Kilmer filmed some of his sequences concurrently with Batman Forever (1995).

When Michael Mann filmed the restaurant scene at Kate Mantilini in Beverly Hills, he used the restaurant's actual employees as extras. Upon the last day of filming, he awarded them all with a SAG card. Today you can still sit in the table where Robert De Niro and Al Pacino sat, and the two are both regulars at the popular restaurant.

Many viewers claim that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino never (or hardly ever) actually share screen time during the film, despite the hype surrounding the films release as showcasing their first screen appearance. In most Pan and Scan versions of the film, and TV broadcasts, it does appear that during the "diner scene" the two never actually share the screen, but viewing the film in correct letterbox format, as the director Michael Mann intended, clearly shows the two actors sitting at the table, though only in wide shots.

Mykelti Williamson, in the Special DVD Edition of the movie, said in an interview that director Michael Mann arranged for cast members to meet with real life LAPD Detectives and professional criminals at an exclusive restaurant (the name of which Williamson refused to disclose) where LAPD detectives and criminals socialized. Cast members playing the detectives had dinner with the LAPD detectives and their wives one night, while the cast members playing the thieves had dinner with the real life criminals and their wives on a separate night. Williamson said that Mann arranged these events so the actors would have a better idea of how real detectives and criminals socialized and interacted with each other.

The word 'fuck' is used 52 times, mostly by Al Pacino.

Kris Kristofferson, in what would have been an obvious nod to Le solitaire (1981) and Willie Nelson's character in that movie, was suggested for the role of 'Nate', played by Jon Voight.

Keanu Reeves turned down a part in this mega-budget movie to tread the boards in Winnipeg playing Hamlet for the minimum theatrical wage.

Michael Madsen was originally casted as Michael Cheritto, but was ultimately replaced (for unknown reasons) by Tom Sizemore.

CINEMA :Les blessures narcissiques d'une vie par procuration

© DR - Jane Fonda et Robert de Niro dans STANLEY & IRIS

© DR - HEAT (1995) d'Anthony Mann / Bio de Robert de Niro

© DR - HEAT (1995) de Anthony Mann

© DR - HEAT d'Anthony Mann

© DR - HEAT d'Anthony Mann