Summary
- Austin Butler has spoken about his rumored casting as Chris Shiherlis in
Heat 2
. - The actor played coy, saying ”
no comment
.” - It remains to be seen if Butler joins the cast, but he has other, officially confirmed, roles coming soon.
Austin Butler has spoken about his possible casting in Heat 2. The movie is set to be a follow-up to 1995’s Heat (which followed the game of cat-and-mouse between a police officer and a retiring criminal), based on director Michael Mann’s 2022 prequel novel of the same name which follows younger and older versions of the original characters. Adam Driver is thought to be playing a younger version of Robert De Niro’s criminal Neil McCauley in the upcoming Heat 2 while Butler has been rumored to play Val Kilmer’s character Chris Shiherlis, who was McCauley’s number two.
Total Film recently spoke with Austin Butler about the possibility that he could appear in Heat 2 in their new issue with a Twisters cover story. The Elvis and Dune: Part Two actor played coy, neither confirming nor denying his participation in the Michael Mann project, though he shared that he loves the original 1995 movie. He ultimately left readers with a simple “no comment.” Read Butler’s full quote below:
Yeah, I… I mean, I love the first film, but no comment on that.
What’s Next For Austin Butler If Not Heat 2?
The Oscar Nominee Has Several Roles That Are Officially Confirmed
Ultimately, it remains to be seen if this movie adaptation of the Heat 2 book ever comes to fruition in the first place, let alone with Austin Butler in the cast. While Butler’s quote doesn’t necessarily offer insight into the project, it doesn’t outright deny the fact that he could be involved, making it still a distinct possibility that he will be teaming with Mann on the new movie. However, regardless of whether or not Butler will ever step into the role of Chris Shiherlis, he has several other upcoming projects on the docket that have been more officially confirmed.
The star has three major titles in which he will pair with notable creatives set for the new future. All of these were announced in early 2024 as he showed off his villainous chops with his Dune: Part Two character Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. The upcoming movie City on Fire, based on the Don Winslow book of the same name, will see him leaning in on that angle as he plays Danny Ryan, a man caught between the Mafia, the police, and his own growing empire.
City on Fire
is unrelated to the Apple TV+ show of the same name starring Wyatt Oleff, which was based on a novel by Garth Risk Hallberg.
He will also be teaming with director Darren Aronofsky for Caught Stealing, in which he will play an ex-baseball player who becomes embroiled in 1990s New York’s criminal underworld. Also on the docket is Ari Aster’s nightmarish neo-Western Eddington, in which he co-stars with Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal. Heat 2 would likely pair well with the complicated characters Butler has been taking on, but even if it doesn’t happen, he is still following a path that has given him several similar projects to explore.
Source: Total Film
Heat 2
Heat 2 is the sequel to Michael Man’s 1995 critically-acclaimed crime film, Heat. The movie starred Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Val Kilmer. In 2022, Mann, along with co-author Meg Gardiner, released Heat 2: A Novel. The book follows the characters before and after the events of the 1995 film, and the movie for Heat 2 follows the same premise. In July 2022, Mann confirmed a movie adaptation for Heat 2 was in the works, and in April 2023, Adam Driver was confirmed to play a younger version of De Niro’s character Neil McCauley.