It’s a good time to be a Michael Mann fan. The meticulous director is looking forward with a bunch of new projects, including the Vietnam War miniseries “Huê 1968,” and the biopic “Ferrari” starring Hugh Jackman and Noomi Rapace. However, it’s his past projects that are raising the most attention. The director is constantly reworking his films, and it has led to a new cut of “Ali” dropping earlier this year, and an upcoming redo of “Heat“ which hits streets tomorrow — the same day another Mann movie is finally seeing its new edition make a grand, public, and surprise appearance.
Playlist reader Ethan Carota tipped us to an ad that recently ran on FX announcing the World Broadcast Premiere of the Director’s Cut of “Blackhat” on Tuesday, May 9th at 7 PM (see the screengrab below). The network’s website also confirms that “Blackhat” will be airing on Tuesday night, but doesn’t provide much information beyond that.
The new cut of the tech thriller starring Chris Hemsworth first debuted in February 2016 at BAM in New York City. We saw the new edit, and while our reviewer Kenji Fujishima noted that “many of the changes from the theatrical version in the new ‘Blackhat’ cut are fairly minor,” when combined, “they add up to a more propulsive picture.” We’ll soon see for ourselves. And if you’re not going to be around tomorrow night, you might want to set up your DVR — at the moment, there doesn’t appear to be a home video release slated for the Director’s Cut of “Blackhat.”
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As for what you can expect from that latest version of “Heat,” Mann teases what sounds like mostly visual changes. “What I wanted to do was take it away from the way the world would have seemed, seen 22 years ago, and into the way the world is now. Everything evolves, including what we think is real, how we see light and shadow on a human face, what constitutes a dramatic aspect. I think we probably went into every shot of the film,” he explained to Associated Press.
Mann will be Mann, however, and it sounds like he could tinker with “Heat” forever, though he concedes it’s fine as it is. “‘The Insider‘ and ‘Heat’ are two films I’ve never really changed. They didn’t need any modification. There’s a line I’d take out of ‘Heat’ if I was ever motivated to. I’m not going to tell you what it is, though,” he added. Any guesses?
So, a big week for Mann devotees, and it’ll be interesting to see what the reception is for both pictures.