History Trivia / HeavensGate

** Creator/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/The Empire Strikes Back and ''Film/Raiders of the Lost Ark'' immediately after that. One studio executive claimed that Creator/EnnioMorricone was also considered.

* ControlFreak[=/=]ThePerfectionist[=/=]PrimaDonnaDirector: '''Cimino'''. Stories were thrown around about him tearing down a model city because it didn't meet his specifics, refusing to shoot a scene until a cloud he liked rolled into frame and shooting over 1,000,000 feet of film. And those stories are considered ''scratching the surface''.

* [[DrugsAreBad Drugs Are Expensive]]: The use of cocaine was so prevalent among cast and crew that the film became nicknamed 'The Great Montana Snow Storm' in the film press. At least one critic attributes a significant part of the cost of the film to the sheer expense of the rampant drug abuse:
-->"People wonder how a movie like ''Heaven's Gate'' could cost forty million dollars. I'll tell you. Twenty million for the actual film, and another twenty million, you can bet, for all that cocaine for the cast and crew."
* 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 When that engagement failed, Cimino askef for the film to be withdrawn and recut, and the resultant cut that played theaters in 1981 ran about '''two-and-a-half-hours''', and somehow managed to be [[UpToEleven far worse]].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 did consider sacking Cimino and replace him with Norman Jewison (or even Creator/DavidLean, as hinted in the book ''Final Cut''). However, Jewison wanted nothing to do with the film, so that never happened.

* 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''.
* HeyItsThatGuy: This was the film debut of Willem Dafoe.
** [[Series/LawAndOrder Jack McCoy]] is leading the farmers into war.
** [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Wormtongue]] supports Averill in their attempt to drive the mercenaries back.
** [[Film/IronMan Ivan Vanko]] is the inexperienced friend of [[Film/TheProphecy Gabriel]]. This also is the 2nd movie Mickey Rourke stared in.
** [[Literature/NineteenEightyFour Winston Smith]] supervises the mercenaries despite him disagreeing with the plan to kill 125 civilians.
** Kris Kristofferson is the college friend of John Hurt and orchestrates the final - and much more successful - attack the civilians launch at the mercenaries.
** [[Film/TheBigLebowski The Dude]] is the best friend of the local sheriff.
** Although only a minor role, this was the debut for [[Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman Jake Slicker]] as well.
** The bearded member of the Stock Growers Association who calls the immigrants a "degraded gang of paupers" is played by rockabilly/country singer Ronnie Hawkins, whose [[Music/TheBand former backing band]] went on to some success.

* TroubledProduction: Originally budgeted at $11 million or so, events occurred that shot its budget up to around $35 million (although some claim it could be as high as ''$44 million!'') Adjusting for inflation, that's over $100 million. For example, after an entire set of a town's main street was built ''to his exact specifications'', Cimino decided that the street looked too narrow. He ordered the buildings on each side torn down and rebuilt three feet back from where they were, even after one crew member pointed out that it would be easier and cheaper to ''just tear one side down and rebuild it six feet back''. The cost of this decision alone? $550,000 and a massive toxic slick on a lake in Glacier National Park. You know that something's wrong when, after six days of filming, the project's ''five'' days behind schedule.

* GenreKiller: For the 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 until ''Film/{{Silverado}}'' and ''Film/YoungGuns''.

** In addition, the film is also blamed for damaging the perceived viability of TheWestern until ''Film/{{Silvarado}}'' and ''Film/YoungGuns''.

** In addition, the film is also blamed for damaging the perceived viability of TheWestern until ''Film/Silvarado'' 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/{{Superman}} Superman: The Movie]]'' and ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' both had budgets just shy of $50m, and ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' was nearly twice as expensive if you adjust for inflation). Unfortunately, it didn't make even a tenth of its budget back, making it inarguably the biggest box-office bomb that Hollywood had seen up to that point..

