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Cimino's Unrealized Projects

posted 3 months ago by VHSGuy123 (48)
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Conquering Horse- Based on the Novel on the same name, it tells the mystic story about Indian life on the Great Plains before the arrival of white people in that region. Michael Cimino tried to make this project since the 70s, and at first it was in development with Universal in 1970, but it was shelved because of budget issues and also the fact that Cimino wanted to shoot it in black and white and used authentic Sioux Dialogue with subtitles.

The Project would then resurface in the late 1970s early 1980s,when Cimino received a two picture deal from Untied Artists. He made a deal that if Heaven’s Gate was hit, he would make Conquering Horse. However, because of the legendary bomb that was Heaven’s Gate, the film was never made.

In the mid-90s, Oliver Stone attracted the attention of producer Mario Kassar, who had produced The Doors for Stone, to help fund Cimino's ambitious Conquering Horse project. However, as Stone recalled, "He [Cimino] was too difficult to deal with. He was arrogant, and I don't know that he ever gave it up. He never could eat humble pie or didn't seem to.

Frank Costello Biopic- After the success of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Cimino tired to get 2 projects off the ground at 20th Century Fox, One of them was a Frank Costello Biopic. After meeting with James Toback, the two began work on The Life and Dreams of Frank Costello, a biopic chronicling four decades of the life of Mafia boss Frank Costello, Cimino saw the mobster as Gatsby; to him, he had a vision of America."We got a good screenplay together," said Cimino.

However the project fell through as Cimino states, “but again, the studio, 20th Century Fox in this case, was going through management changes and the script was put aside." Cimino added, "Costello took a long time because Costello himself had a long, interesting life. The selection of things to film was quite hard”

Later In 1981, he once again tried to get his Frank Costello Biopic off the ground, rewriting the script and calling it Proud Dreamer and tried to get CBS Films to finance the film and tried to get Robert De Niro to played Frank Costello. However, CBS Films declined to finance the film, citing budget concerns.

Pearl- Around the same time as the Costello Biopic, The other film Cimino tried to make with 20th Century Fox was Pearl. Pearl was based on an unpublished book he wrote,was to be a musical biopic about singer-songwriterJanis Joplin. Cimino conceived the film's story with producer Marvin Worth and collaborated on the script in association with Oscar-winning screenwriter Bo Goldman. Ultimately, Cimino version was not made and the script was rewritten titled The Rose which was released in 1979.

The Fountainhead- The Fountainhead was a passion project for Cimino. Because of the success of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Cimino landed a deal at United Artists o write and direct The Fountainhead, based on Ayn Rand’s novel about an architect who refuses to compromise, which he had loved for years He sent his script to Elliott Kastner, who was going to produce and his first choice to play the character of Howard Rourk was Clint Eastwood

Taking its cue from more than the novel, Cimino's modern-day adaptation was largely modeled off of architect Jorn Utzon's troubled building of the Sydney Opera House as well as the construction of the Empire State Plaza "Making it a contemporary story meant that there was a lot of new work that had to be done [in adapting]," he said. According to Cimino, Eastwood turned the film down over concerns of being compared to his idol Gary Cooper, who had played the same character in the 1949 Film Adaptation Over the years he continued to try to get it made, approaching different funding sources with copies of the script and each time rewriting it in the process. During 1979, after the success of The Deer Hunter, Cimino tried to convince United Artists to fund the Fountainhead, but they were disinterest, so Cimino decided to make Heaven’s Gate.

Crime And Punishment- Between Thunderbolt and Lightfoot and The Deer Hunter, Cimino tried to write an Adaptation on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime And Punishment.

Head Of The Dragon- Cimino tried to make this film with Paramount. was set in a "mythical South American country" and revolved around a polo-playing WASP who springs a Mafia killer from jail in order to assassinate a rebel leader. The project was described as Cimino's desperate attempt to come up with something commercial that might stand a chance at being made. With location scouting and pre-production work already three weeks in, the film was canceled, due to issues Paramount was having with their other big production, Sorcerer, which was being shot in the same country

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

Perfect Strangers- In 1977, Cimino tried to make Perfect Strangers with Paramount Pictures. Cimino described the film as a political love story that bore "some resemblance to Casablanca, involving the romantic relationship between Three People.” The film was sold to the studio as "a romantic Z" and was to star Roy Scheider, Romy Schneider, and Oskar Werner in the lead roles. Cimino stated, "We'd already shot two weeks of pre-production stuff, but because of various political machinations at the studio, the project fell through. This was just before David Picker left. He was the producer. There were internal difficulties, that's all. Nevertheless, I'd spent a year and a half of my life on something. It had been a difficult time. My father passed away while I was writing the screenplay. I kept working..."

