History Trivia / HeavensGate

* VindicatedByCable: The film famously received bad reviews and became on of the biggest flops in film history. Reports about the film's TroubledProduction didn't help, either. Along came The Z Channel and restored its reputation, a little, as shown in ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405496/combined Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession]]''.

* CreatorKiller: The film destroyed Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}}'s career, contributed to Transamerica's sale of Creator/UnitedArtists to Creator/{{MGM}}, and ended the "UsefulNotes/NewHollywood" [[UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem post-studio-system]] era in which director/auteurs were [[ProtectionFromEditors given carte blanche to do however they see fit]]. Thus, it not only destroyed the careers of the people who created it but ended an era that produced many of the best films in history. Cimino's directing career didn't immediately end after that, but all of his post-''Heaven's Gate'' outings were commercial failures. He had a chance of recovery, however, as not long after ''Heaven's Gate'' Cimino was offered a chance to direct ''Film/{{Footloose}}'' (of all things) under the condition that he won't exceed the budget and schedule by a single day or dollar. However, his primadonna behavior started again during pre-production, and when weeks before the shooting was scheduled to begin he demanded to delay it until he rewrites the script ([[IdiotBall and to get $250,000 for it]]), Paramount quickly booted him out the director's chair. Cimino's final film was 1996's ''Sunchaser''; its failure to get a wide theatrical release due to poor test screenings made him stop working on any more projects, as he died twenty years later.

* GenreKiller: For the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood era. Studios were already feeling the effects of giving [[AuteurLicense carte blanche to any reasonably good filmmaker]], regardless of how much they might have gone over budget or schedule. This film was the perfect storm of everything wrong with the era, and studios have since [[ExecutiveMeddling held a much tighten grip over creators]] out of fear that it may happen again. In addition, the film is also blamed for damaging the perceived viability of TheWestern[[note]] unless Creator/ClintEastwood was involved[[/note]] until ''Film/{{Silverado}}'' and ''Film/YoungGuns''.

* BoxOfficeBomb: As exorbitant as the price tag was, this wasn't actually the all-time most expensive film at the time of its release, as is commonly reported (''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' and ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' both had budgets just shy of $50 million, and ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' was nearly twice as expensive if you adjust for inflation. It wasn't even the studio's most expensive film - that was ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''). Unfortunately, it didn't make even a tenth of its budget back ($3 million against a $44 million budget), making it inarguably the biggest box-office bomb that Hollywood had seen up to that point.
** To give an indication of just how severe of a bomb it was, here's the 2021 adjusted budget/gross numbers: $146 million, $11 million.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Actually, this film is one of the more famous aversions. The combination of a contract that gave Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}} a large amount of control over production, his secretiveness (including flat-out not talking to UA when they came to visit), the not-easily-accessible choice of the area around Kalispell, Montana as the production base (the hotel that Cimino commandeered as his headquarters didn't have any phones for guests except a single pay phone in the lobby), and the inexperience of the fairly green UA production execs basically hobbled UA in trying to rein Cimino in, apart from winning a few minor scheduling and budget skirmishes. Attempts to meddle were discussed, as were the possibilities of suspending production, and even firing Cimino; in the book ''Final Cut'', Steven Bach devotes a chapter to a meeting with an anonymous "Famous Director", who Bach unsuccessfully tried to enlist to take over; after years and years of speculation, Creator/NormanJewison was later identified as the Famous Director. Ultimately the one successful major bit of meddling was getting Cimino to agree to trim the film from the original 5-hour cut he'd screened for the UA brass. When the 3.5 hour cut got a bad reception from the audience and critics in its November 1980 New York premiere, Cimino asked the studio to withdraw the film so he could recut it. At this point UA could easily have said no and pressed on with their release plans, but they agreed, and he delivered a 2.5 hour recut, which didn't go over much better (Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'', who'd lambasted the original cut, compared the recut to a fat man who'd been a crash diet). The 3 hour-plus cut is the one that circulates today.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Actually, this film is one of the more famous aversions. The combination of a contract that gave Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}} a large amount of control over production, his secretiveness (including flat-out not talking to UA when they came to visit), the not-easily-accessible choice of the area around Kalispell, Montana as the production base (the hotel that Cimino commandeered as his headquarters didn't have any phones for guests except a single pay phone in the lobby), and the inexperience of the fairly green UA production execs basically hobbled UA in trying to rein Cimino in, apart from winning a few minor scheduling and budget skirmishes. Attempts to meddle were discussed, as were the possibilities of suspending production, and even firing Cimino; in the book ''Final Cut'', Steven Bach devotes a chapter to a meeting with an anonymous "Famous Director", who Bach unsuccessfully tried to enlist to take over; after years and years of speculation, Creator/NormanJewison was later identified as the Famous Director. Ultimately the one successful major bit of meddling was getting Cimino to agree to trim the film from the original 5-hour cut he'd screened for the UA brass. When the original long cut got a bad reception from the audience and critics in its November 1980 New York premiere, Cimino asked the studio to withdraw the film so he could recut it. At this point UA could easily have said no and pressed on with their release plans, but they agreed, and he delivered a 2-and-half-hour recut, which didn't go over much better (Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'', who lambasted the original cut, compared the recut to a fat man who'd been a crash diet). The 3 hour-plus cut is the one that circulates today.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Actually, this film is one of the more famous aversions. The combination of a contract that gave Creator/{{Michael Cimino|Director}} a large amount of control over production, his secretiveness (including flat-out not talking to UA when they came to visit), the not-easy-accessible choice of the area around Kalispell, Montana as the production base (the hotel that Cimino commandeered as his headquarters didn't have any phones for guests except a single pay phone in the lobby), and the inexperience of the fairly green UA production execs basically hobbled UA in trying to rein Cimino in, apart from winning a few minor scheduling and budget skirmishes. Attempts to meddle were discussed, as were the possibilities of suspending production, and even firing Cimino; in the book ''Final Cut'', Steven Bach devotes a chapter to a meeting with an anonymous "Famous Director", who Bach unsuccessfully tried to enlist to take over; after years and years of speculation, Creator/NormanJewison was later identified as the Famous Director. Ultimately the one successful major bit of meddling was getting Cimino to agree to trim the film from the original 5-hour cut he'd screened for the UA brass. When the original long cut got a bad reception from the audience and critics in its November 1980 New York premiere, Cimino asked the studio to withdraw the film so he could recut it. At this point UA could easily have said no and pressed on with their release plans, but they agreed, and he delivered a 2-and-half-hour recut, which didn't go over much better (Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'', who lambasted the original cut, compared the recut to a fat man who'd been a crash diet). The 3 hour-plus cut is the one that circulates today.

