Cimino: The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate, and the Price of a Vision

by Charles Elton

Overview

The first biography of critically acclaimed then critically derided filmmaker Michael Cimino—and a reevaluation of the infamous film that destroyed his career

The director Michael Cimino (1939–2016) is famous for two films: the intense, powerful, and enduring Vietnam movie The Deer Hunter, which won Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 1979 and also won Cimino Best Director, and Heaven’s Gate, the most notorious bomb of all time. Originally budgeted at $11 million, Cimino’s sprawling western went off the rails in Montana. The picture grew longer and longer, and the budget ballooned to over $40 million. When it was finally released, Heaven’s Gate failed so completely with reviewers and at the box office that it put legendary studio United Artists out of business and marked the end of Hollywood's auteur era.

Or so the conventional wisdom goes. Charles Elton delves deeply into the making and aftermath of the movie and presents a surprisingly different view to that of Steven Bach, one of the executives responsible for Heaven’s Gate, who wrote a scathing book about the film and solidified the widely held view that Cimino wounded the movie industry beyond repair. Elton’s Cimino is a richly detailed biography that offers a revisionist history of a lightning rod filmmaker. Based on extensive interviews with Cimino’s peers and collaborators and enemies and friends, most of whom have never spoken before, it unravels the enigmas and falsehoods, many perpetrated by the director himself, which surround his life, and sheds new light on his extraordinary career. This is a story of the making of art, the business of Hollywood, and the costs of ambition, both financial and personal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419747113
Publisher:	Abrams Press
Publication date:	03/29/2022
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	197,086
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Charles Elton was a director of the Curtis Brown agency, representing film directors and screenwriters in London and Los Angeles. He was an independent TV producer before becoming an executive producer of drama at ITV in England, where he has been responsible for many award-winning shows. He is the author of two novels.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Part I 1939-1976

Chapter 1 The Tarnished Coast 9

Chapter 2 Coffee Moment in Malibu 19

Chapter 3 The Secret World 31

Chapter 4 Thunderbolt in Hollywood 37

Part II 1976-1981

Chapter 5 Stalking the Deer Hunter 59

Chapter 6 The Body Count 93

Chapter 7 Opening the Gate 115

Chapter 8 The Circus Comes to Town 131

Chapter 9 Kurtz in Kalispell 139

Chapter 10 The Retreat from Moscow 165

Chapter 11 The Violinist on Roller Skates 175

Chapter 12 The Gates of Hell 181

Part III 1981-1996

Chapter 13 Footloose in Hollywood 207

Chapter 14 Chasing the Sun 223

Part IV 1996-2016

Chapter 15 Shadow Conversations 249

Chapter 16 The Woman from Torrance 265

Chapter 17 Phoenix 275

Chapter 18 June 30, 2016 293

Chapter 19 Wizard 299

Epilogue 311

Acknowledgments 315

Notes and Sources 319

Bibliography 335

Index 340

Editorial Reviews

01/31/2022

Filmmaker Michael Cimino (1939–2016) remains a mysterious figure in this intriguing biography from novelist Elton (Mr. Toppit). Based on copious interviews, including with Cimino’s estranged brothers and his collaborator Joann Carelli, Elton’s account offers a variety of perspectives on an artist who sought to obfuscate his own identity. Born in Westbury, N.Y., Cimino was a “talented artist,” had a “superficial” bad-boy persona, and remained elusive even to his childhood friends. After college he became a well-known TV commercial director, but his reputation as the toast of Hollywood came for his 1978 Oscar-winning The Deer Hunter, then plummeted to industry pariah after his 1980 film Heaven’s Gate exceeded budgets and schedules and was a critical and commercial flop. In the ensuing years, he only directed four more films. Then, in 2012, he released his original cut of Heaven’s Gate to much acclaim. Elton has a sure hand with behind-the-scenes details and is even-handed in his appraisals, describing Cimino’s “meticulous, detail-heavy direction” that could skew toward “nit-picking attention to detail” as both a strength and a weakness. A somewhat murky picture of Cimino emerges, though Elton wrestles commendably with an elusive subject who reportedly said of himself, “I don’t know most of the people I’ve been.” Film buffs will find much to enjoy. Photos. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"assiduously researched and fascinating"—The Wall Street Journal

“Intriguing...Elton has a sure hand with behind-the-scenes details and is even-handed in his appraisals...A somewhat murky picture of Cimino emerges, though Elton wrestles commendably with an elusive subject...Film buffs will find much to enjoy.”
—Publishers Weekly

“One of the strangest and most mysterious of all Hollywood lives gets the treatment it’s been crying out for in this brilliantly insightful biography.”—author of Fall: The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell, Britain’s Most Notorious Media Baron, John Preston

