Michael Cimino
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| Born | February 3, 1939 New York City, New York, US |
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Michael Cimino (pronounced [ˈtʃamɪnəʊ], born February 3, 1939, New York City) is an American, Academy Award-winning film director. He is often cited as an example of several meteoric rises and falls that were seen in Hollywood in the 1970s.
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[edit] Origins
He was born in New York City, New York on either November 16, 1943 (according to his professional biography) or February 3, 1939 (which is more plausible in light of the dates of his degrees). He graduated from Yale University, receiving his undergraduate degree in 1961, and his master's in 1963.
[edit] Rise
[edit] Early career
With two writing credits to his name (the science fiction film Silent Running and the second Dirty Harry film, Magnum Force), Cimino moved up to directing when his spec script, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, was purchased by Clint Eastwood's production company, Malpaso, with Eastwood originally slated to direct it himself. However, Cimino convinced him to allow him to direct the film, which became a solid box office success at the time, and which enjoys a minor cult status today.
[edit] The Deer Hunter
With the success of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Cimino was able to secure a stellar cast and freedom from studio interference for his second film, The Deer Hunter (1978). The picture became a massive critical and commercial success, and won a number of Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture.
[edit] Fall
[edit] Heaven's Gate
On the basis of this track record, he was given free rein by United Artists for his next film, Heaven's Gate (1980). The film came in several times over budget; the result not only was a financial disaster that nearly bankrupted the studio, but Heaven's Gate became the lightning rod for the industry perception of the out-of-control state of Hollywood at that time. The film marked the end of the so-called New Hollywood era. Transamerica Corporation, the owner of United Artists, lost confidence in the film company and its management. Transamerica soon sold the company.
Heaven's Gate was such a devastating box office and critical bomb that public perception of Cimino's work was almost irretrievably tainted in its wake; none of his subsequent films achieved popular or critical success. Many critics who had originally praised The Deer Hunter became far more reserved about the picture and about Cimino after Heaven's Gate.
Cimino's film was somewhat rehabilitated by an unlikely source. The Z Channel, a cable pay TV channel that at its peak in the mid-1980s served 100,000 of Los Angeles's most influential film professionals, was the only network showing uncut movies on television. After the failed release of the re-edited and shortened Heaven's Gate, Jerry Harvey, the channel's programmer, decided to play Cimino's original 219 minute cut. The re-assembled movie received admiring reviews and coined the term "director's cut."
[edit] Footloose
In 1984, after being unable to finalize a deal with director Herbert Ross, surprisingly, Paramount Pictures offered the job of directing Footloose to Cimino. According to screenwriter Dean Pitchford[1], Cimino was at the helm of Footloose for four months, making more and more extravagant demands in terms of set construction and overall production. Finally, Paramount realized that it potentially had another Heaven's Gate on its hands. Paramount fired Cimino and finalized the deal with Herbert Ross to direct the picture, as had originally been intended.
This episode, though seemingly trivial, had far-reaching effects for Cimino's career. After the Footloose episode, within the film industry, Cimino was perceived as someone who had not learned his lesson with Heaven's Gate. In fact, executives came to the conclusion that, given the chance, Cimino would again make extravagant demands that might ultimately lead to another debacle. Therefore, Hollywood turned its back on Cimino after the Footloose episode. All his subsequent films would be financed independently, and not as part of a studio.
[edit] Other projects
Cimino had signed a multi-picture deal with United Artists in 1979. Heaven’s Gate was the first production but most of the other films that were supposed to follow were not made due to the former film’s failure. Cimino has been attached to many projects since Heaven’s Gate but his reputation precluded him from either being hired or ultimately being removed from production.
Cimino wrote a script for The Fountainhead, based on the novel by Ayn Rand. He wrote 27 drafts of this screenplay and it was previously optioned by UA in 1975. Filming was to begin after Heaven’s Gate but was scrapped by United Artists.
Cimino wrote the script for The Dogs of War starring Christopher Walken and was also signed to direct but subsequently abandoned the project. The film was eventually made with a heavily rewritten script in 1981.
