Editing Heaven's Gate (film) (section)

==Production==
===Historical basis===
The basic plot elements of the film were inspired by Wyoming's 1892 [[Johnson County War]], the archetypal cattlemen–homesteaders conflict, which also served as the background for ''[[Shane (film)|Shane]]'' and ''[[The Virginian (1946 film)|The Virginian]]''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofweste0000hyam/page/115|last=Hyams|first=Jay|title=The Life and Times of the Western Movie|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster#Imprints|Gallery Books]]|location=[[New York City]]|year=1984|isbn=978-0831755454|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofweste0000hyam/page/115 115–116]|edition=1st}}</ref> Most of the film's principal characters bear the names of figures in the war but the events portrayed in ''Heaven's Gate'' bear little resemblance to historical events.<ref name="Davis, John W. 2010">Davis, John W. (2010). ''Wyoming Range War: The Infamous Invasion of Johnson County''. Norman, Oklahoma: [[University of Oklahoma Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-4106-0}}.</ref>

====Inaccuracies====
Homesteaders began to settle northern Wyoming in the 1890s, claiming land under the [[Homestead Acts]], but there were no hordes of starving European immigrants killing rich men's cattle to feed their families, as depicted in the film.<ref>Larson, T.A. (1990). ''History of Wyoming''. Lincoln, Nebraska: [[University of Nebraska Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8032-7936-0}}.</ref> [[Nate Champion]] is portrayed as a murderer and "enforcer" for the stockmen, but he was a popular small rancher in [[Johnson County, Wyoming|Johnson County]], nicknamed "king of the rustlers" by the stockmen because he resisted their tactic of claiming all [[Maverick (animal)|unbranded young cattle]] as their own.<ref name="Davis, John W. 2010"/>

[[Ellen Watson#Life with Averell|Jim Averell]] was another homesteader who lived about {{convert|100|mi|km}} southwest of Johnson County. Two years before the invasion began, he and his wife Ellen Watson were murdered by stockmen, who falsely accused Watson of exchanging sexual favors for stolen cattle.<ref>{{cite web |access-date=April 5, 2015 |url=http://www.jcs-group.com/oldwest/women/averill.html |title=Jim Averill & Ella Watson (Cattle Kate) |publisher=The Spell of the West |archive-date=April 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150411110749/http://www.jcs-group.com/oldwest/women/averill.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> There is no evidence that Watson was a bordello madam, as portrayed in the film, nor that Watson or Averell ever knew Nate Champion.<ref name="Davis, John W. 2010"/>

===Screenplay===
In 1971, film director [[Michael Cimino]] submitted an original script for ''Heaven's Gate'' (then called ''The Johnson County War''), but the project was shelved when it failed to attract big-name talent, including [[John Wayne]], who turned down the lead role.<ref name=talent>{{cite news|last=Robey|first=Tim|title=Heaven's Gate: the bomb that almost destroyed Hollywood|date=July 19, 2013|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/classic-movies/10131915/Heavens-Gate-the-bomb-that-almost-destroyed-Hollywood.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/classic-movies/10131915/Heavens-Gate-the-bomb-that-almost-destroyed-Hollywood.html |archive-date=January 12, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=January 29, 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://theplaylist.net/john-williams-turned-down-scoring-heavens-gate-more-learned-from-the-criterion-edition-of-michael-ciminos-cult-film-20121129 | title=John Williams Turned Down Scoring 'Heaven's Gate' & More Learned from the Criterion Edition of Michael Cimino's Cult Film | date=November 29, 2012 }}</ref> A third version of the script was submitted to [[20th Century Studios|20th Century Fox]] before the release of ''[[The Deer Hunter]]''.{{sfn|Medved|Medved|1984|p=172}} His directorial debut, ''[[Thunderbolt and Lightfoot]]'' (1974), was a hit. In 1979, on the eve of winning two Academy Awards ([[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] and [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]]) for 1978's ''The Deer Hunter'', Cimino convinced [[United Artists]] (UA) to resurrect the ''Heaven's Gate'' project with [[Kris Kristofferson]], [[Isabelle Huppert]], and [[Christopher Walken]] as the main characters. He was given an initial budget of $11.6 million,<ref>{{cite news|last=Burr|first=Ty|title=Ty Burr revisits 'Heaven's Gate'|date=November 24, 2012|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/11/24/burr-revisits-heaven-gate/km6gp1cBbxY75qxWrFs6tM/story.html|access-date=January 31, 2015|archive-date=December 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208124051/https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2012/11/24/burr-revisits-heaven-gate/km6gp1cBbxY75qxWrFs6tM/story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> but was also provided with [[blank cheque|carte blanche]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Matthews|first=Christopher|title=The Top 10 Biggest Money-Losing Movies of All Time|date=March 20, 2012|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=https://business.time.com/2012/03/21/the-top-ten-biggest-money-losing-movies-of-all-time/slide/heavens-gate/|access-date=January 31, 2015}}</ref> Cimino's girlfriend, Joann Carelli, was hired to produce the film.{{sfn|Medved|Medved|1984|p=172}}

