Veej

Its coming out in Feb, have'nt seen any one talking about this one much...its posted at dvdanswers.com...

The weird thing about this movie is that although it had 2 of the greatest actors in the same movie Pacino and Deniro are not on the screen at the same time, only in a reflection while Pacino pulls Deniro over on the highway, and maybe a long shot when at the end when Deniro dies...and input on why Michael Mann would waste such an oppurtunity...hopefully in the directors commentary he speaks about this one...

Also the love the way both look in this movie very cool/suave, Deniro with goutee and Pacino with the long bangs hair style....and designer cloths both are wearing...

fryinpan1

Heat is a great movie and I can't wait for the SE DVD. There was already a Heat thread though:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...highlight=heat

OldBoy

did you black out after he pulls him over and not see them in the diner scene? they were face to face have coffee chatting it up for a bit.

also, he didn't waste any opportunity. the movie simply didn't present itself to have the two in the same scene at the same time. it was an incredible movie with a bunch of incredible actors and nothing was wasted. it was exactly as it should be. so what exactly are you talking about?

The Antipodean

Maybe you saw the "Heat" starring Burt Reynolds, because I know DeNiro and Pacino had a scene together in this one.

PopcornTreeCt

Thanksgiving must make people forget about the search function.

Mike Lowrey

It's that chemical in the turkey that makes people lazy...er, sleppy.

digitalfreaknyc

It's pretty much common knowledge that they're never shown on screen in the same frame.

Although rambling, i'm sure that's what the original poster means.

Mike Lowrey

Oh, so we're talking semantics here now, are we?

Same place, same time, but not in the same frame together. That's an editing choice. But the two are freakin' talkin' to one another!

FinkPish

They are in the same frame together, the very last shot of the movie has a behind the back shot of Pacino holding DeNiro's hand at the airport.

TomOpus

And forget about using spoiler tags when revealing a HUGE plot point

wm lopez

That diner scene looks kinda like it was cgi shot, like they were edited together.

FinkPish

That's how movies are shot; separate shots are edited together to form a feeling of continuity. Why do people assume that it was some sort of conspiracy that these two were never seen together in the same shot?

BTW, evidence that they were on the diner set together:

Josh Z

DeNiro and Pacino are never shown together on screen in any way that suggests they were on set at the same time. The restaurant scene is shot in a boring reverse-angle-reverse style with each actor reading their lines to a stand-in sitting in front of them, who we only see from the back of the head. They do this for one actor, then cut to the opposite angle where the other actor does the same thing.

Yes, this is how many movie scenes are shot. They are shot that way when the two stars can't coordinate a schedule to work together at the same time. If Mann really had both actors together, he should have allowed the two of them to play off one another in the same shot. Reverse-angle-reverse is the most boring kind of scene coverage at a filmmaker's disposal (in film school they teach you to use it only as a last resort), and is not part of Mann's usual style.

I'm not saying this should be made out to be a great conspiracy, but that photo supposedly from the set was released to the public only after the movie came out, as "proof". Why weren't the two actors photographed together in the movie? Watch any of Mann's other movies (or even the rest of this one) and you'll see that he favors placing his actors on opposite ends of a widescreen frame facing off against one another.

If DeNiro and Pacino were really both there at the same time, then Mann simply blew the scene with his direction of it, pure and simple.

I love Heat, but that scene really stands out as the weakest moment in the movie.

steebo777

Interesting, I never even noticed they weren't on screen at all together.

FinkPish

So they couldn't get their schedules to work so they could film the actual scene, but they could find time to shoot a couple of "fake" publicity stills to prove they were in fact together in that scene?

Do you think that it is possible that in editing the film, Mann decided against having a wide shot of the both of them, for whatever reason? Maybe he couldn't find a good place to put it, because to me that scene is pretty intense between the two of them, and cutting away from close ups would break up the tension.

I think the scene is great the way it is. There is a great dynamic between the two of them that works great the way it is edited. A master shot would have been nice, but it could have been a distraction to cut away from those close ups just so we could see them together on screen.

Julie Walker

You know,the whole conspiracy.disappointment over Di Niro and Pacino 'never' being in the same frame together,never bothered me.

I mean,it's a great film,really interesting,with tour de force performances by all. So I never let that little Di Niro/Pacino frame issue bother me. It never crossed my mind while viewing it. That I was surprised so many people bitch about it in the first place.

I thought the diner scene was really well,and if I recall correctly. It was shot over the shoulder of the person being spoken to,then cut back and forth as each other spoke. It sure felt like they were speaking to each other and enjoying the camaradery,compared to if they were speaking to a stand in.

Thus as the photo shows,they WERE on the same set together. It was just shot in a different way for whatever reason. But I doubt Mann had any 'issues' with it and thought the scene would work best as it was framed.

Maybe he wanted us to concentrate solely on the person speaking,rather than getting stary eyed and gawking with aww at two great stars in the same shot together?

If so,I think he made a great choice. Since trying to watch both persons faces,to see how they are reacting to each other would have taken me out of the discussion they were having.

digitalfreaknyc

Personally, I don't see what that pic proves. You still can't see Deniro's face.

FinkPish

Fine, more proof:


(Waiting for someone to say this one is a composite)

steebo777

That one's a composite

JoeR63

Look at how wide the diner table is in the above shot. You almost never see a diner table where the opposing seats are so far apart. I think it's further proof of a conspiracy. Pacino and DeNiro obviously did not want to be filmed together. We'd better get to the bottom of this.

No willingness for Pacino and DeNiro to be filmed together = NO SALE!

Geofferson

How about the final scene of the movie?

Josh Z

You still don't see their faces on screen at the same time in that scene.

The only shot of the movie where you can see both faces is when Pacino pulls over Deniro. You see DeNiro in his car, and Pacino's face is reflected in the window. That shot is clearly a composite.

PopcornTreeCt

Michael Mann must like the name Vincent.

wm lopez

I believe while they were shooting that movie the Oscars were on and they presented an award together. They both looked like they did in the movie HEAT when it came out. So if they were able to present an award they must have been able to do the scene together. Hopefully the SE. will settle this, maybe with some on the set footage.

FinkPish

Almost but not quite. You can see them both in frame, DeNiro is out of focus, but the nose is clearly his.