Saturday, July 02, 2016

Michael Cimino, R. I. P.

 Variety: Michael Cimino, who won Oscars as director and a producer of “The Deer Hunter” before “Heaven’s Gate” destroyed his career and sped up the demise of 60-year-old United Artists, has died. He was believed to be 77.

5 comments:

Deb said...

Meaning no disrespect to the dead, but I thought they had put a photo of Yoko Ono in his obit by accident. I didn't realize there were questions about his gender identity, but based on the obit, he seems to have had a rather casual relationship with his own reality (he claimed he was born in 1952? Puleez!)

Stephen Bach's FINAL CUT is one of the great books about how a box-office bomb gets made.

Don Coffin said...

Man had a strange career, that's for sure. Based on what I've read, it's unclear how me made a living after "Heaven's Gate," which, in my opinion, was a lot better than its reviews (and box office success) would lead you to believe.

Cap'n Bob said...

I liked Heaven's Gate a lot more than The Deer Hunter, which I hated.

Jeff Meyerson said...

Heaven's Gate was almost unwatchable.

I agree with Deb about the picture of Cimino. Weird and creepy. It reminded me a little of another recent deceased, David Gest.

Deb said...

Jeff--I had no idea that David Gest had died. He was already pretty creepy looking when he was married to Liza. I don't imagine the subsequent decade or so since their divorce had changed that.