Heaven's Gate
What one loves about life are the things that fade.
Country
Production
Budget
$44 000 000
Box office
$3 484 331
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
Joann Carelli, Charles Okun, Denis O'Dell
Camera operator
Composer
David Mansfield
Artist
Audition
Editing
Lisa Fruchtman, Gerald B. Greenberg, Tom Rolf
Whole Team (69)
Whole Team (69)
Short description
Harvard graduate James Averill serves as the sheriff of prosperous Jackson County, Wyoming, standing at the center of a conflict between impoverished immigrants and affluent cattle farmers. Politically connected ranchers enlist mercenary Nathan Champion—who is also vying for the affections of local madam Ella Watson—to combat the immigrant uprising. As tensions escalate, both Averill and Champion start to question their decisions.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film's plot is based on real events from the 1890s that took place in Wyoming.
- A break in filming with John Hurt (1940-2017) during the production of this film was so long that he had time to star in David Lynch's drama "The Elephant Man" (1980), and then return to the set of "Heaven's Gate".
- The film gained notoriety for its cruel treatment of animals during filming (including cockfighting and the beheading of chickens). Horses were tortured to such an extent that at least four died. Such a scandal erupted that the Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers commissioned the American Humane Association to establish permanent monitoring of animal treatment during filming.
- Someone at United Artists noticed that renting the land where filming took place was very expensive. An investigation revealed that the owner of the land was screenwriter and director Michael Cimino (1939-2016).
- Willem Dafoe appears briefly in the film (this was his debut in a feature film). According to Dafoe, the role was actually much larger, but one day on set he burst out laughing at a joke told to him by one of the extras, and Michael Cimino was so angered that after eight months of filming, he fired Dafoe and didn't even include his name in the credits.
- The film was a disaster, both in terms of audience opinion and for director Michael Cimino. After many films that brought him neither fame nor success, Cimino finally made the highly successful drama "The Deer Hunter" (1978), which was a box office hit and won 5 Academy Awards. After that, United Artists removed all restrictions from Cimino. Work on "Heaven's Gate" quickly went over budget after filming began, mainly because Cimino was a perfectionist. Stories circulated about how he repeatedly and for no apparent reason demolished sets and fired someone from the crew almost every week (or, conversely, hired them). Many of these stories were, of course, exaggerations, but the project's cost soared to an astronomical $40 million for the time (equivalent to $120 million today). When Cimino presented the finished film to the studio, it turned out to be over 5 hours long. After some arguing, he agreed to cut the film to less than 3 hours. The film was a failure both at the box office and with critics, and essentially ended Cimino's career as a director. He nearly bankrupted United Artists, which was soon acquired by MGM. That year, MGM released the highly successful twelfth film in the Bond series, "For Your Eyes Only" (1981) by John Glen. Cimino did not work for 5 years and never fully recovered from that resounding failure. When Kevin Reynolds was filming "Waterworld" (1995), the filming faced so many difficulties, and the lead actor Kevin Costner was so criticized for his work on the project, that the film eventually became known as "Kevin-gate".
- One of the most glaring examples of Michael Cimino's cavalier attitude towards the film's budget was the construction of an irrigation system under the battlefield so that the grass would appear bright green before turning red with the blood of the upcoming battle.
- The film's release was scheduled for December 1979, and Michael Cimino's contract included a clause protecting him from liability for budget overruns.
- Jeff Bridges took the log cabin from the film and now uses it as a vacation home for his family in Montana.
- Many scenes of the film were shot during the so-called magic hour (the term for the short period of about five minutes between sunset and darkness, when unique bluish hues can be captured). Due to the brevity of the magic hour, a maximum of three takes could be filmed, after which the lighting changed.
- Every morning, as preparation for filming, the actors and actresses, at the insistence of director Michael Cimino, had to practice horseback riding, shooting, driving a van, dancing, roller skating, and work with a language specialist. In addition, Kris Kristofferson learned whip handling, and Isabelle Huppert, who knew almost no English, studied English.
- The film contains a scene where Chris Kristofferson's character wakes up with a hangover and cracks a whip in front of the group of people who woke him up. This scene takes less than a second of screen time, but it took 52 takes to film and lasted all day.
- Michael Cimino was such a perfectionist that by the fifth day of filming, they were already four days behind schedule.
- At one point during filming, Michael Cimino disliked the location of the buildings on the set, even though all the decorations had been constructed strictly according to his own wishes. Cimino ordered the buildings on both sides of the street to be demolished and rebuilt (at a cost of $1.2 million), despite objections from the crew, who reasonably argued that it would be simpler and cheaper to demolish the buildings on one side of the street and rebuild them further away.
