Ahead of HEIST airing on LEGEND XTRA on April 6, director Scott Mann looks back on collaborating with Robert De Nero, explains how personal family loss shaped the creation of FALL, and reveals how HEIST went on to influence the launch of his innovative company FLAWLESS.
LEGEND XTRA is broadcasting your 2015 crime thriller HEIST. Looking back what are your fondest memories of making the film?
The cast, without question, Robert De Niro, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Dave Bautista, Gina Carano, Kate Bosworth. It was a tough shoot, filming on a moving bus without a Speed-level budget, but it was also one of the first films I made that really came from the heart. Under the heist-thriller setup, it's a story about fatherhood, Jeff's character will do anything to save his daughter, which puts him up against De Niro's intimidating criminal.
The film plays heavily with shifting loyalties. How did you ensure those twists felt earned rather than purely plot-driven?
By grounding everything in character truth. I actually had an early call with De Niro where he nearly dropped out because the script had real issues, and he'd spotted the same problems I had. I was honest about it, and we ended up working through the character together in New York. That rewrite became the foundation: if the characters' choices are authentic, the twists feel inevitable, surprising but earned.
What was your approach to building tension within the confined space of the bus for much of the film?
You need ticking clocks, escalating stakes, and the sense that there's no escape. The premise creates inevitability: a dangerous crime against someone who will stop at nothing to punish the people responsible. From there it's about pacing, reveals, and finding fresh ways to keep the audience surprised.
Crime thrillers often follow familiar beats. What did you want to do differently with Heist to stand out within the genre?
Keep it character-first. The single-location constraint forces you into dynamics, reversals, and meaningful surprises. The film is designed to build toward a strong third act, the payoff matters as much as the setup.
Your heart-stopping survival thriller FALL closed FrightFest in 2022. What do you remember about the experience?
Fall is my favourite filmmaking experience, and the hardest. It was also the most honest. I learned that originality often comes from stripping things back: smaller scale can mean more creative control. On Fall, I had the freedom to cast the best actors for the roles, Virginia Gardner and Grace Caroline Currey, and we filmed at height with a small crew in brutal conditions. It was gruelling, but it bonded us and created something I'm incredibly proud of. The story was personal too, it came out of grief my family experienced, and the film became part of processing that.
The film relies heavily on fear of heights. How did you translate vertigo into a cinematic language that feels physical and immediate?
It starts with the characters. The concept came from standing on a stadium roof during another shoot and asking: why does height create such intense anxiety? You communicate it through performance, tension, and the audience being slightly ahead, seeing danger before the characters do. Ultimately, the actors sell the fear.
What were the biggest logistical challenges in creating the illusion of extreme height while keeping cast and crew safe?
Making something look unsafe while keeping it safe. We built multiple towers, including one about 100 feet high, and had to find a mountaintop location with the right vista and workable access. That meant carving roads to get equipment up, managing tight shooting windows, and adapting constantly, wind, weather, everything. We filmed during COVID as well, which added another layer, but being outdoors helped.
You are Co-CEO of FLAWLESS AI, a company pioneering ethical, AI-driven visual effects and post-production technology for Hollywood. Can you describe the impact your DeepEditor tool continues to have on the filmmaking process?
Heist actually inspired Flawless. Seeing how dubbing compromises performance, especially in foreign-language versions, sent me looking for a better solution. Our earliest prototype was a Heist scene with De Niro, where we synced his performance to authentic foreign-language dialogue. That became the foundation of what we built: tools that help filmmakers preserve performances responsibly.
With all the confusion and controversy swirling around the use of AI in movies, what ethical boundaries do you think filmmakers should establish when using generative AI in production?
The key distinction is assistive vs. generative. Tools that enhance artistry, acting, directing, editing, can be hugely positive. But generative systems that replace artists or rely on scraped IP are dangerous and unethical. Audiences want human connection, not synthetic photocopies. AI should protect and amplify performance, not erase it.
Finally, what's next?
Flawless is now being adopted across major studios, and you'll see more multi-language versions of content rolling out over the next year. Creatively, we have Fall sequels in progress, one nearing completion and another I'll direct, incorporating new technologies in an exciting way.
HEIST is showing on LEGEND XTRA on Mon 6 April, 9.00pm.
Available: SKY 317 | FREELY 51 | FREESAT 138 | FREEVIEW 69 | VIRGIN 171
