A number of friendships between men in Michael Cimino's "Year of the Dragon"

The men's fight is on the other side of the screen

In fact, the "fight" between the men in "Year of the Dragon" was also happening on the other side of the screen. Director Michael Cimino was at a time when his previous film, `` Heaven's Gate '' (1980), was completely over-budget and forced his distributor, United Artists, into bankruptcy, and he was completely out of business as a director. He also turned down the project for `` Footloose '' (1984), and his reputation within the Hollywood industry deteriorated (needless to say, ``Footloose'' starring Kevin Bacon was directed by Herbert Ross and became a huge hit). .

The person who offered him a helping hand was Dino De Laurentiis, a big-time Italian producer who had previously produced Federico Fellini's `` The Road '' (1954) and `` King Kong '' (1976).

"Heaven's Gate" preview

At the time, Dino De Laurentiis was also making a disastrous failure called Dune (1984). (For more information, see `` Jodorowsky's DUNE '' (13)). Not many people can understand Michael Cimino's state of mind at the time, in 1919, when he brought down the historic film company founded by Charles Chaplin and D.W. Griffith. I mentioned earlier that Year of the Dragon was a commercial failure, but Cimino and Laurentiis also worked together on The Fugitive, which Cimino directed in 1990. In other words, I can understand that they really hit it off.

Laurentiis believed in Cimino's talent, as evidenced by the story behind the filming. The entire Chinatown in Year of the Dragon was filmed on a huge set built in Wilmington, North Carolina. The reason ``Heaven's Gate'' went over budget in the first place was due to the insistence on an open set that recreated Wyoming in the 1890s (in addition to procuring a locomotive from that period, they even laid rails inside the set so that it could run). ).

"Year of the Dragon" (C) 2007 LEGENDE - TF1 INTERNATIONAL - TF1 FILMS PRODUCTION OKKO PRODUCTION sro - SONGBIRD PICTURES LIMITED Visa d'exploitation N°111 803 Dépôt légal 2007

At the time, everyone would have thought it was crazy to have Cimino build such a huge set. Knowing this background, it is very meaningful that the song that plays during the end credits of ``Year of the Dragon'' is Mahler's Symphony No. 2 in C minor, ``Resurrection''.

Friendship between men in movies