“While Elton’s book first appears structured as a conventional biography, it ultimately plays more like a mystery novel, as the author interrogates various witnesses in search of the Rosebud that offers a key to Cimino’s hidden life”—The Hollywood Reporter

“I inhaled this book in two sittings. In a magnificent feat of investigative reporting, Charles Elton provides a revelatory reappraisal of Michael Cimino and a tragicomic portrait of late twentieth-century Hollywood.”—author of Notes on a Scandal, Zoë Heller


“Charles Elton's new book, featuring exhaustive original research and interviews, seeks to upend the narrative on the late filmmaker, whose oeuvre definitely deserves a reappraisal.”—Yahoo!

“The author, Charles Elton, has ably sifted through the lies, evasions, busted budgets, broken friendships, damaged careers, and lurid press clips that the filmmaker left in his wake across his quarter century in Hollywood. The result is riveting...”
—AirMail

“Elton masterfully maneuvers through the web of lies surrounding Cimino, providing riveting details and fascinating interviews with key players...A must for film aficionados. Fans of Cimino’s will be satisfied that he has been vindicated.”
—Library Journal

“Charles Elton’s Cimino is a riveting, sure-footed, cinema-savvy piece of biographical sleuthing. In his sprightly, sly approach, Elton manages to trap Cimino’s reclusive, mercurial genius—a compelling dissection of both a volatile career and the business of show.”—John Lahr, author of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrim of the Flesh and Joy Ride: Show People and Thei

“Whether you believe Michael Cimino represents an unfairly maligned genius or a monumental example of Hollywood hubris, Elton’s Cimino is a compelling account of an elusive life.”—author of The Devil's Candy and Wendy and the Lost Boys, Julie Salamon

From the Publisher

I inhaled this book in two sittings. In a magnificent feat of investigative reporting, Charles Elton provides a revelatory reappraisal of Michael Cimino and a tragicomic portrait of late twentieth-century Hollywood.

Zoë Heller - author of Notes on a Scandal

One of the strangest and most mysterious of all Hollywood lives gets the treatment it’s been crying out for in this brilliantly insightful biography.

John Preston - author of Fall: The Mysterious Life and Death of Robert Maxwell

02/01/2022

Intent on uncovering the truth behind the rumors, producer and novelist Elton tackles the controversial, mysterious, and enigmatic director Michael Cimino, who was notorious for his many lies: about his birthdate, his family history, even his height. His early work in commercials reflected his extraordinary eye for detail (an entire book was written about his Eastman Kodak commercial of 1967). His film career peaked with the brilliant The Deer Hunter, which overcame numerous challenges to win the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. Then came Heaven's Gate—after Cimino spent 40 million dollars, six months of shooting, and a year of editing, the film became the "poster child for failure"; Cimino was blamed for bankrupting the studio and made only four more films. However, Elton provides evidence of a later critical reevaluation of both the film and Cimino. Elton examines Cimino's troublesome personal life as well—his longstanding complicated relationship with his partner Joann Carelli, his dramatic changes of physical appearance, and his attempts to ultimately reconcile with the many people he had offended over the years. Elton masterfully maneuvers through the web of lies surrounding Cimino, providing riveting details and fascinating interviews with key players. VERDICT A must for film aficionados. Fans of Cimino's will be satisfied that he has been vindicated.—Lisa Henry

Library Journal

The author, Charles Elton, has ably sifted through the lies, evasions, busted budgets, broken friendships, damaged careers, and lurid press clips that the filmmaker left in his wake across his quarter century in Hollywood. The result is riveting...”

AirMail

"assiduously researched and fascinating"

The Wall Street Journal

Charles Elton's new book, featuring exhaustive original research and interviews, seeks to upend the narrative on the late filmmaker, whose oeuvre definitely deserves a reappraisal.

Yahoo!

Whether you believe Michael Cimino represents an unfairly maligned genius or a monumental example of Hollywood hubris, Elton’s Cimino is a compelling account of an elusive life.

Julie Salamon - author of The Devil's Candy and Wendy and the Lost Boys

While Elton’s book first appears structured as a conventional biography, it ultimately plays more like a mystery novel, as the author interrogates various witnesses in search of the Rosebud that offers a key to Cimino’s hidden life

The Hollywood Reporter

Charles Elton’s Cimino is a riveting, sure-footed, cinema-savvy piece of biographical sleuthing. In his sprightly, sly approach, Elton manages to trap Cimino’s reclusive, mercurial genius—a compelling dissection of both a volatile career and the business of show.

author of Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrim of t John Lahr