Mann compounded his TV success in 1990, when he served as executive producer for the Emmy Award-winning NBC miniseries Drug Wars: The Camarena Story and its sequel Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel (1992).

In 1992, Mann had a certain measure of big-screen triumph with his ambitious adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Last of the Mohicans. He co-wrote, directed, and produced the action-packed film, which starred Daniel Day-Lewis. Mann also wrote and directed the long-awaited pairing of Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro (the two actors appeared in 1974’s The Godfather Part II but never had a scene together) in the crime drama Heat (1995), which met with mixed reviews.

In 1999, Mann co-wrote, directed, and produced The Insider, a film based on the true story of an ex-tobacco company executive (played by Russell Crowe) who is convinced by a TV news producer (Pacino) to blow the whistle on the powerful tobacco industry. Mann and Eric Roth (who penned the 1994 Oscar winner Forrest Gump) adapted the screenplay from a 1996 Vanity Fair article written by Marie Brenner. Although it failed to attract audiences, the film was lauded almost universally by critics, receiving Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Crowe) and Best Adapted Screenplay.