Midnight Express- In the late 1970s, Cimino passed up an offer to direct Midnight Express

Live On Tape/Nitty Gritty- Following Heaven's Gate, Joann Carelli quickly landed him a picture deal at CBS Theatrical Films to direct Nitty Gritty, described by The New York Times as "a black comedy about news reporting". The film was scheduled to be released in 1982, alongside a slate of films which including Table for Five, however, Cimino's never went into production, just as with several of the other reported projects. It was later listed as a lost project of Cimino's by the Los Angeles Times, who reported that it had been retitled Live on Tape prior to being dropped by CBS.

Reel to Reel- In 1983, Cimino was to direct this unmade film with the help of Steven Spielberg and Gary David Goldberg.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

The King Of Comedy- Cimino had been attached as the director of The King Of Comedy, which he withdrew from when Heaven's Gate was green lit, but vowed to return to once production ended. The film was first reported in 1979 as a Joann Carelli production, with Buck Henry making revisions to the script. However, by 1981, Martin Scorsese had already entered negotiations to direct According to Cimino, in his version he would have cast Andy Kaufman in the lead role as Rupert Pupkin. "I shot videotape of Andy for weeks," he said His version was to have also starred Meryl Streep and Orson Welles

Fyodor Dostoevsky Biopic- In early September 1982, Cimino approached short story writer Raymond Carver and his wife Tess Gallagher (both fans of Heaven's Gate) to rework a screenplay based on the life of Fyodor Dostevsky, in hopes that he would direct it According to Carver, Cimino presented him an existing screenplay commissioned by the veteran Italian film producer Carlo Ponti. The first draft had been written by Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and then translated to English by two Italian writers. Heavily researched, and taking Dostoevsky's near-execution as the film's focal point, Carver and Gallagher opted to rewrite the entire script, delivering a 220-page draft to Cimino in November. Cimino was impressed with the results, but Ponti returned to Europe shortly thereafter, halting further development.

Footloose- After being unable to finalize a deal with Herbert Ross. Paramount offered the picture to Cimino, which he accepted. Producer Daniel Melnick warned him that if the film went over its budget of $7.5 million, Cimino would have to cover the expenses himself and he agreed. Cimino's proposed reimagination of the film, "a John Steinbeck inspired musical-comedy", set during the Great Depression, was to have followed a rich girl from Houston who falls in love with a dancer from a shanty town.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

Working from Dean Pitchford's original script, Cimino was at the helm of the film for several months, making more and more extravagant demands in terms of set construction and overall production. Just when the film was to begin shooting, he asked Melnick to let him rewrite the screenplay for an additional $250,000 and to delay the start date, Melnick fired him, and Hebert Ross was hired. according to Melnick, "It might have been a good film [if Cimino had directed], but it wasn't the film we wanted to make. It wasn't the film we came to the party with.”Craig Zadan, one of the film's producers, also stated, "Cimino wanted to make a darker film. We wanted to make entertainment.”

The Bounty- Michael Cimino was one of many directors considered to direct The Bounty.

The Pope Of Greenwich Village- After Ronald F. Maxwell was dismissed as director, Michael Cimino was brought up as a possible replacement. Cimino wanted to finesse its screenplay with some rewriting and restructuring, which would have taken beyond the mandated start date for shooting. Instead, as a favor to the producers who were on a deadline, Cimino generously went over his extraordinarily copious notes written on the script with the new director they hired, Stuart Rosenberg. According to MGM president Freddie Fields, Cimino's contributions to the film were invaluable; "He's been a terrific consultant."

The Yellow Jersey- In 1984, One Of Many Cimino’s Longtime projects that he tried to make was going into production, The film was The Yellow Jersey, based upon a novel by Ralph Hurne about an aging, woman-chasing professional cyclist who nearly wins the Tour de France. The rights had been optioned back in 1973 by film producer Gary Mehlman, who then made a development deal with Columbia Pictures. In 1975, Cimino had been brought on board to direct the film and visited the Tour for the first time, for research.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

Over the next decade, the film generated expenses of nearly $2 million, and been in development with four studios and several independent production companies. Then, when Dustin Hoffman indicated an interest in starring in it, Mehlman took it back to Columbia in 1983. With Hoffman coming off the success of Columbia'sTootsie, "the film would have gone [into production] the moment he was ready," said Mehlman. By then, Colin Welland and Carl Foreman were brought aboard as a scriptwriters, as well as Danish filmmaker Jorgen Leth (who had made the 1976 bicycle-racing documentary A Sunday In Hell, as Hoffman's research adviser. Cimino said that production was long controlled by Foreman, who died in June 1984.

