Cimino

Well worth reading (hat tip Hatley). Money Quotes:

It's not only his enemies that Cimino is angry with. "I'm not revisiting the past, like Francis Coppola," he said, "recutting Apocalypse Now 29 times. Why do you think Francis is recutting Apocalypse? He's dried up. I'm going forward; he's going backward."

As for Oliver Stone, with whom he co-wrote The Year of the Dragon, "Oliver thinks he's the greatest thing since chopped liver. He's a great guy, a great writer. We have a great working relationship and I love him. But he's a better writer than director," Cimino said. "He's incredibly, insanely jealous about the fact that I published a novel. He's always wanted to be the next Hemingway. He didn't want to be a director."

Cimino is still vexed that editor Peter Zinner won an Academy Award for editing The Deer Hunter. "He was a moron," Cimino said. "I cut Deer Hunter myself." Cimino contested screenwriter Deric Washburn's sole credit on the script for the Writers Guild of America Awards: "In their Nazi wisdom, [they] didn't give me the credit because I would be producer, director and writer," he said.

As for Vilmos Zsigmond, whose lush cinematography in both The Deer Hunter and Heaven's Gate earned accolades, Cimino said: "Vilmos and all those guys have built themselves up to be bigger than directors. It's bullshit. Does anyone remember who shot Kubrick's movies? Do you remember who shot David Lean's movies? No one remembers who shot Dr Strangelove or Barry Lyndon."

Gotta say I agree with all of it.