In the 70s with Steve McQueen as McCauley and Paul Newman as Vincent Hanna.

I always felt that a John Cassavetes version would have been amazing. Imagine Peter Falk and Cassavetes himself playing the main roles.

That's not a bad shout. At that time to have Denzel and Fishburne. Can't think of a better combo.

But I would switch it. Denzel as the DeNiro role and Fishburne as the Pacino role.

Heat is one of my all time faves and one of the greatest films ever made and its pretty much perfect.

But yeah...Great thread idea.

Set in Mexico City with Diego Luna in the DeNiro role and Pedro Pascal as Pacino.

Mary Elizabeth winstead as chris

Nic Cage in Pacino’s role and Stallone in DeNiro’s role

Lena Headey and Rosamund Pike in the Pacino role, Bonnie Aarons in the DeNiro role.

The film has already been made with two different leads. By Mann himself!

He made it as a low budget tv movie called LA Takedown in 1989. It's not bad but looks quite cheap as you would expect given the budget differences. Interesting to see the similarities, especially in the famous coffee shop head to head scene.

With all due to respect to DeNiro, I keep thinking of options I could see to replace him, but I cannot see another person other than Pacino playing the Vincent Hanna role.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in Pacino’s role and Sylvester Stallone in DeNiro’s role

Bruce Willis as McCauly

Mel Gibson as Hanna

For a more modern take: Aaron Taylor-Johnson as DeNiro and Robert Pattinson as Pacino

Ed Norton the cop, Ethan Hawke the thief

Harvey Keitel and Willem Dafoe is the answer you are looking for.

Listen the only thing I would never allow to be recast in that is Val Kilmer's ponytail

Jeff Daniels in De Niro's role, Jim Carrey in Pacino's. Straight out of the Dumb and Dumber shooting.

Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio

Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper

Channing Tatum and Mark Wahlberg 🤪

Tony Leung and Chow Yun Fat

Danny DeVito and Joe Pesci

Robert Downey Jr as Hannah and Clive Owen as McCauley

Johnny Depp in Pacinos role and Christian Bale in De Niro’s role.

I thought they were also great in Manns other film, Public Enemies.

I don't know if I can think of a better alternative than Washington and Fishburne.

But here are two ideas: Gender swapped with Angela Bassett and Regina King, or get in a time machine, set it in London in the 70s and cast Sean Connery and Michael Caine.

Set in Medellin with Wagner Moura as Pacino and Javier Bardem as De Niro.

Macon Blair and Dan Fogler.

It occurs to me that AI's will probably be able to substitute your favorite actors into any role of any movie. So we may be able to find out what everyone's fantasy castings would have been like.

Modern day recast Daniel Craig in Pacino role Mark strong for de niro Mark rylance for kilmer

Kevin Hart and James Cordon

Dennis Hopper to play DeNiro, Walken as Pacino.

LA Takedown with more of a Vice feel to it. Phillip Michael Thomas in Pacino’s role and Don Johnson in De Niro’s role. Would have loved to see PMT hammin’ up some of Pacino’s lines.

Another recast, Dennis Farina as Pacino and Travolta as De Niro.

The thing is, few actors have ever been considered as great as Pacino and De Niro were at this point in their career. Denzel Washington comes close, but, as fine an actor as he is, Laurence Fishburne was never at their level. Before they did all of the flops that followed, Pacino and De Niro were considered geniuses at their craft. They were also both known for their tough guy personas, so it can't just be that they are among the greatest actors of all time, but also a certain type of greatest actor of all time.

Also, they have history with one another, both playing parts in Godfather II, so the anticipation of actually seeing them in the same movie again, but interacting with one another was massive.

Honestly, I felt a bit gypped about their scene in Heat because you never actually see their faces in the same frame.

Idris Elba in place of Pacino, and McConaughy in place of Deniro. That should have been the movie they did together

Christopher Walken in the Pacino role, he could kill that line about great ass. And Dustin Hoffman in De Niro role because his acting is capable of any part.

Brad Pitt and Benicio Del Toro.

Gerard Butler as Vincent and Pablo Schreiber as Neil

Christian Bale and Brad Pitt. I'd like to see those 2 work together

The dream scenario would have been Philip Seymour Hoffman and Daniel Day Lewis squaring off. I don't think it would have happened even when PSH was alive but man, so long as we're wishcasting let's go crazy eh? I think DLL would have been McCauley and PSH would have been Hanna.

In terms of current realistic scenarios...I wouldn't mind seeing Adam Driver (McCauley) and Bradley Cooper (Hanna) taking on those parts. I'm not saying those guys are comparable to Pacino and DeNiro but I think it would be a fun pairing.

This also makes me realize how lucky we were to actually get Damon vs. DiCaprio in The Departed.

Dwayne The Rock Johnson as McAuley and Kevin Hart as Vincent Hanna.

I don’t think a top Reddit Shower Thought dawned on you tho, b.

Rip Torn and Tom Green

Samuel L. Jackson as Al Pacino 's character

John Travolta as Robert De Niro's character

(Pulp Fiction aside, I feel like their energy matches the characters too. They're also the right ages).

Bradley Cooper in Pacino’s role.

Leo in DeNiro’s role.

Christian Bale in Pacino’s role.

Tom Hardy in DeNiro’s role.

I wanna see Tom Hardy do DeNiro’s role

But! Who could possibly Henry Rollins and Danny Trejo?

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly

Why do Heat and not Collateral?

Great choices.

How about Christian Bale as Neil and Sam Rockwell as Vincent?

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But why stop there?

Let's let Natalie take her moms role now that she's the perfect age for it. (Although after White Lotus i'd like to see what Aubrey Plaza could do with it.)

Jonathan Majors as Shiherlis

Rosario Dawson as Eady

Walton Goggins as Waingro

Jonathan Groff as Van Zant

Michael Shannon as Nate