* ThePerfectionist/PrimaDonnaDirector: '''Cimino'''. Stories were thrown around about him tearing down a model city because it didn't meet his specifics, refusing to shoot a scene until a cloud he liked rolled into frame and shooting over 1,000,000 feet of film. And those stories are considered ''scratching the surface''

* ThePerfectionist/ControlFreak/PrimaDonnaDirector: '''Cimino'''. Stories were thrown around about him tearing down a model city because it didn't meet his specifics, refusing to shoot a scene until a cloud he liked rolled into frame and shooting over 1,000,000 feet of film. And those stories are considered ''scratching the surface''

* 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/{{Superman}} Superman: The Movie]]'' and ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' both had budgets just shy of $50m, and ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' was nearly twice as expensive if you adjust for inflation). Unfortunately, it didn't make even a tenth of its budget back, making it inarguably the biggest box-office bomb that Hollywood had seen up to that point.
* ControlFreak/PrimaDonnaDirector: '''Cimino'''. Stories were thrown around about him tearing down a model city because it didn't meet his specifics, refusing to shoot a scene until a cloud he liked rolled into frame and shooting over 1,000,000 feet of film. And those stories are considered ''scratching the surface''.

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* ControlFreak/ThePerfectionist/PrimaDonnaDirector: '''Cimino'''. Stories were thrown around about him tearing down a model city because it didn't meet his specifics, refusing to shoot a scene until a cloud he liked rolled into frame and shooting over 1,000,000 feet of film. And those stories are considered ''scratching the surface''.

-->"People wonder how a movie like Heaven's Gate could cost forty million dollars. I'll tell you. Twenty million for the actual film, and another twenty million, you can bet, for all that cocaine for the cast and crew."

** The studio brass did consider sacking Cimino and replace him with Norman Jewison (or even David Lean, as hinted in the book ''Final Cut''). However, Jewison wanted nothing to do with the film, so that never happened.

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

** Though as something of an exception, tensions reportedly weren't high on set at all and in fact a lot of people had good things to say about Cimino, some even commending him for his "artistic" efforts. Part of the problem however was that Cimino had closed sets off from the press. Eventually an undercover reporter wrote an article on how things were going having snuck in, choosing to paint a picture of chaos. Many consider the article a big TakeThat at Cimino that inevitably harmed the reputation of the film itself.

* BoxOfficeBomb: As exorbitant as the final $44m budget was, this wasn't actually the all-time most expensive film at the time of its release, as is commonly reported (''[[Film/{{Superman}} Superman: The Movie]]'' and ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' both had budgets just shy of $50m, and ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' was nearly twice as expensive if you adjust for inflation). Unfortunately, it didn't make even a tenth of its budget back, making it inarguably the biggest box-office bomb that Hollywood had seen until that point.

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** [[LordOfTheRings Wormtongue]] supports Averill in their attempt to drive the mercenaries back.
** [[IronMan Ivan Vanko]] is the inexperienced friend of [[Film/TheProphecy Gabriel]]. This also is the 2nd movie Mickey Rourke stared in.

** [[TheBigLebowski The Dude]] is the best friend of the local sheriff.

** Although only a minor role, this was the debut for [[Series/DrQuinnMedicineWoman Jake Slicker]] as well.

* BoxOfficeBomb: As exorbitant as the final $44m budget was, this wasn't actually the all-time most expensive film at the time of its release, as is commonly reported (''[[{{Film/Superman}} Superman: The Movie]]'' and ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' both had budgets just shy of $50m, and ''{{Film/Cleopatra}}'' was nearly twice as expensive if you adjust for inflation). Unfortunately, it didn't make even a tenth of its budget back, making it inarguably the biggest box-office bomb that Hollywood had seen until that point.

** [[NineteenEightyFour Winston Smith]] supervises the mercenaries despite him disagreeing with the plan to kill 125 civilians.

* BoxOfficeBomb: As exorbitant as the final $44m budget was, this wasn't actually the all-time most expensive film at the time of its release, as is commonly reported (''[[{{Film/Superman}} Superman: The Movie]]'' and ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture'' both had budgets just shy of $50m, and ''{{Film/Cleopatra}}'' was nearly twice as expensive if you adjust for inflation). Unfortunately, it didn't make even a tenth of its budget back, making it inarguably the biggest box-office bomb that Hollywood had seen until that point.

** [[IronMan Ivan Vanko]] is the inexperienced friend of [[TheProphecy Gabriel]]. This also is the 2nd movie Mickey Rourke stared in.