8 Movies That Got Directors Fired From Other Movies
5. The Failure Of Heaven's Gate Prompted Producers To Fire Michael Cimino From Footloose
The late Michael Cimino had one of the most fascinating career trajectories of any filmmaker in history.
In 1978, Cimino helmed the Best Picture and Best Director Oscar-winning drama The Deer Hunter, immediately shunting him into the upper echelons of A-list directors.
But in 1980, Cimino's career careened into a brick wall when his much-anticipated epic western, Heaven's Gate, was an historic box office flop and won Cimino the Worst Director Razzie award.
Today, the grandiose failure stands tall as a monument to directorial hubris, one which tainted the entirety of Cimino's remaining career.
Case in point, he was originally hired to direct 1984's iconic musical drama Footloose, but Paramount got cold feet when the filmmaker requested $250,000 to rewrite the script.
With Paramount looking back to Cimino's lavish demands on Heaven's Gate, which caused that film's budget to balloon to untenable levels, producer Daniel Melnick made the decision to fire Cimino and replace him with the less-outspoken Herbert Ross.
Ultimately Footloose went on to enjoy huge commercial success, and Melnick said of Cimino's version, "It might have been a good film, but it wasn't the film we wanted to make. It wasn't the film we came to the party with."
Sadly, Cimino never made another box office hit for the rest of his career.