Michael Mann is explaining not only that Pacino and De Niro were on set together during the coffee scene in Heat, but how it was shot.
Michael Mann’s Heat remains one of the finest cinematic achievements of the ‘90s, an epic crime drama with a cat-and-mouse plot centered around two of the greatest actors to ever grace the screen – just not together. Heat wasn’t the first time that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino shared a credit (that was The Godfather Part II) but so much anticipation came in them sharing a timeline. But for some reason or another there has long been the question by some as to whether or not De Niro and Pacino were actually on set together at the iconic coffee shop scene. Despite there being set photos that show them in a two-shot, we don’t actually see them as such in Heat, leading many (chiefly those who never saw the behind-the-scenes photo) to speculate. Now, director Michael Mann isn’t only debunking that theory but explaining exactly how that iconic Heat scene was shot.
Speaking with Collider, Michael Mann said, “What it was, there’s actually three cameras and what you’re wearing on your chest is what the third camera was shooting, which is the profile two-shot, but I never used it because every time I went to that shot it removed us and made us observers of the two men instead of being empathetically, subjectively inside that dialogue. So, I always only use the two overs because everything we did was simultaneous. I had two cameras set up just out of reach, just out of sight of each other, shooting that scene.” Happy now, doubters?
While we mentioned that De Niro and Pacino both starred in The Godfather Part II – with the former winning his first Oscar – one would think that they couldn’t appear onscreen together since their storylines take place 40+ years apart. However, due to a clever fade from De Niro’s young Vito Corleone to Pacino’s modern-day Michael, they actually have more screen time in The Godfather Part II than they do in Heat – so suck on that, Michael Mann! Of course, since then De Niro and Pacino have made two more films together that give them plenty of screen time, the terrible Righteous Kill and the awesome The Irishman.
Michael Mann is currently planning his own sequel/prequel with a follow-up to Heat, set to star Adam Driver as a younger version of De Niro’s Neil McCauley.
Where does Heat rank in your favorite Michael Mann movies? Give us your top 3 in the comments section below!