===Filming===
Cimino and his friends searched through 20,000 miles of land for scenery for the film.{{sfn|Medved|Medved|1984|p=175}} [[Principal photography]] began on April 16, 1979,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/finalcutartmoney00bach|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/finalcutartmoney00bach/page/6 6]|quote=heaven's gate april 16 1979.|isbn=9781557043740|title=Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film that Sank United Artists|year=1999|publisher=Newmarket Press|last=Bach|first=Steven}}</ref> in [[Glacier National Park (U.S.)|Glacier National Park]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Janiskee|first=Bob|title=Was "Heaven's Gate" the Worst Movie Ever Filmed in a National Park?|date=September 1, 2009|url=http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2009/09/was-%E2%80%9Cheaven%E2%80%99s-gate%E2%80%9D-worst-movie-ever-filmed-national-park4467|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref> east of [[Kalispell, Montana]], with the majority of the town scenes filmed in the [[Two Medicine]] area, north of the village of East Glacier Park.<ref name=idaho>{{cite news|last=Gapay|first=Les|title='Heaven's Gate' swings open|date=December 16, 1979|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=February 2, 2015|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1979/12/16/#page/204/article/movies}}</ref> Shooting also included the town of [[Wallace, Idaho]].<ref name=idaho/> Harvard University refused to allow the film to be shot there, reportedly because of Cimino's excessive demands for the film set, and the film's prologue was instead shot at the [[University of Oxford]].<ref name="oxford">{{cite web |title=Heaven's Gate |url=http://hertford.ox.ac.uk/news/heavens-gate-flashbackfriday |website=Hertford College, University of Oxford |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=20 January 2022 |archive-date=January 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220116131434/https://www.hertford.ox.ac.uk/news/heavens-gate-flashbackfriday |url-status=dead }}</ref> The project had a December 14 projected release date<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/finalcutartmoney00bach|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/finalcutartmoney00bach/page/202 202]|quote=heaven's gate December 14, 1979.|isbn=9781557043740|title=Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film that Sank United Artists|year=1999|publisher=Newmarket Press|last=Bach|first=Steven}}</ref> and $11.6 million budget, and promptly fell behind schedule.<ref>{{cite news|last=Thomas|first=Bob|title=Will 'Heaven's Gate' ever finish?|date=September 19, 1979|newspaper=[[The Spokesman-Review]]|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1314&dat=19790919&id=5QEkAAAAIBAJ&pg=7116,2526636|access-date=February 2, 2015}}</ref>

===Production issues===
According to legend, by the sixth day of filming the project was already five days behind schedule.<ref name=talent/>

====Cimino demands perfection====
Kristofferson compared Cimino to [[Ingmar Bergman]] and [[Federico Fellini]]. [[Steven Bach]] compared him to [[Michelangelo]] and said that "I am confident we'll make our money back on it".{{sfn|Medved|Medved|1984|p=178}} As an example of Cimino's fanatical attention to detail, a street built to his precise specifications had to be torn down and rebuilt because it reportedly "didn't look right." The street in question needed to be {{convert|6|ft}} wider; the set construction boss said it would be cheaper to tear down one side and move it back six feet, but Cimino insisted that both sides be dismantled and moved back {{convert|3|ft}}, then reassembled.<ref>{{cite book |via=Google Books |page=117 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtpchcpwUioC&q=heavens+gate+street+rebuilt+it+didn%27t+look+right&pg=PA117 |isbn=9781402736742 |title=Movie Idols |year=2006 |publisher=[[Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.]] |last2=Wrathall |first2=John |last1=Molloy |first1=Mick |access-date=6 May 2024}}</ref> An entire tree was cut down, moved in pieces, and relocated to the courtyard in [[Oxford, England]] where the Harvard 1870 graduation scene was shot.<ref>{{cite web |last=Cochrane |first=John |title=A Hollywood Elegy: Revisiting Heaven's Gate |date=May 21, 2013 |url=http://www.charlotteviewpoint.org/article/3053/A-Hollywood-Elegy-Revisiting-Heaven%27s-Gate |access-date=February 10, 2015}}</ref> Cimino had an irrigation system built under the land where the major battlefield scene would unfold so that it would remain vividly green, to contrast with the red color.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/movies/michael-ciminos-heavens-gate-returns-to-film-forum.html |last=Dargis |first=Manohla |author-link=Manohla Dargis |title=The Second Coming of 'Heaven's Gate' |newspaper=The New York Times |date=15 March 2013 |access-date=6 May 2024}}</ref>

