Al Pacino’s Vincent Hanna is certainly animated during the events of Heat, some of that could be attributed to the stress of trying to apprehend Robert De Niro’s Neil McCauley and his crew, as well as his… unique personality. However, years back, it was revealed that the reason Pacino’s acting is so over the top in Michael Mann’s 1995 movie is because he played Hanna as a cokehead. Now Mann has shared that Heat nearly included a wild scene of Pacino’s character snorting cocaine off an unusual surface.
Despite it never being explicitly stated in Heat that Vincent Hanna indulges in this vice, while being interviewed by Variety, Mann mentioned that a scene was shot where the LAPD detective was snorting coke off the back of a dagger he carried in the small of his back. The filmmaker decided to cut this scene because he thought it was “too strong a message.” Still, at least now Heat fans have an even better idea of how intense Hanna is with his blow addiction.
Michael Mann divulged this information while talking about the day that he shot Al Pacino’s “She’s got a great ass!” scene, which sees Vincent Hanna interrogating Alan Marciano about his affair with Ashley Judd’s Charlene Shiherlis, the wife of Val Kilmer’s Chris Shiherlis. According to Mann, Pacino’s “best takes are always five, six or seven,” but even after getting a good one, he’d often ask the writer/director if he could do a “wild one,” which often resulted in hilarious results.
That’s how the amazingly ridiculous line delivery Pacino directed at Azaria came to be, with The Simpsons actor having a look of “shock and amazement” on his face as his costar was “going completely off the script into something totally wild.” You can see the results for yourself below.
Heat ended up being a critical and commercial success, boasting an 88% Rotten Tomatoes and pulling in over $187 million worldwide, and is considered one of the best '90s movies. Al Pacino’s performance choices certainly play a big role in why it’s still fondly remembered nearly three decades after its release, and it also ranks as one of Robert De Niro’s best movies. Along with the aforementioned actors, Heat’s cast included Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Natalie Portman, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert and William Fichtner, among others.
In 2022, Michael Mann revisited this corner of his filmography with Heat 2, which he co-wrote with Mag Gardiner and serves as both a prequel and sequel to the original movie. In April, it was reported that a film adaptation of Heat 2 is in the works, with Adam Driver being eyed to play a younger Neil McCauley. While we wait for more updates on that project, learn what movies are on the horizon with our 2023 release schedule and 2024 release schedule.
