In 2000,
William Goldman published his second volume of memoirs,
Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade. He mentioned
Heat briefly, saying "the reason you will not learn more about this baby in these pages is simple: to my knowledge, lawsuits are still flying." He added that it was "One of my major disasters...", with a record six directors, who "... toiled on what was only a thirty-six-day shoot." In 2014, he reflected, "We had troubles, what can I tell you?"
Development Burt Reynolds was paid $2 million ($ million today) to play the lead role. In 1987, he discussed how "I don't think
Heat and
Malone", another film he made shortly after, "are the movies that are going to change my career." He added "at least they are serious films which people have told me I should have been doing for years. I don't know how good they are, but at least I'm taking the advice now of close friends and doing films that take me out of a car." Reynolds apparently initiated the project, having read the novel and calling Goldman about turning it into a film.
Robert Altman In February 1986 it was announced
Robert Altman was to direct. This was considered a surprising choice; although Altman had previously made
The Long Goodbye with producer Elliot Kastner, the two men had a major falling out when Altman was going to direct
92 in the Shade. But
Carol Burnett encouraged Altman to work with Burt Reynolds and the director liked the star, so he accepted. According to Altman's biographer Patrick McGilligan, the director "detested the commerciality of William Goldman's script." Altman flew to New York, met with Goldman, and surprised himself by getting along with him, but the writer did not want to change the script. Altman flew to Las Vegas and used a technicality to get out of making the movie—his desired cinematographer, Pierre Mignot, could not obtain the necessary permits to work on the film, so Altman withdrew. He left the film shortly afterwards. He was replaced by
Dick Richards, with whom Kastner had made
Farewell, My Lovely.
Shooting Richards did not get along with Reynolds. At one stage Reynolds hit Richards and the director left the project, being replaced by
Jerry Jameson. Richards later returned, only to fall from a camera crane and wind up in the hospital. Richards later took credit as 'R.M. Richards' and distanced himself from the final product. "I had nothing to do with the editing of the film," he said later. "I was one of five directors. All I did was the casting and 13 days of shooting... I should have taken my name off it entirely." A
Directors Guild of America arbitration ruled that Richards was responsible for 41% of the finished film and Jerry Jameson 31%. Richards later tried to sue Reynolds for $25 million for the assault, and Reynolds was ordered to pay $500,000 in damages, bitterly remarking in a 1996 interview, "I spent $500,000 for that punch", adding, with reference to other producers and directors he had accosted, including
Joel Silver, "If I hit a guy, it's certain that he will (later) run a studio or become a huge director."
Lionel Wigram, who went on to become the senior vice president at
Warner Bros. who brought that studio into the multi-billion dollar success of the
Harry Potter film series, had one of his first industry jobs as an assistant on
Heat.
Joe Klecko and
Pete Koch, who play DeMarco's huge goons, were both
defensive linemen in the
National Football League at the time the movie was filmed. ==Reception==