It’s not often that a film gets the kind of renaissance that the late Michael Cimino‘s “Heaven’s Gate” had. The director, who passed away earlier this month, found late career appreciation for the film that bankrupted a studio, spent decades as the ultimate example directorial hubris gone awry, and more or less tarnished Cimino’s reputation for the rest of his years in the business. However, when the decision was made to finally give his director’s cut a proper polish and a new run on the big screen, the critical consensus on the movie shifted. No longer was “Heaven’s Gate” perceived as a trainwreck, but rather, an ambitious picture that was misunderstood in its time, and had plenty of merit to stand on its own.
The Criterion Collection helped play a part in this new evaluation for the movie, issuing Cimino’s vision on home video, but as the director revealed in a talk at the 2012 New York Film Festival, it took him a full decade to agree to look at “Heaven’s Gate” again.
“So when [producer] Joann [Carelli] approached me, and Peter Becker from Criterion, my first response was ‘No way.’ There’s no way I’m revisiting all that. It’s too much, I just couldn’t. I didn’t think I could handle it emotionally. [The thought of it] was like revisiting Golgatha,” he explained.
“Joann and Peter together, persisted for 10 years. 10 whole years over these last 30 years to get permission from MGM to finally allow [the re-release/restoration] to happen,” he added. “Joann has a way of making you say yes while you’re saying saying no.”
As you’ll hear at the beginning of the talk, Cimino was deeply moved by the positive response to the film, and it’s touching that the director got to see “Heaven’s Gate” praised before his death. But Kris Kristofferson perhaps has the most philosophical perspective on it all: “It was catastrophe for both our careers. We both ended up in the dust. But it was worth it.”
Listen to the full, fascinating talk below.