Cimino co-wrote the screenplay The Life and Dreams of Frank Costello with James Toback and went through pre-production on the film with three different studios (UA, Warners, and Dino De Laurentiis) from 1979 to 1989. The film never went into production.
Perfect Strangers was a love story written by Cimino and was to be produced by David Picker. The script went into pre-production at Paramount but was ultimately dropped.
Cimino took over the Mutiny on the Bounty project after David Lean quit but was removed from production after the failure of Heaven’s Gate. Ironically it was Lean who was asked by United Artists to take over the directing duties of Heaven’s Gate when it spiraled over budget.
He wrote a script, Pearl, about the life of Janis Joplin which was rewritten several times and eventually became The Rose. Cimino returned to do script polishing for no credit.
Cimino was the original director for the sci-fi classic The Dead Zone but was fired by the studio at the behest of Stephen King due to creative differences over the rewriting of the script.
Cimino filled in for director Stuart Rosenberg towards the end of production on The Pope of Greenwich Village when Rosenberg fell ill. The finshed film was solely credited to Rosenberg.
He co-wrote a biopic about the life of Fyodor Dostoevsky with Raymond Carver. This was optioned by Columbia Pictures but never went into production.
Cimino wrote an adaptation of the French bicycle marathon novel The Yellow Jersey with Dustin Hoffman committed and slated to go into production at Lorimar in 1985 but was dropped.
He wrote an adaptation of Truman Capote’s Handcarved Coffins for Dan Rissner at MGM and was set to direct after Year of The Dragon but the project was dropped after Rissner was fired from the studio.
Michael Cimino wrote a script and was involved in pre-production work on Michael Collins for over a year with Gabriel Byrne attached to star in the early 1990s. Cimino was fired over budget concerns and was replaced by Neil Jordan.
[edit] Later career
Cimino's "cops and crooks" epic Year of the Dragon, which he and Oliver Stone adapted from Robert Daley's novel, fared much better. In fact, due to it, Cimino was made an honorary Colonel in the Royal Thai Air Force. However, Year of the Dragon was also nominated for five Razzie awards, including Worst Director and Worst Screenplay. The film was also sharply criticized for providing offending stereotypes about Chinese Americans.
The advertising campaign for Year of the Dragon made frequent references to Cimino's hit film The Deer Hunter, strongly implying that this was Cimino's most recent film before Year of the Dragon. Conspicuously absent from the ad campaign was any mention of Heaven's Gate.
In 2001, Cimino published his first novel, Big Jane. Later that year the French Minister of Culture decorated him "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres."
Michael Cimino is currently in pre-production for Man's Fate based on the award winning existential French novel by André Malraux. Chris Solimine is confirmed to have written the screenplay.
[edit] Interviews
Interviews with Cimino are rare, and he gives his part in the Heaven's Gate very little discussion. George Hickenlooper's book Reel Interviews and Peter Biskind's highly critical book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls deal with the film and resulting scandal. Hickenlooper's book includes one of the few candid discussions with Cimino; Biskind focuses on events during and after the production as a later backdrop for the sweeping changes made to Hollywood and the movie brat generation.
The European DVD release of The Deer Hunter contains an audio commentary with Cimino, as does the American version of Year of the Dragon.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Director
- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (also writing) (1974)
- The Deer Hunter (also writing) (1978)
- Heaven's Gate (also writing) (1980)
- The Pope of Greenwich Village (uncredited) (1984)
- Year of the Dragon (also writing) (1985)
- The Sicilian (1987)
- Desperate Hours (1990)
- The Sunchaser (1996)
- Man's Fate (2009)
[edit] Writer only
- Silent Running (1972)
- Magnum Force (1973)
- The Rose (uncredited) (1979)
- The Dogs of War (uncredited) (1981)
| Preceded by Woody Allen for Annie Hall |
Academy Award for Best Director 1978 for The Deer Hunter |
Succeeded by Robert Benton for Kramer vs. Kramer |
[edit] External links
- Cimino's Bio on IMDB
- MichaelCimino.Fr French website
- Last of the Big Spenders, an interview from 2002
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