- Had the film not flopped at the box office, Michael Cimino would have filmed 'Conquering Horse' based on the novel of the same name (1959) by Western author Frederick Manfred (1912-1994). The script would have told the story of the Sioux Indians, and all the characters would have spoken Sioux (with English subtitles on screen). This film was never made.
- Michael Cimino and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (1930-2016) used smoke machines and 18 million kilograms of so-called 'Fuller's earth' (any clay material capable of discoloring oil or other liquids without using harsh chemical treatment) to give the film a 'dusty' atmosphere typical of 19th-century photographs.
- Someone at United Artists noticed that the rental of the land where filming took place was very expensive. An investigation revealed that the landowner was screenwriter and director Michael Cimino.
- Willem Dafoe briefly appears in a shot (this was his debut in a feature film). According to Dafoe, the role was originally much larger, but one day on set he burst out laughing at a joke, which so angered Michael Cimino that after eight months of filming, he fired Dafoe without crediting him in the titles.
- When Cimino presented the finished film, it had a runtime of over 5 hours.
- An irrigation system was built under the battlefield to make the grass appear bright green before it would be stained red by the blood of the upcoming battle.
- Michael Cimino's contract included a clause protecting him from responsibility for budget overruns.
- Jeff Bridges took the log cabin from the film, which is located in Montana.
- Many scenes from the film were shot during the magic hour (twilight). Due to the brevity of the magic hour, a maximum of three takes could be filmed, after which the lighting conditions changed.
- Every morning, at the insistence of director Michael Cimino, the actors and actresses had to practice horseback riding, shooting, driving a van, dancing, roller skating, and work with a language specialist. In addition, Kris Kristofferson learned whip handling, and Isabelle Huppert, who knew almost no English, studied English.
- The scene in which Chris Kristofferson's character wakes up hungover and cracks a whip in front of the group of people who woke him up lasts less than a second, but it took 52 takes to film and lasted all day.
- At one point during filming, Michael Cimino disliked the arrangement of the buildings on the set, even though all the decorations had been constructed strictly according to his own wishes. Cimino ordered the buildings on both sides of the street to be demolished and rebuilt (at a cost of $1.2 million), despite objections from the crew, who argued that it would be simpler and cheaper to demolish the buildings on one side of the street and rebuild them further away.
- Had the film not flopped at the box office, Michael Cimino would have filmed Conquering Horse, based on the novel of the same name (1959) by western author Frederick Manfred.
- John Hurt had such a long break in filming that he managed to star in David Lynch’s drama “The Elephant Man” and then return.
- The full version of the film has a runtime of 219 minutes.
- John Hurt's break in filming was so long that he had time to appear in David Lynch's drama "The Elephant Man" before returning.
- The film gained notoriety for the cruel treatment of animals during production (including cockfighting and the beheading of chickens). Horses were mistreated to such an extent that at least four died. The resulting scandal led the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of America to task the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with establishing constant monitoring of animal treatment during filming.
- Someone at United Artists noticed that the lease for the land where filming took place was extremely expensive. An audit revealed that the owner of the land was the screenwriter and director, Michael Cimino.
- Willem Dafoe appears on screen for a moment (this was his feature film debut). According to Dafoe, the role was actually significantly larger, but he once laughed out loud at a joke on set, which angered Michael Cimino so much that after eight months of filming, he fired Dafoe and removed him from the credits.
- Michael Cimino's contract included a clause that protected him from liability for budget overruns.
- Jeff Bridges kept the log cabin from the movie, which is located in Montana.
- Every morning, at director Michael Cimino's insistence, the actors had to practice horseback riding, target shooting, learn how to drive a wagon, dance, roller skate, and work with a language specialist. Additionally, Chris Kristofferson learned how to use a whip, and Isabelle Huppert, who knew very little English, took English lessons.
- The scene in which Chris Kristofferson's character wakes up with a hangover and snaps a whip in front of the group of people who woke him up lasts less than a second, but it took 52 takes to film, and the shoot lasted an entire day.
- At one point during filming, Michael Cimino disliked the layout of the buildings on the set, even though all the sets had been constructed in strict accordance with his own wishes. Cimino ordered the buildings on both sides of the street to be razed and rebuilt (which cost $1.2 million), despite objections from the crew that it would be simpler and cheaper to demolish the buildings on only one side of the street and rebuild them further away.
- Had the film not flopped at the box office, Michael Cimino would have filmed Conquering Horse, based on the eponymous 1959 novel by Western author Frederick Manfred.
- Michael Cimino and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (1930-2016) used smoke machines and 18 million kg of so-called "Fuller's earth" (any clay-like material capable of decolorizing oil or other liquids without the use of harsh chemical processing) to give the film a "dusty" atmosphere typical of 19th-century photographs.
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Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
