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Filmmaker & guest

Michael Mann

Writer and director of Heat. Joins Bill Simmons and Chris Ryan to discuss making the film.

Also referred to as Mann

Film biography Profile source

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Episodes credited in this archive
1
Movies in this archive
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Across the table

Appearing on these Rewatchables episodes

Heat

1995 film

Bill Simmons · Chris Ryan · Michael Mann

Aired November 2, 2021

Displaying 1 episode

Mentioned in discussions

Ali The Rewatchables
Ali

Apex Mountain

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:24Read transcript
  • Ali is proposed as Smith’s apex, with Independence Day and Men in Black as the main counterclaim.
  • Hitch is argued as Smith’s purest movie-star peak.
  • The Insider is preferred as Mann’s apex, while the surrounding run is treated as his imperial phase.
Ali The Rewatchables
Ali

Half-Assed Internet Research

Smith as an Ali pallbearer, Smith and Mann contributing salaries after the budget overrun, Ali visiting the set, and Albert Hall’s roles in Ali and Malcolm X

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:33:30Read transcript
  • Smith was an Ali pallbearer and Smith and Mann reportedly contributed salary money after the overrun. — Bill Simmons
  • Ali reportedly visited the set and praised Smith’s imitation. — Bill Simmons
  • Albert Hall plays Elijah Muhammad here and the composite Baines in Malcolm X. — Van Lathan
The Insider The Rewatchables
The Insider

Apex Mountain

McGill and the golfing henchman: yes

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:23:53Read transcript
  • Bruce McGill is endorsed; Pacino and Crow are rejected, with Gladiator offered for Crow.
  • The golfing henchman is endorsed, while Plummer’s peak is placed at The Sound of Music.
  • Mann’s ability to finance this film is proposed as an apex, attributed to the success and latitude created by Heat.
The Insider The Rewatchables
The Insider

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Bruce McGill is the film selection; a later joke gives an overacting award to the hosts’ Pacino impressions.

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:11:05Read transcript
  • McGill is called a double winner for the courtroom outburst and possibly a triple winner with the that-guy award.
  • The performance is jokingly imagined as pushed beyond Pacino’s Heat outburst, while Mann’s taste for excess is discussed.
  • A later joke gives the hosts an overacting award for their Pacino-and-Knicks impressions, not a new film-performance winner.
The Insider The Rewatchables
The Insider

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:37Read transcript
  • Bruce McGill’s Mississippi courtroom outburst is the initial sole nomination and prompts a possible triple crown.
  • Mann’s willingness to allow large performances is discussed, with uncertainty about whether the deposition outburst is historical or invented. — Sean Fennessey
  • Michael Gambon, the golfer henchman and Stephen Tobolowski are offered as runners-up.
  • McGill is the final selection. — Bill Simmons
The Insider The Rewatchables
The Insider

Half-Assed Internet Research

Writing, source access, hostile reactions, a journalist cameo and the decision to limit smoking

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:04:05Read transcript
  • The original title is reported as Man of the People.
  • Roth and Mann reportedly wrote the first draft at the Broadway deli, with the bar-versus-table detail questioned.
  • Crow could not discuss the events with Wigand because the confidentiality restriction still applied outside court. — Bill Simmons
  • Wallace reportedly disliked the film; a Mann account describes a hostile Hewitt elevator encounter that turns into criticism of Bergman. — Bill Simmons
  • Bergman’s Berkeley and Frontline roles are reported, and Pete Hamill is identified as the journalist cameo receiving the leak. — Bill Simmons
  • Wigand reportedly did not want cigarettes shown, though Middle East smoking is noted; more smoke is argued to suit Pacino and the atmosphere. — Chris Ryan
  • The effect of smoking imagery is acknowledged while discussing convincing and awkward screen smokers, including television Don Johnson and Goodfellas De Niro. — Chris Ryan
Blackhat The Rewatchables
Blackhat

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Ease of hacking; airline Wi-Fi; immediate romance; casting comparison; reason for final fight

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:23Read transcript
  • How easily can an elite hacker gain access to another person’s computer, and is learning the language the main barrier? The discussion acknowledges limited technical knowledge. — Bill Simmons
  • An aircraft’s shared internet connection is imagined as an easy target for Hathaway, while eerily relevant advertising illustrates everyday anxiety about surveillance. — Bill Simmons
  • Why would Hathaway immediately enter a serious romance after release, and what would the couple discuss once the hacking crisis ends? — Chris Ryan
  • The casting of another Asian actress is compared to Mann’s Miami Vice collaboration with Gong Li, with a correction that she knew English. — Bill Simmons
  • Why not leave with the stolen money instead of fighting? Revenge and a need to confront the only worthy adversary are offered as competing explanations. — Chris Ryan
Blackhat The Rewatchables
Blackhat

Recasting Couch

Adam Driver as Hathaway; Jon Bernthal as the hacker villain; Hemsworth with Australian accent

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:13Read transcript
  • DiCaprio is considered too old by 2015, while keeping Hemsworth with an Australian accent is defended. — Bill Simmons
  • Hathaway could have entered prison thin and built his physique there; the role still needs physicality. — Bill Simmons
  • Jeremy Renner around 2009 is an appealing possibility, but he might already be too old for the 2015 film. — Bill Simmons
  • Miles Teller is considered too young for a character presumed to be in his mid-thirties; Gyllenhaal is floated. — Bill Simmons
  • Adam Driver emerges as the preferred alternative because he can plausibly be both a hacker and physically formidable. — Bill Simmons
  • Jon Bernthal is proposed as the hacker villain, though the discussion acknowledges his negative experience with Mann and questions his plausibility as a hacker. — Bill Simmons
Displaying discussions 1 - 12 of 51 in total