November 19th, 1980. Michael Cimino's controversial western epic Heaven's Gate was released to the masses. Prior to it's release, Heaven's Gate was garnering criticism and scorn from industry insiders, colleagues in the film industry and average Americans alike for the scandalous behind the scenes reports from it's production. Animals getting mauled and killed, 10+ hour work days for every minute of celluloid shot, constant fights and firing on set, interstate prop transportation and exhausting shooting schedules plastered the pages of Variety, LA Times and every news outlet across the United States. Cimino seemingly had production company United Artists by the balls and if his magnum opus didn't rake in double it's $44 million dollar budget (which adjusted for inflation would be closer to $120 million in todays money), his career would be finished. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate would not only become one of the highest profile box office bombs in film history, but would take United Artist as a company, tarnish his legacy and would be blamed for being the final death nail in the "New Hollywood" coffin. But was the hate warranted? That... is debatable.
On the first of a TWO PART deep dive into Michael Cimino's underappreciated western, Liam is joined by THE MATTS (returning guest Matt Larue and newcomer Matthew Komar) to analyze the tragic tale of Heaven's Gate. For part one, the gang gets into United Artist's history as a studio, Michael Cimino's early career, the betrayal and backstabbing from Cimino to UA, the countless animal cruelty cases on set, "Camp Cimino" and everything in and around Heaven's Gate's production. We also talk about the movie of course, it's shortcomings, "vibe filmmaking" and the negative consequences to auteur filmmaking. Sit back cause it's gonna be a long one.
GUESTS SOCIALS: @pesoeyes , @brzeczyszczykiewiczzz
FOLLOW US @bombedcast on IG for updates on new episodes, clips and some extra fun stuff.