The following month, Mehlman, Leth, Cimino, Welland and Hoffman went to France for the Tour, for yet more research. Shooting with the Tour de France was initially scheduled for 1980 and nearly every year since. Welland was still working on the script and hoped to have a draft by October of that year. It has been rumored that Hoffman fired Cimino from the production, although multiple sources claim that the deal simply "fell apart with Cimino". After he exited, none of the replacement directors that Mehlman or the studio suggested were satisfactory to Hoffman, so he too left and the film continued to sink further into development hell.

Atlas Shrugged- In 1985, The Los Angeles Times reported that Michael Cimino was interesting in adapting Atlas Shrugged. Like The Fountainhead, This was one of Cimino’s passion projects.

Purple Lake- Purple Lake the second collaboration Cimino did with Raymon Carver in hopes for it to be made into a film. Purple Lake was a contemporary Western about juvenile delinquents who return to society after serving time in prison. Ultimately, the script wasn’t made into a film.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

Handcarved Coffins- In 1985-86, Producer Dino De Laurentis offered Cimino the chance to direct the Truman Capote novella, Handcarved Coffins. Cimino turned down the offer.

Michael Collins Biopic- In 1987, ino began work on an epic saga chronicling the life of the Irish patriot Michael Collins, based on a screenplay by Eoghan Harris. After disagreements with Harris over Collins as a character, his draft was heavily rewritten by Cimino with the assistance of Robert Bolt, which the two developed in London. Their script, now titled Blest Souls, was described by the Los Angeles Times as "a love story set against the backdrop of the Irish Rebellion and would have starred Gabriel Bryne in the lead role as Collins. Joann Carelli assisted with casting for the project; finding Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton to co-star.

To inspire the mood of the film, Cimino spent countless hours reading the work of Irish poet W.B Yeats. He also began scouting for locations in Edinburgh, Liverpool, and in Ireland While there, he and his team of production managers sought permission from the Irish Parliamentary Party to use their army for the production, which they got Bono and Bob Geldof were also signed on to compose the music. The film was backed by Nelson Entertainment and would have re-teamed Cimino with his Deer Hunter co-producer Barry Spikings, David Puttnam of Columbia Pictures reportedly gave Cimino the green light to begin shooting, however due to the corporate meddling of Coca-Cola who wanted to go for something decidedly more mainstream, he would be forced to compromise his vision for the film. Instead, Cimino quit.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

Santa Ana Wind- Less than 3 Weeks after The Michael Collins Biopic was canceled, Cimino started pre-production work on Santa Ana Wind, a contemporary romantic drama set in L.A. offered to him by Barry Spikings. Budgeted at roughly $15 million, the set start date for shooting was early December 1987. The screenplay was written by Floyd Mutrux and the film was to be bankrolled again by Nelson Entertainment.

Cimino's representative added that the film was "about the San Fernando Valley and the friendship between two guys" and "more intimate" than Cimino's previous big-budget work like Heaven's Gate and the then unreleased The Sicilian. However, Nelson Holdings International Ltd. canceled the project after disclosing that its banks, including Security Pacific National Bank had reduced the company's borrowing power after Nelson failed to meet certain financial requirements in its loan agreements. A spokesman for Nelson said the cancellation occurred "in the normal course of business," but declined to elaborate. The film, also intended for distribution by Columbia, did not feature any major stars..

Born On The Fourth Of July- Sometime in the 1980s, Cimino met with Olvier Stone again and he was given the script to Born On The Fourth Of July. Cimino was eager to make the film, going so far as to offer to work for nothing, even attracting Al Pacino for the role of Ron Kovic. However, The Producers declined Cimino to direct the film.

Legs- In the mid 1980s, Cimino attempted to direct a film based on the William Kennedy Novel of the same name. It would of starred Mickey Rourke as the Gangster, Legs Diamond.

Porgy & Bess- One of his goals since arriving in Hollywood was to make a musical. One dream project was a musical inspired by "Porgy and Bess". Not a straight adaptation, it would have been a romance about a black gospel singer and a white Juilliard pianist, as they struggle to mount a production of the opera."

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

The Godfather Part III: Michael Cimino was, at one point, considered to helm The Godfather: Part III.

The Dreaming Place- In 1997, Cimino was reported to direct The Dreaming Place forTrimark Pictures. Originally titled Law of the Jungle, Variety reported that the film, which was in the early stages of development, was to be a male vigilante story along the lines of Paramount's Eye for an Eye, Robert Patrick Vaccaro wrote the screenplay under the supervision of Cimino, and Jonathon Komack Martin was to executive produce the film. The planned budget was not revealed, however, it was Trimark's attempt to make a bigger-budgeted film than usual which is ultimately why it was never produced

Brasil 1500- As early as 1997, Cimino was attached as the director of a film called Brasil 1500, planned to debut in the United States under the title Gonçalo, after the main character. Variety magazine incorrectly referred to the film's title as 1500. This Brazilian-American co-production intended to portray the events of what happened in Santa Cruz Cabralia on April 21, 1500 - the official date of the arrival of Pedro Alveres Cabral's flagship.

