Editing Heaven's Gate (film) (section)

===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>