* CreatorKiller: The film destroyed Creator/MichaelCimino's career, contributed to Transamerica's sale of Creator/UnitedArtists to Creator/{{MGM}}, and ended the "UsefulNotes/NewHollywood" [[UsefulNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem post-studio-system]] era in which director/auteurs were [[ProtectionFromEditors given carte blanche to do however they see fit]]. Thus, it not only destroyed the careers of the people who created it but ended an era that produced many of the best films in history. Cimino's directing career didn't immediately end after that, but all of his post-''Heaven's Gate'' outings were commercial failures. He had a chance of recovery, however, as not long after ''Heaven's Gate'' Cimino was offered a chance to direct ''Film/{{Footloose}}'' (of all things) under the condition that he won't exceed the budget and schedule by a single day or dollar. However, his primadonna behavior started again during pre-production, and when weeks before the shooting was scheduled to begin he demanded to delay it until he rewrites the script ([[IdiotBall and to get $250,000 for it]]), Paramount quickly booted him out the director's chair. Cimino's final film was 1996's ''Sunchaser''; its failure to get a wide theatrical release due to poor test screenings made him stop working on any more projects, as he died twenty years later.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Actually, this film is one of the more famous aversions. The combination of a contract that gave Creator/MichaelCimino a large amount of control over production, his secretiveness (including flat-out not talking to UA when they came to visit), the not-easy-accessible choice of the area around Kalispell, Montana as the production base (the hotel that Cimino commandeered as his headquarters didn't have any phones for guests except a single pay phone in the lobby), and the inexperience of the fairly green UA production execs basically hobbled UA in trying to rein Cimino in, apart from winning a few minor scheduling and budget skirmishes. Attempts to meddle were discussed, as were the possibilities of suspending production, and even firing Cimino; in the book ''Final Cut'', Steven Bach devotes a chapter to a meeting with an anonymous "Famous Director", who Bach unsuccessfully tried to enlist to take over; after years and years of speculation, Creator/NormanJewison was later identified as the Famous Director. Ultimately the one successful major bit of meddling was getting Cimino to agree to trim the film from the original 5-hour cut he'd screened for the UA brass. When the original long cut got a bad reception from the audience and critics in its November 1980 New York premiere, Cimino asked the studio to withdraw the film so he could recut it. At this point UA could easily have said no and pressed on with their release plans, but they agreed, and he delivered a 2-and-half-hour recut, which didn't go over much better (Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'', who lambasted the original cut, compared the recut to a fat man who'd been a crash diet). The 3 hour-plus cut is the one that circulates today.
* ExtremelyLengthyCreation: Creator/MichaelCimino submitted the script in 1971, but the project was shelved when it failed to attract big-name talent. Production started in 1979, but wasn't completed for another year.
* FollowUpFailure: Coming off the Oscar-winning success of ''Film/TheDeerHunter'', it seemed Creator/MichaelCimino could do no wrong and was poised for another surefire hit. His next film is one of the standout examples of TroubledProduction, over-budgeting, and general practice of a director having too much control. Compared to the $34 million profit that ''The Deer Hunter'' made, ''Heaven's Gate'' turned in a box office ''loss of $40.5 million''-- it's largely responsible for the end of the New Hollywood era of films as a result of all this. A running joke around Hollywood was that Cimino had sold his soul for the success of The Deer Hunter, and this film was the devil coming to collect.

