Michael Cimino began principle photography on Heaven's Gate on April 16th, 1979, one week to the day after he won the Academy Award for Best Director on The Deer Hunter. Six days into production Cimino was five days behind schedule. He had shot close to 60,000 feet of film for approximately a minute and a half of usable footage. For the next six months Cimino shot dozens of takes for each scene--53 alone of Kris Kristofferson brandishing a bullwhip. Thousands of extras were employed; hundreds of horses. Days, then weeks, and eventually months were spent waiting for the sun to set, so that Cimino could get just the right light for his film. By the time production wrapped Cimino had exposed 1.5 million feet of film, 1.3 million of which he printed. He was six hundred percent over budget, and a year-and-a-half late.
