MovieChat Forums > L.A. Takedown (1989) Discussion > I'm not sure IMDB 'trivia' is correct

I'm not sure IMDB 'trivia' is correct

posted 13 years ago by lylesanford
2 replies | jump to latest

Says LA Takedown was intended as a pilot for a TV series. But that's not the way I've heard it.

Mann wrote the script in the early 80s with the intention to give it a theatrical release, but couldn't get the backing because he wasn't established enough to get it made.

Feeling he needed to establish himself a bit, he made other movies and pitched this to NBC as a way to illustrate how good a feature film it would make. By 1994 he was finally able to get studio backing and, thus, Heat was made.

If that's all true, it doesn't make sense in the least that this was conceived as a TV series.

Make me question the info from the 'trivia' section. I wonder what's true?

[–] Littlebitsofgaming 12 years ago

If that's all true, it doesn't make sense in the least that this was conceived as a TV series.

IF it's true.

Seems to make sense he would try to make a TV show at the time as he was already making TV shows like Miami Vice, Crime Story, etc in the early 80's anyway. In fact Crime Story was made as a TV movie first that turned into a series.
So why he not also use this as a TV show when it was TV shows he was making at the time anyway?
Makes perfect sense to me.

And so, God came forth and proclaimed widescreen is the best.
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[–] Bertaut 9 years ago

No, the trivia is correct. Mann wrote the script for Heat in the late 70s, but never intended to direct it himself. He first mentioned it when he was promoting The Keep, at which time he said that later in his career he'd like to get into producing, and he envisioned Heat as being his first such venture.

Fast forward to the late-80s. Miami Vice and Crime Story had both been cancelled, but NBC still saw Mann as someone worth having around. They asked him if he had any ideas for a show, and he suggested something set in the Robbery Homicide Division of the LAPD. NBC liked the idea, so Mann rewrote the Heat script as the pilot for a potential show called Hanna. The film was shot in only 19 days (with only 10 days of preproduction), and the result is unquestionably Mann's weakest film. However, NBC liked it enough to order it to series, on one condition; that Mann recast the role of Hanna. Scott Plank had a lot of personal problems and whatnot, and NBC didn't trust him to be able to anchor a TV show. However, he and Mann were good friends, and Mann refused to recast him. So the potential show was scrapped.

"Someday we'll fall down and weep...and we'll understand it all. All things."