Michael Cimino

Michael Cimino was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and author. Known for his attention to detail, Cimino received fame for directing The Deer Hunter (1978), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. He began his career in New York as a commercial director before moving to Los Angeles in the 1970s to pursue screenwriting. His first directed film was Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974). Cimino's later film, Heaven's Gate (1980), was considered a box office bomb, marking the end of the New Hollywood era of filmmaking. However, it has since been re-evaluated as a masterpiece by some critics. Despite his sporadic and often uncompleted projects, Cimino continued to write scripts and novels until his death in 2016.