Figure timeline
Michael Antonio Cimino was an American film director, screenwriter, producer and author. Notorious for his obsessive attention to detail and determination for perfection, Cimino achieved widespread fame with The Deer Hunter (1978), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
entertainment · American filmmaker (1939–2016) · film director · screenwriter · film producer · director · also Michael Cimino, Cimino
Born 3 February 1939 · Died 2 July 2016 · Q59129
67 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
1 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
I remember trying to get to know him a little better. A friend had a house in Poughkeepsie, and I invited him up for the weekend. He shows up in his Rolls-Royce, and he's not comfortable there. But he wanted something from me, I think. Mike and I got closest when we started talking about a story. Then it was amazing. It was like one person. It was like a dance. We could boil together.
always hanging around with kids my parents didn't approve of. Those guys were so alive. When I was fifteen I spent three weeks driving all over Brooklyn with a guy who was following his girlfriend. He was convinced she was cheating on him, and he had a gun, he was going to kill her. There was such passion and intensity about their lives. When the rich kids got together, the most we ever did was cross against a red light.
“I remember trying to get to know him a little better. A friend had a house in Poughkeepsie, and I invited him up for the weekend. He shows up in his Rolls-Royce, and he's not comfortable there. But he wanted something from me, I think. Mike and I got closest when we started talking about a story. Then it was amazing. It was like one person. It was like a dance. We could boil together.”
Text from Wikiquote, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“always hanging around with kids my parents didn't approve of. Those guys were so alive. When I was fifteen I spent three weeks driving all over Brooklyn with a guy who was following his girlfriend. He was convinced she was cheating on him, and he had a gun, he was going to kill her. There was such passion and intensity about their lives. When the rich kids got together, the most we ever did was cross against a red light.”
Text from Wikiquote, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I understood that he [Cimino] had a terrible time inhabiting the present, the reality of the life of every day. Physically but also in his way of thinking: he was always elsewhere. Not in an ethereal or disconnected way. He was in a very precise past and therefore also a bit in a fantasy... he fantasized about a relationship with America, with John Ford.”
Text from Wikiquote, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“We'd already shot two weeks of pre-production stuff, but because of various political machinations at the studio, the project fell through. This was just before David Picker left. He was the producer. There were internal difficulties, that's all. Nevertheless, I'd spent a year and a half of my life on something. It had been a difficult time. My father passed away while I was writing the screenplay. I kept working...”
Text from Wikiquote, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Mike looked at me, and said, 'You know that game Tag?' 'Yeah,' I said. 'Well... you're it,' Mike told me. He went on to say that this guy, Lightfoot, was no one other than me, that I couldn't make a mistake, or a false move, even if I wanted to. I've never forgotten that bit of direction that that young director gave me on his first movie, that gift of confidence.”
Text from Wikiquote, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“the intimate story about their relationships played out against one of the most tumultuous periods in China”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“discovery of the Americas, this film would follow a young man as its protagonist,”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“[they] had certain facial expressions. You couldn”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“t for sale, and that he would have to direct the film or else there was no deal. Eastwood agreed, but under one condition:”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“And then, zoom – the next thing I know, overnight, I was directing commercials.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He was very tall and thin... His weight never changed his whole life and he didn”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Yahoo: Michael Cimino is proudly embracing his 'twunk' status & dishing on his love for the LGBTQ+ community
Deadline.com: ‘Until Dawn’ Movie At Screen Gems And PlayStation Studios Sets Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Ji-young Yoo And Odessa A’zion To Star
Yahoo: All About 'Never Have I Ever' Heartthrob Michael Cimino
The Cheat Sheet: ‘How I Met Your Father’: Who Is Swish? Why Michael Cimino Looks Familiar
Released ep “I'm Somewhere Out There”.
The Cheat Sheet: Is Michael Cimino in ‘Never Have I Ever’ Season 3? Fans Will See Him in Season 4
TV Fanatic: Love, Victor’s Michael Cimino Says He Received Death Threats for Playing Gay Character
The Guardian: Michael Cimino: a great of a great period in American film
The Guardian: Michael Cimino, director of The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate, dies aged 77
IndieWire: Michael Cimino, ‘Deer Hunter’ And ‘Heaven’s Gate’ Director, Dies at 77
Died 2016-07-02.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
At age 77, at his home in Beverly Hills, California
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Was awarded the Leopard of Honour at the Locarno Film Festival, for his life's work achievement
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Guardian: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot review – Philip French on Michael Cimino's dark bromance
At the 69th Venice Film Festival, the restored director's cut was screened and was met with a standing ovation
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino was asked by Cannes director Thierry Frémaux to contribute a 3-minute short segment for the collective film To Each His Own Cinema, celebrating the 60th year of the Cannes Film Festival
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
After Terrence Malick exited as director of the Che Guevara biopic, Cimino apparently pitched himself to direct it
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino published his second novel, a two-volume work; the first a partially fictitious memoir called Conversations en miroir (English translation: Shadow Conversations) which he co-authored with Francesca Pollock, and th
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino developed a reputation for giving exaggerated stories about himself, his background, and his filmmaking experiences. "When I'm kidding, I'm serious, and when I'm serious, I'm kidding," said Cimino in a 2002 interview. "I am not who I am, and I am who I am not."