* TroubledProduction: Hoo boy. Creator/MichaelCimino took his recently-earned AuteurLicense to finally make this pet project of his, but his already excessive meticulousness added to fame going into his head made his EpicMovie also an epic clusterfuck that the press compared to a then-recent debacle by nicknaming it "[[Film/ApocalypseNow Apocalypse Next]]". Locations were distant, Cimino's perfectionism and countless retakes (the raw footage amounted 220 hours!) made the shoot five days behind schedule after just six days while ballooning while skyrocketing the costs. He demanded 50 takes of at least one scene, and refused to start shooting for another until a cloud he liked rolled across the sky. While on location, he ordered that a street set be dismantled and each side be moved six inches towards the other. The crew suggested that they take down just one side of it, and move it a foot towards the other side, because it was half the work for the exact same result. Cimino refused to listen and they had to do it the way he said. Post-production had Cimino changing the locks on the editing suite to ensure that he could cut the film his way, and even then, his original cut was ''325 minutes long'', with a threat of dismissal shortening to 219, and disastrous test screenings leading to a wide release of 149. And it still didn't impress reviewers or audiences, helping destroy Cimino's career and United Artists's 62-year existence as an independent studio.

* DoingItForTheArt: The production became a disaster thanks to Creator/MichaelCimino's adherence to this trope. For example, he demanded 50 takes of at least one scene, and refused to start shooting for another until a cloud he liked rolled across the sky. Sadly, in this case the attention to detail did not pay off. The film was extremely delayed, went badly overbudget, is one of the least profitable movies of all history, and more or less killed the UsefulNotes/NewHollywood era. On top of that, for decades after its release it was regarded as a critical failure; it's only in the past few years with the release of a new, much-improved cut that it's been critically re-evaluated.
** An example of how unreasonable Cimino's demands were: while on location, he ordered that a street set be dismantled and each side be moved six inches towards the other. The crew suggested that they take down just one side of it, and move it a foot towards the other side, because it was half the work for the exact same result. No, said Cimino, do it the way I said. No wonder they overran.

* TroubledProduction: Hoo boy. Creator/MichaelCimino took his recently-earned AuteurLicense to finally make this pet project of his, but his already excessive meticulousness added to [[PrimaDonnaDirector fame going into his head]] made his EpicMovie also an epic clusterfuck that the press compared to a then-recent debacle by nicknaming it "[[Film/ApocalypseNow Apocalypse Next]]". Locations were distant, Cimino's perfectionism (at a certain point, he ordered both sides of a city set to be torn down and rebuilt) and countless retakes (the raw footage amounted 220 hours!) made the shoot five days behind schedule after just six days while ballooning while skyrocketing the costs. Post-production had Cimino changing the locks on the editing suite to ensure that he could cut the film his way, and even then, his original cut was ''325 minutes long'', with a threat of dismissal shortening to 219, and disastrous test screenings leading to a wide release of 149. And it still didn't impress reviewers or audiences, helping destroy Cimino's career and United Artists's 62-year existence as an independent studio.

