Does Michael Cimino have the most interesting story when it comes to directors?

[Travellin' Man]

I’m not a movie head so y’all can correct me if I’m wrong

But dude's story is a very interesting one

im too lazy to summary his whole story for those that don't know but i'll leave this here for anyone who wants to read up on him:

Michael Cimino - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

or watching this hour long doc on the movie he made that sank his career and a whole movie studio is probably the best bet.



but dude went from an overnight success to in the pan of two films and once he became a pariah, he basically was forever shunned in Hollywood no matter how hard he tried to comeback after the massive failure of his film, Heaven's Gate.

only 7 films to his name:



(his magnum opus)








(remake)



dude has one of the most mind-boggling stories i've ever come across. even down to the rumors surrounding his appearance

 

[Erratic415]

The making of Heaven’s Gate was wild. I get that artists are often perfectionists but there is a budget lol

As an example of Cimino's fanatical attention to detail, a street built to his precise specifications had to be torn down and rebuilt because it reportedly "didn't look right." The street in question needed to be 6 feet (1.8 m) wider; the set construction boss said it would be cheaper to tear down one side and move it back six feet, but Cimino insisted that both sides be dismantled and moved back 3 feet (0.91 m), then reassembled.[26] An entire tree was cut down, moved in pieces, and relocated to the courtyard in Oxford, England where the Harvard 1870 graduation scene was shot.[27]Cimino had an irrigation system built under the land where the major battlefield scene would unfold so that it would remain vividly green, to contrast with the red color.[28]

Cimino's obsessive behavior soon earned him the nickname "The Ayatollah". Production fell behind schedule as rumors spread of Cimino's demanding up to 50 takes of individual scenes and delaying filming until a cloud that he liked rolled into the frame.[30] As a result of the delays, several musicians originally brought to Montana to work on the film for only three weeks ended up stranded, waiting to be called for shoots to materialize.

Cimino also had a chance to comeback and make Footloose, but he insisted on changing the time and setting to The Great Depression and making a shytload of demands, so he got fired.

 

[Travellin' Man]

The making of Heaven’s Gate was wild. I get that artists are often perfectionists but there is a budget lol



Cimino also had a chance to comeback and make Footloose, but he insisted on changing the time and setting to The Great Depression and making a shytload of demands, so he got fired.

it really was. the more i read on it, the more im just left shaking my head at how much time and money went into the making of that movie.

he did. i remember reading about that. he had another chance at making a movie called The Conquering Horse (a book) but Oliver Stone said Cimino's list of demands were so insane that the studio was like "forget it"

there really should be a documentary on his humble beginnings, rise to stardom, his fall off and his post glory years

dude was like an enigma

even the way he told white lies about his background and time in the military.

there's a book about him that came out about a year ago that i been meaning to getting around and reading

 

[Cloutius Maximus]

Outside of the infamous Russian Roulette scenes, I've always thought the Deer Hunter was one of the more overrated 70's classics. It's kind of ponderous as a whole if not straight up boring.

 

[Erratic415]

Outside of the infamous Russian Roulette scenes, I've always thought the Deer Hunter was one of the more overrated 70's classics. It's kind of ponderous as a whole if not straight up boring.

I’ve always thought the subplot with Russian Roulette makes little sense.

The original POW scene is great, it’s tense and so well acted. It works as a metaphor for how random death can be in war.

But Nicky’s character going back and surviving that long is so illogical. You have close to a 50/50 chance of surviving a game. If you go first, you have less of a 50% chance of surviving. Nicky goes months of being the undefeated, grand champ of Russian Roulette.

He’s also completely strung out on H but somehow knows where Steven is and how to send his earnings to that veteran’s hospital.

dude has one of the most mind-boggling stories i've ever come across. even down to the rumors surrounding his appearance

I remember there was a rumor that he was really a woman or trans or something.

 

[Poetical Poltergeist]

I’ve always thought the subplot with Russian Roulette makes little sense.

The original POW scene is great, it’s tense and so well acted. It works as a metaphor for how random death can be in war.

But Nicky’s character going back and surviving that long is so illogical. You have close to a 50/50 chance of surviving a game. If you go first, you have less of a 50% chance of surviving. Nicky goes months of being the undefeated, grand champ of Russian Roulette.

He’s also completely strung out on H but somehow knows where Steven is and how to send his earnings to that veteran’s hospital.



I remember there was a rumor that he was really a woman or trans or something.

He was the Joe Montana of Russian Roulette lmao. But I suspect his matches were rigged like trump would say. "His Roulette was rigged. And everyone knows it! The Russia, Russia, Russia Roulette was a rigged match. The deep state Viet congs rigged it, so he could win and all the legal scholars agree."

 

[Travellin' Man]

I remember there was a rumor that he was really a woman or trans or something.

The rumor was in the later years of his life, he had plastic surgery work done because he was transitioning

In the few interviews, he always shot down the rumors but one thing is for sure, dude went from a short and fat Italian man and morphed into an old Asian man lol

 

[Travellin' Man]

Outside of the infamous Russian Roulette scenes, I've always thought the Deer Hunter was one of the more overrated 70's classics. It's kind of ponderous as a whole if not straight up boring.

When I first started to watch the movie, the first hour, I thought, this wedding scene should not be this long, this is ridiculous

But by the time I finished watching the the movie 2 hours later I was like “aha!”, it works, I get it, I see the hype

I say all that to say, he got it right with The Deer Hunter

I think what’s so baffling to me if how he made a literal masterpiece with this film and then fell flat right after and never once came close to those heights again, like not even remotely close. Like how?!

 

[UnQuantized]

Heavens Gate has some incredible moments but yeah it kind of killed the era of creative freedom for directors. Triggered the demise of a legendary studio (United Artists) and hollywood has never been the same again.

 

[Travellin' Man]

Heavens Gate has some incredible moments but yeah it kind of killed the era of creative freedom for directors. Triggered the demise of a legendary studio (United Artists) and hollywood has never been the same again.

Cimino’s attention to detail is second to none and I guess that goes back to his love and study of art and architecture

I remember cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond saying Cimino would literally “paint” by selecting extras for certain shots for scenes like a painter would paint a picture

I’m sure that just went back to his days of art school because dude didn’t go to school for film

Cimino’s attention to detail was second to none to his credit

 

[Travellin' Man]

He was the Joe Montana of Russian Roulette lmao. But I suspect his matches were rigged like trump would say. "His Roulette was rigged. And everyone knows it! The Russia, Russia, Russia Roulette was a rigged match. The deep state Viet congs rigged it, so he could win and all the legal scholars agree."

 

[Travellin' Man]

His list of films that he wanted to direct is a real interesting one too

One is Conquering Horse (Frederick Manfred’s book) about Indian life on the Great Plains before white people got there

 

[Travellin' Man]

out all of his films post Heaven's Gate, im surprised Year of The Dragon hasn't been a film that people and have come back around to it and given it's flowers

if both him and Rourke's trajectory would've continued to rise moving forward into the 90's, it would've been cool to see them work on more films like a Scorsese and DeNiro, Tarantino and Jackson, Lee and Washington

 

[OmegaK2099]

Looking back. Year of the dragon might be his best. It's something like Todd Phillips or James Gray would have done today

 

[MoshpitMazi]

One of my favorite artists of all time! The work he put into heavens gate was admirable, it's a shame he turned into a tranny down the line tho