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino claimed he had written at least 50 scripts overall
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
That he'd gained weight while editing The Sunchaser; "They're always ordering food
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
But the project failed to pique interest from potential investors
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The Guardian: Interview: film director Michael Cimino
Awarded Lucien Barrière Literary Award (2001).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Coinciding with the 500th anniversary of the discovery of Brazil
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the first Asian immigrant to join Al Capone's mob
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
A columnist with Variety magazine devoted an item to dispelling unspecified "reports" that he had changed his name to "Michelle" and his gender via surgery
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino was approached by Regency producer Arnon Milchan to helm The Sunchaser, which would ultimately become Cimino's last feature-length film
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“s Malpaso Productions from the 1993 novel Paradise Junction, which Eastwood would have either directed/starred in. He was also writing a script for filmmaker John Woo based on his story titled Full Circle, which Woo claimed would”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“s poets; Li Bo (China: Year of the Dragon) and W. B. Yeats (Ireland: Blest Souls). In 1992, Cimino participated in the Sight & Sound film polls. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, directors were asked to select ten films of their choice. Cimino”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino participated in the Sight & Sound film polls
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino participated in that year's Avoriaz Fantasy Film Festival, where he served as jury president and awarded director John Harrison with the Grand Prix for his film Tales from the Darkside: The Movie
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
When Mickey Rourke suggested he direct the remake of the 1955 home invasion thriller The Desperate Hours
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Before the release of The Sicilian, Cimino began work on an epic saga chronicling the life of the Irish patriot Michael Collins, based on a screenplay by Eoghan Harris
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The film did poorly, but received some critical acclaim, notably by F
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino accepted the deal to direct the adaptation of the best-selling Mario Puzo novel The Sicilian, after Dino De Laurentiis cancelled the production of Hand Carved Coffins
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Following his purchase of Embassy Pictures
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
That, "One side's waiting for a rewrite, the other side's waiting for the money for a rewrite," but felt that it still would be made eventually
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino agreed to produce Platoon for Oliver Stone, with Emilio Estevez attached at that time to star as Staff Sgt
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director for Heaven's Gate (1982).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
"[taking] place in the Dakotas and Montana
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Alongside a slate of films including Table for Five, however, Cimino's never went into production, just as with several of the other reported projects
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
A shorter version was released, with added narration
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Won Golden Globe Award for Best Director for The Deer Hunter (1979).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Academy Award for Best Director for The Deer Hunter (1979).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Academy Award for Best Picture for The Deer Hunter (1979).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
As a Joann Carelli production, with Buck Henry making revisions to the script
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
After a print of The Deer Hunter was screened for the head of production at United Artists, they offered Cimino a two-picture deal
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino met Oliver Stone who offered him the chance to direct his script adaptation of Midnight Express (before the book had even been published), which he loved
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cimino had been brought on board to direct the film and visited the Tour for the first time, for research
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
By film producer Gary Mehlman, who then made a development deal with Columbia Pictures
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
While still at Yale, he enlisted in the U
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And his Master of Fine Arts in 1963, both in painting
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
With honors and won the Harry Suffrin Advertising Award
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And 173 pages in length, the story follows a "dynamite-looking, six-foot blonde who wears blue jeans, a Miss Universe of muscle," who travels by motorcycle across America and ends up fighting in the Korean War alongside
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1939-02-03.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
I understood that he [Cimino] had a terrible time inhabiting the present, the reality of the life of every day. Physically but also in his way of thinking: he was always elsewhere. Not in an ethereal or disconnected way. He was in a very precise past and therefore also a bit in a fantasy... he fantasized about a relationship with America, with John Ford.
We'd already shot two weeks of pre-production stuff, but because of various political machinations at the studio, the project fell through. This was just before David Picker left. He was the producer. There were internal difficulties, that's all. Nevertheless, I'd spent a year and a half of my life on something. It had been a difficult time. My father passed away while I was writing the screenplay. I kept working...
Mike looked at me, and said, 'You know that game Tag?' 'Yeah,' I said. 'Well... you're it,' Mike told me. He went on to say that this guy, Lightfoot, was no one other than me, that I couldn't make a mistake, or a false move, even if I wanted to. I've never forgotten that bit of direction that that young director gave me on his first movie, that gift of confidence.
Connections