Gary Susman

In Heat, much of Al Pacino’s off the wall performance comes from Vincent Hanna being a high functioning cocaine user. Offscreen he’s secretly “chipping cocaine” - taking small, intermittent hits to stay sharp and on the ball, as Pacino explains in his autobiography Sonny Boy. “Hanna had problems as a human being, problems in his life. He was volatile and edgy and apt to go crazy. He was also chipping cocaine, and I sort of based my entire character on that. We shot a scene where I went into a club, and you actually saw my character taking a hit of coke before he enters. For some reason, Michael kept that scene out of the film.” And Michael Mann had good reason for cutting it. In the scene (which take place within the sequence below), Hanna snorts coke off the blade of a dagger; a highly charged, symbolic image. The dagger is a primitive, lethal tool that fits Hanna’s self-image as a hunter of men. It suggests that the cocaine use isn’t recreational, but tactical; a technique he uses to sharpen his senses for the hunt. Mann felt this image would send “too strong a message” and draw attention to the drug use itself, rather than Hanna’s drive and the professional rivalry between him and McCauley. However, the cocaine use is still hinted at in the film…(1/3)