EXCLUSIVE: Michael Mann looks to have found his Charlene for his upcoming sequel to Heat, as sources tell Deadline the director has tapped Odessa Young to play the character in Heat 2. Sources say it is unknown where things stand in negotiations but add she is the choice for the role originally played by Ashley Judd in the 1995 crime saga. Insiders also say Mann’s top choice to play Gabi is newcomer Maria Cid.

Reps for Amazon and the actor declined comment.

A recent report speculated Obsession star Inde Navarrette had landed the Charlene role but passed. Sources close to the production say Navarrette actually auditioned for the role of Gabi along with many other actresses and contrary to the rumors, Cid was Mann’s first choice for the Gabi part with Young being the first choice for Charlene.

If deals close, Young and Cid would join Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale, Adam Driver, Stephen Graham and Jason Clarke in the upcoming pic.

Mann will direct Heat 2 from his own script, based on his and Meg Gardiner’s #1 New York Times bestselling novel. Producers include Mann, Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ Jerry Bruckheimer and UA’s Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt. Eric Roth and Shane Salerno will exec produce, with Amazon MGM to release the film in theaters.

Mann’s classic 1995 crime thriller Heat follows master thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) as he plans one last score while obsessive LAPD detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) closes in, with both men wrecking their personal lives in service of the job.

Mann wrote and directed that one and produced alongside Art Linson, with the film grossing over $187 million — what would be close to the $400 million range if released today — at the worldwide box office. Also starring Val Kilmer, Jon Voight, Tom Sizemore, and more, the film from Warner Bros. and New Regency has influenced generations of filmmakers and retained major viewership on streaming and home entertainment for decades.

Published in 2022, Heat 2 is both prequel and sequel — examining Vincent Hanna’s Chicago years, Neil McCauley’s earlier criminal life, and the survival of Kilmer’s Chris Shiherlis after the original film’s bank-robbery climax.

Young most recently starred opposite Jeremy Allen White in the Bruce Springsteen biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. She recently wrapped production on the upcoming Netflix crime series Rabbit, Rabbit, starring Adam Driver.

Young is repped by CAA, Echo Lake Entertainment and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Cid is repped by Lumo Artists Agency.

Producer Manny Halley through his Imani Media Group has taken over Pacoima Studios with a long-term lease for the San Fernando Valley facility formerly operated by Quixote North Valley Studios.

It will be rebranded Imani Studio. Halley has a 25-year lease with an option to buy the complex of four sound stages across 125,000 square feet on a six-acre campus. The land on which the studio sits remains under Rexford Industrial Realty ownership.

News surfaced in April that Quixote was exiting most of its leased sound stage facilities in L.A. amid a pullback in the space by its parent company Hudson Pacific, reflecting ongoing disruption in the space. Production, softer overall, continues to migrate around the country and overseas chasing the best terms.

Halley said he’s looking both to support California production and use the studio as dedicated home base to develop and produce new projects. He’s shot 18 projects in California, 16 of which received state tax credit incentives.

He will invest up to $5 million in upgrades — including LED volume walls with real-time 3D virtual environments, and XR stages – and explore further investment and enhancements.

“Taking control of this facility is an important next step for us and for the future of production in California,” he said. “With Imani Studio, we have an opportunity to build on an experienced team, invest in the facility and create a production environment that serves filmmakers, producers and productions at the highest level.”

The existing team employed by the facility will remain in place to ensure continuity. Pacoima-hosted productions include MTV’s RuPaul’s Drag Race (Season 18 shot there through late July), A24’s MaXXXine, Apple TV+’s Physical, Netflix’s Atlas, and commercials. Projects for Amazon, Fox and BET are upcoming.

Halley’s recent credits include BET original comedy series Lot Patrol, True to the Game trilogy, Dutch, Dutch II: Angel’s Revenge, Aftershock: The Nicole P. Bell Story, A Holiday Chance, Wayward, and Soul Mates.

Halley’s company spans music, management and distribution as well as production. BET executive Brian Rikuda, EVP Enterprise Growth Strategy, Business Operations and Programming Strategy, said supporting Black ownership and entrepreneurship across the entertainment industry is deeply important to the company and “we look forward to supporting Imani Studios’ growth and helping amplify its presence across the entertainment landscape.”

California Film Commission chief Colleen Bell, said facilities like these “help keep productions here, sustain good-paying jobs, and support the thousands of businesses and workers that make up our entertainment economy.”

EXCLUSIVE: Good Deed Entertainment has acquired Grandmasters, a documentary from award-winning filmmaker Liza Mandelup that uncovers drama roiling the world of top-tier chess.

Grandmasters premiered as a documentary series at Tribeca Festival in June but will launch in theaters as a nonfiction feature told in three chapters. Good Deed plans to release the film nationwide on October 11 at AMC locations.

“In Grandmasters, the once esoteric and uninspired world of top-level competitive chess is thrown into turmoil when an eccentric German entrepreneur enlists Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen to launch a new league that aims to revolutionize the game, challenge the sport’s governing body, and ‘make chess cool,’” notes a synopsis. “Expertly helmed by Mandelup (Jawline, Caterpillar), with access and support provided by Chess.com, the documentary chronicles the rivalries, reinventions, and personal battles shaping the modern pursuit of greatness in the game of kings.”

In a statement, Mandelup said, “I’m constantly drawn to people who have built their lives around a single pursuit, so getting to spend time with some of the best chess players in the world was immediately exciting to me. What I didn’t expect was how much drama sat just beneath the surface. I wanted to get beyond the idea of a chess genius and make something funny, intimate, and deeply human about the people behind the game.”

Good Deed released Mandelup’s documentary Caterpillar in theaters last November.

“Liza has a gift for bringing audiences inside a story, and the beautifully executed Grandmasters opens up the world of chess in a way audiences haven’t seen before,” commented Erik Donley, head of acquisitions and distribution at Good Deed Entertainment. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Liza once again on another culturally captivating story.”

Chess has proved fertile ground for fictional exploration on screen, to whit the hit Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit (2020); Pawn Sacrifice, starring Tobey Maguire and Liev Schreiber (2014); The Luzhin Defence (2000), and Searching for Bobby Fischer, starring Ben Kingsley, Laurence Fishburne, Joan Allen and more (1993). Mandelup’s film explores the real thing.

“We have been living in the drama of top-level chess for decades, and knew that the outside world had only seen a very small portion of it,” observed Danny Rensch, co-founder and Chief Chess Officer of Chess.com. “The story of these players is so much bigger than the board, and Good Deed understood that immediately. Now we get to share it as widely as it deserves.”

Grandmasters is a Boardwalk Pictures production, starring Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, Jan Henric Buettner, Hans Niemann, Danny Rensch, Levy Rozman, and Lotis Key. In addition to directing the film, Mandelup executive produced the project alongside Jordan Wynn, Andrew Fried, Lana Barkin, Patrick Altema, and Alex Leibow. The film is produced by Max McGillivray and Christian Vazquez.

Good Deed Entertainment is an independent film studio “built around distinctive voices and underserved audiences.” Recent releases include Looking Through Water (Michael Douglas) and Drive Back Home (Alan Cumming), alongside a catalog of acclaimed films such as Lucky Grandma, To Dust, and the Academy Award nominee Loving Vincent.