Leonardo DiCaprio Shuts Down Cliff Booth Rumors, Reveals New Heat 2 Details

If you were hoping for a Rick Dalton sighting in The Adventures of Cliff Booth, sorry — that cameo is not happening. But Leo did toss a little gasoline on the Heat 2 conversation, and there are some interesting specifics there.

DiCaprio says no Dalton cameo in Cliff Booth

Leonardo DiCaprio told Deadline he will not be popping up as Rick Dalton in David Fincher's The Adventures of Cliff Booth. There were early talks about a small appearance, but it never went past that. He sounds fully on board with the movie, just not in it.

"There were some talks about it early on. Ultimately, I cannot wait to see the Cliff Booth story, but I'm not in it. I think David Fincher's the perfect man for the job."

The movie itself is a follow-up to Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, with Brad Pitt back as Cliff Booth. This time, the ex-stuntman is reportedly working as a Hollywood fixer. The project actually started life as part of Tarantino's scrapped script for what would have been his tenth and final film. Pitt loved the Booth material so much he asked Tarantino if someone else could direct. Tarantino basically said, depends who — and once Fincher's name came up, Tarantino gave his blessing. That is a very nerdy process detail, but also kind of perfect: Fincher directing a Tarantino spin-off with Pitt at the center.

• Cast so far: Brad Pitt, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, and Carla Gugino.
• Timothy Olyphant was rumored to return as James Stacy, but he later walked that back.

Would it have been fun to see where Dalton landed for 30 seconds? Sure. But letting Booth own his own movie feels right.

Heat 2: Leo is in the mix, calls it an homage

On the other front, DiCaprio confirmed he is in active talks for Michael Mann's Heat 2 — and it sounds like he could end up as either Chris Shiherlis (Val Kilmer's role) or Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino's role). Nothing is locked and the movie is still a ways from production, but he was clear about the tone and scope.

"This is very much its own movie. We're still working on it, we're a ways away from production... It tips its hat to Heat, but it's an homage, not a duplicate."

He also pointed people to the source material — the Heat 2 novel is already out there — and said the film moves both forward and backward from the original's ending. Plot-wise, it picks up days after the 1995 film, with a wounded Chris trying to get out of Los Angeles, while also flashing back to events years before the heist and then into the years right after. He called Heat the great crime noir of his lifetime and framed the sequel as its own thing that respects the original without trying to copy it wholesale.

Honestly, I figured Heat 2 might never happen. It still has plenty of runway to clear, but from the sound of it, pieces are moving into place.