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Latest news on Michael's recent venture with HBO.

Ace Rothstein, maybe? Nickname box empty, David?

It appears that along with Hoffman, Nick Nolte has been added to the cast too.

Matt Zoller-Seitz previews the new Director's Cut of Last of the Mohicans in a longer piece on alternative and extended cuts.

Mann's second cut of "Last of the Mohicans," (...) is superior to the original in terms of character development, but the action sequences feel choppy in places, where before they had a sharklike elegance.

Anyone else find it odd that he didn't even watch the new cut of Mohicans, even though he has it in his possession, to see if it supported his thesis that most revisions are damaging? Was he up against a deadline, or something? For his part, he claims that he's in no rush to watch it, because he doesn't want to "encourage Mann to continue tinkering with his movies...".

I read somewhere all of his movies have been altered for home video release.

Yes, aren't there at least three cuts of Manhunter?

I think 4... The true theatrical only ever being available on some kind of Hannibal Lecter Blu-Ray combo-pack. He just messed with Heat for Blu-Ray as well.

I just wish at least one version of The Keep would get a release! An utterly bizarre film, but one I love wholeheartedly - though I am a fan of Tangerine Dream and atmospheric 80s visuals! (I particularly like the way the quite moving final scene is scored to an eerily menacing and heavily distorted electronic version of Walking In The Air!) There is also a strange, slight parallel with Ian McKellen's character in this and the one he played in the X-Men films as a concentration camp survivor finds he is given the opportunity for revenge, and his struggles over whether to do so. Though I think I am most likely reading far too much into the relationship between those two films!

I don't recall any changes to The Insider.

I think what I read said he would make miniscule changes to his films, not just different cuts altogether. But I don't recall even small differences in the Collateral and Public Enemies DVD, so that has hopefully changed. I could be wrong, but that's how I remember it.

A fascinating and appropriately well designed hypothetical Mann film fest.

Bill Chambers' verdict on the new Defintive Cut and the Blu-Ray of Mohicans

Interview with Michael and Dustin Hoffman about Luck, which will premiere on HBO late next year.

First glimpses of Luck

I'm really excited for the show, especially as now it appears it won't be just a mini-series. I saw the first 7-8 episodes of Deadwood recently and am very jazzed to see Michael and David collaborate.

In an unusual move for HBO (or any other network I can think of), the series will premiere in December following the Boardwalk Empire season finale, with the rest of the season playing out in late January.

A look at Michael's next possible films. Go Like Hell seems more fascinating, more in tune with Mann's recent output (make of it what you will).

Nice extensive interview with Michael, done fairly recently.

L.A. Takedown in it's entirety.

Thanks, if it get taken down though just remember that its available on DVD in the UK.

Though L.A. Takedown appears to be out of print on the U.K. label, it does seem readily available from other European territories (and there are used copies cheap on Amazon.com U.S.). It's a TV movie through and through, more of a sketch for the feature. But it's well worth watching, especially for superfans of Heat and true crime aficionados, as it feels more like the real-life crimes that Heat inspired, most infamously the North Hollywood Shootout, the best account of which remains a chapter in the definitive book about L.A. bank robbery history Where the Money Is.

Oddly enough there was a TV movie about the North Hollywood Shootout that aired on FX some years after it (right around the time of The Shield when the network was changing). There was also a very good Rolling Stone article about the robbers themselves. And strangely enough it reads a lot like the original story that inspired Pain & Gain (both were very much into weight-lifting, and had a kind of Of Mice And Men friendship going between them from what I recall of the article).

44 Minutes, starring Michael Madsen. The book I mention does go pretty deeply into the robbers' backgrounds and motivation, as well as all the crimes they committed leading up to that fateful day (including one successful robbery they almost botched by trying to torch their getaway van just like the ambulance at the beginning of Heat). Btw, anyone in L.A. or who visits and wants a reasonably priced non-touristy off-the-beaten-path experience of city history ought to stop by the Los Angeles Police Museum, which features an extensive permanent exhibition on the North Hollywood Shootout, including the actual body armor and weapons used by the robbers and, in the parking lot, one of their shot-up getaway cars along with a couple of bullet-riddled police cruisers. Other highlights of the collection include surprisingly scholarly exhibits about the Onion Field killings and the Symbionese Liberation Army. In it's own way, this is really one of the better small museums I've ever been to.