Michael Cimino Origins Michael Cimino 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 has also given February 3, 1943 as his date of birth. He graduated from Yale University, receiving his undergraduate degree in 1961,[citation needed] and his masters in 1963. 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 on the feature Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. Ciminos spec script for Thunderbolt and Lightfoot had been purchased by Clint Eastwoods production company, Malpaso. Eastwood was originally slated to direct it himself, but Cimino convinced him to allow him to direct. The film became a solid box office success at the time, making $ 25,000,000 at the box office with a budget of $ 4,000,000. The Deer Hunter Main article: 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. Heavens Gate Main article: Heavens Gate (film) On the basis of this track record, he was given free rein by United Artists for his next film, Heavens Gate (1980). The film came in several times over budget; the result not only was a financial disaster that nearly bankrupted the studio, but Heavens 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. Heavens Gate was such a devastating box office and critical bomb that public perception of Ciminos work was tainted in its wake; the majority of his subsequent films achieved neither popular nor critical success. Many critics who had originally praised The Deer Hunter became far more reserved about the picture and about Cimino after Heavens Gate. The story of the making of the movie, and UAs subsequent downfall, was documented in Steven Bachs book Final Cut. Ciminos 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 Angeless most influential film professionals. After the unsuccessful release of the re-edited and shortened Heavens Gate, Jerry Harvey, the channels programmer, decided to play Ciminos original 219 minute cut. The re-assembled movie received admiring reviews and resulted in the coining of the term directors cut. Footloose In 1984, after being unable to finalize a deal with director Herbert Ross, Paramount Pictures surprisingly offered the job of directing Footloose to Cimino. According to screenwriter Dean Pitchford, Cimino was at the helm of Footloose for four months, making more and more extravagant demands in terms of set construction and overall production. Paramount realized that it potentially had another Heavens Gate on its hands. Cimino was fired and Ross was brought on to direct the picture. This episode, though seemingly trivial, had far-reaching effects for Ciminos career. Within the film industry, he was perceived as not having learned his lesson with Heavens Gate.[citation needed] In fact, executives came to the conclusion that, given the chance, Cimino would again make extravagant demands that might ultimately lead to another debacle.[citation needed] All his subsequent films would be financed independently. Other projects Cimino had signed a multi-picture deal with United Artists in 1979. Heaven Gate was the first production but most of the other films that were supposed to follow were not made due to the former film failure. Cimino has been attached to many projects since Heaven Gate, but his reputation either precluded him from being hired or led to him 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 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 Gate. Lean had been one of a number of directors asked by United Artists to take over the directing duties of Heaven 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 film adaptation 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 short story Hand Carved 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. 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. Later career Cimino directed a 1985 crime drama, Year of the Dragon, which he and Oliver Stone adapted from Robert Daleys novel. In recognition, 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 sharply criticized for providing offending stereotypes about Chinese Americans. The advertising campaign for Year of the Dragon made frequent references to Ciminos hit film The Deer Hunter. He directed The Sicilian from a Mario Puzo novel in 1987 and the remake of the Humphrey Bogart film The Desperate Hours in 1990, starring Anthony Hopkins and Mickey Rourke. Rourke also appeared in Heavens Gate and Year of the Dragon. Ciminos last film was 1996s The Sunchaser with Woody Harrelson and Jon Seda. 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. Cimino is currently said to be in pre-production for Mans Fate based on the award-winning existential novel by Andr Malraux. Chris Solimine is confirmed to have written the screenplay. Interviews Interviews with Cimino are rare, and he gives his part in the Heavens Gate ordeal very little discussion. George Hickenloopers book Reel Conversations and Peter Biskinds highly critical book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls deal with the film and resulting scandal. Hickenloopers 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. Steven Bach, a former UA studio executive, wrote Final Cut (1985), which describes in detail how Heavens Gate brought down United Artists. The European DVD release of The Deer Hunter contains an audio commentary with Cimino, as does the American version of Year of the Dragon. Controversy Age Cimino has given various dates for his birth, including February 3, 1939, February 3, 1943, and November 16, 1943. Military service During the production of The Deer Hunter, Cimino had given co-workers (such as cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and associate producer Joann Carelli) the vague impression that much of the storyline was biographical, somehow related to the director own experience and based on the experiences of men he had known during his service in Vietnam. Just as the film was about to open, Cimino gave an interview to The New York Times in which he claimed that he had been ttached to a Green Beret medical unit at the time of the Tet Offensive of 1968. When the Times reporter, who had not been able to corroborate this, questioned the studio about it, studio executives panicked and fabricated vidence to support the story. (Universal Studios president Thom Mount commented at the time that I know this guy. He was no more a medic in the Green Berets than I a rutabaga.)[citation needed] Four months later Tom Buckley, a veteran Vietnam correspondent for the Times, corroborated that Cimino had done a stint as an Army medic, but that the director had never been attached to the Green Berets. Ciminos active service just six months in 1962 had been as a reservist who was never deployed to Vietnam. Cimino publicist reportedly said that he intended to sue Buckley, but he never did. Filmography Director Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (also writing) (1974) The Deer Hunter (also writing) (1978) Heavens 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) No translation needed segment in Chacun son cinema (2007) Writer only Silent Running (1972) Magnum Force (1973) The Rose (uncredited) (1979) The Dogs of War (film) (uncredited) (1981) References ^ Say How? A Pronunciation Guide to Names of Public Figures ^ observer/node/45582 ^ imdb/title/tt0072288/business ^ Shall We Footloose? ^ Biskind, Peter, The Vietnam Oscars. Vanity Fair, March 2008. ^ Buckley, Tom, Harper, April 1979. External links Michael Cimino at the Internet Movie Database MichaelCimino.Fr French website Last of the Big Spenders, an interview from 2002 v d e Films directed by Michael Cimino 1970s Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) The Deer Hunter (1978) 1980s Heavens Gate (1980) Year of the Dragon (1985) The Sicilian (1987) 1990s Desperate Hours (1990) Sunchaser (1996) v d e Academy Award for Best Director Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise (1961) David Lean (1962) Tony Richardson (1963) George Cukor (1964) Robert Wise (1965) Fred Zinnemann (1966) Mike Nichols (1967) Carol Reed (1968) John Schlesinger (1969) Franklin Schaffner (1970) William Friedkin (1971) Bob Fosse (1972) George Roy Hill (1973) Francis Ford Coppola (1974) Milo Forman (1975) John G. Avildsen (1976) Woody Allen (1977) Michael Cimino (1978) Robert Benton (1979) Robert Redford (1980) Complete List (19271940) (19411960) (19611980) (19812000) (2001-present) Categories: American film directors | Best Director Academy Award winners | Best Director Golden Globe winners | Italian-American film directors | Living people | People from New York City | Yale University alumni | 1939 births | Worst Director Golden Raspberry Award winnersHidden categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from October 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from July 2008 | Articles with unsourced statements from May 2009 I am China Crafts Suppliers writer, reports some information about adhesive push up bra , name brand bras.
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