“One of the central conflicts of the movie business,” says Charles Elton, “is that the studio wants a director with a vision and then complains about how costly that vision is.” The director Michael Cimino is known for one movie, which was a phenomenal success despite the odds, The Deer Hunter (1978). His other, Heaven’s Gate (1980), was such a monumental turkey that it became the poster child for failure — until it was belatedly recognised as a masterpiece thirty-two years after its release.
