Austin Butler is locked and loaded in viral gun training video, fuelling Heat 2 casting rumors

A new video of Austin Butler taking part in gun training exercises is doing the rounds online, and it's got fans even more convinced that the Elvis and Dune: Part Two star has a role in Heat 2. 

Butler is rumored to be playing Chris Shiherlis, a role played by Val Kilmer in the original movie. Shiherlis is the right-hand man of career thief Neil McCauley. Mann previously confirmed that Heat 2 will be his next movie, so production is likely to start soon, but the only (sort of) confirmed cast member so far is Adam Driver, who will be playing a younger version of Robert De Niro's McCauley.

"Just hit me with that Austin Butler Heat 2 announcement already PLEASE," one fan tweeted, while another wrote, "I can't think of much right now that would make me happier than confirmation than Austin playing Chris in Heat 2!" 

The new movie will be based on the novel Mann co-wrote with Meg Gardiner, released in 2022, that acts as both a prequel and a sequel to the 1995 crime drama, which saw De Niro's McCauley in a cat-and-mouse chase with Al Pacino's LAPD detective Vincent Hanna. Jumping between two timelines, it tells the story of everything that happens to the movie's principal characters before and after the events of Heat.

It's been a big year for Butler already, with the actor starring as antagonist Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in sci-fi sequel Dune: Part Two and taking on the role of real-life fighter pilot Major Gale Cleven in Apple TV Plus historical drama Masters of the Air. 

While we wait for Heat to arrive on the big screen, check out our guide to the most exciting movie release dates on the way in 2024.