Written by first-time Brazilian scribe Fábio Fonseca, the film was to have been told through the eyes of a fictional character (similarly to Titanic), named Gonçalo, a Portuguese sailor from Cabral's fleet. Antonio Banderas was eyed as a possible star, with a supporting cast planned to be composed largely of Brazilian natives. Cimino and producer Ilya Salkind were also interested in casting several British actors for the project, chief among them being Paul Scofield. A budget of $35 million was estimated, with principal photography initially set for January and February 1998.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

Filming was then pushed back to early 1999, for a planned release in 2000, coinciding with the 500th anniversary of the discovery of brazil. That year, Cimino was in Brazil to choose sets and scout locations, which included Porto Seguro and Portugal. For research, he read the famous epic poem Os Lusiadas, about the discovery of a sea route to India Speaking at a press conference in Lisbon, Cimino said that unlike the films made about Christopher Columbus' discovery of the Americas, this film would follow a young man as its protagonist, "in a story very similar to that of Lawerence Of Arabia," he said, He also claimed that an exact replica of Cabral's flagship had been constructed for the production. The film was not made due to producers Ilya Salkind and Jane Chaplin's failure to secure a deal with an international investor.

Man’s Fate- In September 2001, it was reported that Cimino would return to the director's chair to make Man's Fate, a 3-hour epic set against the backdrop of the Chinese Revolution. Based on French author Andre Malraux’s 1933 novel, the film, as described by Cimino, was to have depicted "the deep, emotional bonds that develop between several Europeans living in Shanghai during the tragic turmoil that characterized the onset of China's Communist regime."

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

The roughly $25 million project was to have been shot wholly on location in Shanghai in June of the following year and would have benefited from the support of China's government, which said it would provide $2 million worth of local labor costs. The film's producer, Mirko Ikonomoff was in early talks to pre-sell Man's Fate to several European groups, including Italy's RAI and France's TFI, but failed in his attempts. Actors Johnny Depp, Daniel Day Lewis, Uma Thurman, John Malkovich, and Alain Delon were all in negotiations as possible stars for the project. After failing to raise money elsewhere, Cimino took his script to Martha De Laurentis who passed on it. "If you edit it down, it could be a very tight, beautiful, sensational movie," De Laurentiis said, "but violent, and ultimately a subject matter that I don't think America is that interested in."

Cimino however, felt differently, "There was never a better time to try to do Man's Fate," he said, "because Man's Fate is what it's all about right now. It's about the nature of love, of friendship, the nature of honor and dignity. How fragile and important all of those things are in a time of crisis.” In a March 2002 interview for Vanity Fair, Cimino called the screenplay "the best one I've ever done," adding that he had "half the money; [we're] trying to raise the other half.” Up until his death, Cimino tried to get the film off the ground several times, struggling to secure financing. In what would be his last interview in March 2015, Cimino had said he still hoped to make the film someday.

Che Guevara Biopic- After Terrence Malick Exited the Production, Cimino pitched himself to direct it. Eventually, Steven Soderbergh eventually directed the Biopic.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

Cream Rises- In the early 2010s, French film producer Vincent Maraval worked on various projects with Cimino, none of which came to fruition. One film, an original screenplay by Cimino himself titled Cream Rises, followed the daily lives of two young female models, (whom Maraval compared to Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie) who are "completely disconnected from reality" and live a hedonistic life in Los Angeles filled with empty sex and boozing. Cimino wanted Taylor Swift to play one of leads, but since she was unknown at the time, Maraval passed on it.

Halfway through the film, the more timid of the two girls is murdered and the other heads to the countryside to find her uncle, "An old cowboy farmer with very Western values", whom Christopher Walken was to embody. "It was something very contemporary," Maraval explained, "About the world of today and its confrontation with the world of yesterday. As if the cinema of Cimino looked at the cinema of today. It was very moving.” The script for Cream Rises was also read by the TV channel Arte, who were apparently "enthusiastic" about possibly investing.

[–] CaptBeefBlower (242) 3 months ago

Thanks, very interesting. I've always been a big fan of Cimino, though he was certainly self-destructive. Some of these films, especially the China one, could have been masterpieces. He was definitely a hustler, always pushing to get the next movie made, but Heaven's Gate dogged his every attempt. For us viewers it may have been worth the destruction it wrought, though it's easy to overlook the potential greatness it also precluded.

[–] VHSGuy123 (48) 3 months ago

I really wish he made The Fountainhead or Man's Fate. The Frank Costello biopic intrigues me, The Yellow Jersey also seemed like a good comeback picture for him if he got it made and his version of Footloose sound of lot better than the final product. Cream Rises also seemed like a interesting project, and if Cimino played his cards right on that one, probably could of been great,