** Isabelle Huppert was cast in her first American film after achieving success in her native France and winning a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer for ''La Dentelliere''. Unfortunately, the film's failure derailed her chance of an international breakthrough. However, she has remained successful in France, holding the record as the most nominated actress for the César Award. She finally broke through to American audiences in 2016, with her Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated performance in Paul Verhoeven's ''Elle''.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Actually, this film is one of the more famous aversions. The combination of a contract that gave Creator/MichaelCimino a large amount of control over production, his secretiveness (including flat-out not talking to UA when they came to visit), the not-easy-accessible choice of the area around Kalispell, Montana as the production base (the hotel that Cimino commandeered as his headquarters didn't have any telephones apart from a single pay phone in the lobby), and the inexperience of the fairly green UA production execs basically hobbled UA in trying to rein Cimino in, apart from winning a few minor scheduling and budget skirmishes. Attempts to meddle were discussed, as were the possibilities of suspending production, and even firing Cimino; in the book ''Final Cut'', Steven Bach devotes a chapter to a meeting with an anonymous "Famous Director", who Bach unsuccessfully tried to enlist to take over; after years and years of speculation, Creator/NormanJewison was later identified as the Famous Director. Ultimately the one successful major bit of meddling was getting Cimino to agree to trim the film from the original 5-hour cut he'd screened for the UA brass. When the original long cut got a bad reception from the audience and critics in its November 1980 New York premiere, Cimino asked the studio to withdraw the film so he could recut it. At this point UA could easily have said no and pressed on with their release plans, but they agreed, and he delivered a 2-and-half-hour recut, which didn't go over much better (Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'', who lambasted the original cut, compared the recut to a fat man who'd been a crash diet). The 3 hour-plus cut is the one that circulates today.

* ExecutiveMeddling: Actually, this film is one of the more famous aversions. The combination of a contract that gave Creator/MichaelCimino a large amount of control over production, his secretiveness (including flat-out not talking to UA when they came to visit), the not-easy-accessible choice of the area around Kalispell, Montana as the production base (the hotel that Cimino commandeered as his headquarters didn't have any telephones apart from a single pay phone in the lobby), and the inexperience of the fairly green UA production execs basically hobbled UA in trying to rein Cimino in, apart from winning a few minor scheduling and budget skirmishes. Attempts to meddle were discussed, as were the possibilities of suspending production, and even firing Cimino; in the book ''Final Cut'', Steven Bach devotes a chapter to a meeting with an anonymous "Famous Director", who Bach unsuccessfully tried to enlist to take over; after years and years of speculation, Creator/NormanJewison was later identified as the Famous Director. Ultimately the one successful major bit of meddling was getting Cimino to agree to trim the film after he submitted a '''5 hour, 25 minute''' initial cut to them.[[note]]It's been speculated that Cimino pulled a BatmanGambit on UA, submitting an outrageously long cut so that his preferred three hour-plus runtime would look reasonable in comparison.[[/note]] The cut at the New York premiere was 3 hours, 45 minutes, and when it was poorly received by the audience and the critics, Cimino asked for the film to be withdrawn and recut. At this point UA could easily have said no and pressed on with their release plans, but they agreed, and he delivered a 2-and-half-hour recut, which didn't go over much better (Vincent Canby of the ''New York Times'', who lambasted the original cut, compared the recut to a fat man who'd been a crash diet). The 3 hour-plus cut is the one that circulates today.

* BoxOfficeBomb: As exorbitant as the price tag was, this wasn't actually the all-time most expensive film at the time of its release, as is commonly reported (''Film/SupermanTheMovie'' and ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' both had budgets just shy of $50 million, and ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' was nearly twice as expensive if you adjust for inflation. It wasn’t even the studio’s most expensive film - that was ‘’Film/{{Moonraker}}.’’). Unfortunately, it didn't make even a tenth of its budget back ($3 million against a $44 million budget), making it inarguably the biggest box-office bomb that Hollywood had seen up to that point.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The only successful instance was the studio brass forcing Cimino to trim the film from its initial runtime of just over '''five hours''' to around three hours, forty-five minutes for its one-week run in New York. When that engagement failed, Cimino asked for the film to be withdrawn and recut, and the resultant cut that played theaters in 1981 ran about '''two-and-a-half-hours''', and somehow managed to be far worse. (Today, the most frequently screened version is the three hour-plus cut.) All other attempts to enforce this trope were either considered, but later dropped, or rebuffed by Michael Cimino. The studio brass even contemplated the possibility of firing Cimino, and in the book ''Final Cut'', Steven Bach devotes a chapter to a meeting with an anonymous "Famous Director", who Bach tries to enlist as a replacement for Cimino, but he ultimately wanted nothing to do with what sounded like a complete mess, or helping to depose a fellow director from his dream project; after years and years of speculation, Creator/NormanJewison was later identified as the Famous Director.

** Music/JohnWilliams was the original composer attached to the film, but left the project when the film was half a year behind schedule and he had to start composing the music for both ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' immediately after that. One studio executive claimed that Music/EnnioMorricone was also considered.