Cimino shot more than 1.3 million feet (400,000 metres; nearly 220 hours) of footage, costing the studio approximately $200,000 per day in salary (equivalent to $720,000 in 2022), locations and acting fees.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/newpotofgold00step |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/newpotofgold00step/page/35 35] |quote=Michael Cimino shot more than 1.3 million feet. |title=A New Pot of Gold: Hollywood Under the Electronic Rainbow, 1980-1989 |last=Prince |first=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Prince |year=2002 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |series=History of the American Cinema |volume=10 |isbn=9780520232662 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Privately, it was joked that Cimino wished to surpass [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s mark of shooting one million feet of footage for ''[[Apocalypse Now]]'' (1979).<ref name=talent/>

Cimino's obsessive behavior soon earned him the nickname "The [[Ayatolla]]h". Production fell behind schedule as rumors spread of Cimino's demanding up to 50 takes of individual scenes and delaying filming until a cloud that he liked rolled into the frame.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2012/03/20/The-15-Biggest-Box-Office-Bombs.html?slide=9 |title=The 15 Biggest Box Office Bombs -> ''Heaven's Gate'' #8 |work= [[CNBC]] |access-date=October 12, 2010}}</ref> As a result of the delays, several musicians originally brought to Montana to work on the film for only three weeks ended up stranded, waiting to be called for shoots to materialize. The experience, as the [[Associated Press]] put it, "was both stunningly boring and a raucous good time, full of [[jam session]]s, strange adventures and curiously little actual shooting." The jam sessions served as the beginning of numerous musical collaborations between Bridges and Kristofferson.<ref>{{cite web |last=D'Ambrosio |first=Brian |title=Bridges talks about Montana in advance of Missoula show |url=http://lastbestnews.com/site/2016/03/bridges-talks-about-montana-in-advance-of-missoula-show/ |website=Last Best News |access-date=May 28, 2017}}</ref> [[John Williams]] turned down the chance to compose the score for the film, which eventually went to David Mansfield.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theplaylist.net/john-williams-turned-down-scoring-heavens-gate-more-learned-from-the-criterion-edition-of-michael-ciminos-cult-film-20121129 |title=John Williams Turned Down Scoring 'Heaven's Gate' & More Learned from the Criterion Edition of Michael Cimino's Cult Film|date=November 29, 2012 }}</ref>

As production staggered forward, United Artists seriously considered firing Cimino and replacing him with another director, implied in the book ''Final Cut'' to be [[Norman Jewison]].<ref name = BachFinalCut />

Actor [[John Hurt]] reportedly spent so long waiting around on the production for something to do that he went off and made ''[[The Elephant Man (1980 film)|The Elephant Man]]'' (1980) for [[David Lynch]] in the interim, and then came back to shoot more scenes on ''Heaven's Gate''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Lambie |first=Ryan |title=10 stories of excess from the production of Heaven's Gate |date=March 27, 2014 |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/heavens-gate/29865/10-stories-of-excess-from-the-production-of-heavens-gate}}</ref>

====Filming completes====
''Heaven's Gate'' finished shooting in March 1980, having cost nearly $30 million.<ref name=million>{{cite news|last=Dargis|first=Manohla|title=The Second Coming of 'Heaven's Gate'|date=March 15, 2013|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/movies/michael-ciminos-heavens-gate-returns-to-film-forum.html|access-date=February 12, 2015}}</ref> Reportedly, during post-production Cimino changed the lock to the studio's editing room, prohibiting executives from seeing the film until he completed his cut, although Cimino disputed this story.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Abramovitch|first1=Seth|title='Deer Hunter' Director's First Interview in 13 Years: Michael Cimino Touts Clint Eastwood for President, Blasts Rumors He's Becoming a Woman|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/deer-hunter-directors-first-interview-773132|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|date=February 19, 2015|access-date=May 28, 2017}}</ref> Working with Oscar-winning editor [[William Reynolds (film editor)|William H. Reynolds]], Cimino worked doggedly over his project.<ref name=slave>{{cite web|last=Mentel|first=Thomas|title=7 Craziest Film Productions of All Time|date=February 17, 2015|url=http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/7-craziest-film-productions-of-all-time.html/?a=viewall|access-date=February 12, 2015|archive-date=February 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213020452/http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/7-craziest-film-productions-of-all-time.html/?a=viewall|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Post-production===
On June 26, 1980, Cimino previewed a [[workprint]] for executives at United Artists that reportedly ran five hours and twenty-five minutes (325 minutes), which Cimino said was "about 15 minutes longer than the final cut would be."<ref name="BachFinalCut">{{cite book|last=Bach|first=Steven|title=Final Cut: Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists|url=https://archive.org/details/finalcutartmoney00bach|url-access=registration|orig-year=1985|year=1999|publisher=Newmarket Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=9781557043740|edition=New}}</ref>

The executives flatly refused to release the film at that length and once again contemplated firing Cimino.<ref name = BachFinalCut/> However, Cimino promised them he could re-edit the film and spent the entire summer and fall of 1980 doing so, finally paring it down to its original premiere length of three hours and 39 minutes (219 minutes). The original wide-release opening on Christmas of 1979 had come and gone, so UA and Cimino finally set up a release date of November 1980.<ref name=million/>