Michael Mann, the director behind the crime classic "Heat," was hospitalized over the weekend following an accidental gun discharge at a shooting range in Los Angeles, his representative confirmed.
The 83-year-old filmmaker sustained what his representative described as a minor, subcutaneous injury in the incident. Mann has been a target shooter for decades and was practicing at the range when the accident happened.
"On Saturday, at a gun range, a weapon accidentally discharged while holstered resulting in a superficial injury to film director Michael Mann," his representative said in a statement. "He was treated and is being released."
The Los Angeles Police Department also confirmed the circumstances of the incident. Officers responded to a radio call of shots fired at the location on Saturday and determined that the shooting was accidental.
A police spokesperson said the subject was transported to a local hospital in stable condition. Officers cleared the scene after completing an injury report.
Mann is best known for his crime dramas, a body of work that includes his 1981 feature debut "Thief," the 1986 thriller "Manhunter," and the 1995 crime epic "Heat." The director is an Emmy Award winner whose films have helped define the genre.
His commitment to realism has long extended to how gunfire sounds on screen. Mann told Vulture in 2017 that the cast of "Heat" shot full-load blanks to recreate the sound of real gunfire rather than depending on sound effects added in editing.
"That's the sound the weapons actually made and you couldn't imitate or improve upon them," Mann said at the time. "It was terrifying as hell because we were in these glass and steel canyons and the gunfire reverberated in a certain real way, so they had an authenticity to the place that really was unique."
Mann is reportedly developing "Heat 2," an adaptation of his 2022 novel of the same name, which he co-wrote with Meg Gardiner.
