Michael Cimino

Michael Cimino (b. 3 February 1939 New York City) is an Academy Award winning film writer, producer and director who achieved his greatest success with The Deer Hunter (1978) but whose Hollywood career was subsequently curtailed after the critically panned and financially disastrous Heaven’s Gate (1980), which hastened the demise of the film studio that released it, United Artists. His films are distinguished by intricately designed widescreen photography and detailed art direction. In recent years a critical reappraisal of Heaven’s Gate has taken place, especially in France, where Cimino was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2001.

Early Years in Hollywood

A graduate of Yale University, Cimino broke into the entertainment business by directing commericals and writing screenplays. His first significant Hollywood assignment was co-writer of Silent Running, a science fiction film directed by Douglas Trumbull. Cimino then co-wrote, with John Milius, Magnum Force, the sequel to the successful Dirty Harry. Clint Eastwood was so impressed by Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, a script that Cimino had written on spec, that Eastwood allowed Cimino to direct the film himself, which Eastwood’s Malpaso film company produced. The success of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, which gave co-star Jeff Bridges an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, led to a British film company, EMI Films, to finance The Deer Hunter, which was released by Universal Studios. In the Director’s Commentary to the Year of the Dragon DVD, Cimino states emphatically more than once, “I owe everything to Clint.”

The Deer Hunter

One of the first films distributed by an American studio to deal with the harsh reality of the Vietnam War, The Deer Hunter beat Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (which had started filming earlier) to the cinemas, and was a financial and critical success, winning five Academy Awards, including two for Cimino, for Best Director and Best Picture. However, Cimino has repeatedly stated, including in the Director's Commentary for the U.K. edition of The Deer Hunter DVD, that the film is not about Vietnam per se, but about ordinary people dealing with extraordinary situations. "There's no political agenda in the movie," Cimino explained in an interview. "It's not even about the Vietnam war. This is a movie about people. It's a story of a group of friends."

Later Years

After Heaven's Gate Cimino was never again able to initiate a film project on his own. Producer Dino De Laurentiis hired Cimino to direct Year of the Dragon, and Cimino adapted Robert Daley's novel with Oliver Stone. Cimino was friends with Stanley Kubrick, who, though famously reclusive, attended the U.K. premiere of Year of the Dragon (according to Cimino in his DVD commentary for the film). But Cimino would be unable to emulate his early successes. Year of the Dragon, along with The Sicilian, Desperate Hours and Sunchaser all fared poorly at the box office.

Cimino has written a novel called Big Jane, which was translated into French and published by Gallimard, France's most distinguished publishing house, in 2001.

Filmography

as screenwriter

Silent Running (1972) (co-writer)

Magnum Force (1973) (co-writer)

as director

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) (also writer)

The Deer Hunter (1978) (also co-writer)

Heaven’s Gate (1980) (also writer)

Year of the Dragon (1985) (also co-writer)

The Sicilian (1987)

Desperate Hours (1990)

Sunchaser (1996)

Bibliography

• Bach Steven. Final Cut: art, money, and ego in the making of Heaven’s Gate, the film that sank United Artists (New York : Newmarket Press, 1999).

External Links

• “Last of the Big Spenders” by Nancy Griffin, The Independent (London) 14 July 2002.
• Battling the Past - an Encounter with Michael Cimino
• Michael Cimino - Paris Heaven's Gate Masterclass