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.’ – Michael Cimino
I have a very simple definition of a good movie: a good movie makes you forget you’re watching a movie. – Michael Cimino
I would never suggest that the geography or visual environment of the film is more important than what’s going on with the people, but it’s a major factor in getting the right tone. Certainly, it influences the actors tremendously. – Michael Cimino
I’m a frustrated would-be architect who stumbled into the would-be business of making movies. – Michael Cimino
I don’t dispute the accounts of My Lai 4, but I think that anyone who is a student of the war, or anyone who was there, would agree that anything you could imagine happening probably happened. – Michael Cimino
Working-class, blue-collar guys who volunteered for Vietnam were ascribed certain political beliefs. It’s time that this was redressed. It had nothing to do with politics. Once these men got to Vietnam, it was a matter of survival. – Michael Cimino
What distinguishes Vilmos Zsigmond from other cinematographers is, of course, talent but, more, physical stamina. You just can’t be great without it. – Michael Cimino
The Indians believe all things have spirit – even the hail that comes from the sky is spirit. If you believe that, which I implicitly do, everything is alive. – Michael Cimino
Most people I knew had been crippled by their educations. Some were even dying spiritually. – Michael Cimino
On a movie, you often work fourteen-, sixteen-hour days, six days a week, for six months. It is so easy to let up because of fatigue. – Michael Cimino
What we forget is that the Academy is a star-maker, or it reinforces the stardom of people. – Michael Cimino
It’s one of the things that movies do offer you, despite all of their hardships – they offer you moments of transcendence. – Michael Cimino
A film reflects who you are as a building reflects the soul of its architect. I think what you feel and what you think and what you are is what the film is. It’s not for me to talk about. – Michael Cimino
Every great movie is about the people, even if it’s a great popular success like ‘Gone With the Wind.’ It’s really not about the Civil War. It’s about Scarlett and Rhett. That’s who you go to see. You’re not going to root for the North or pull for the South, or, you know, it’s the people you remember. – Michael Cimino
‘Leaving Las Vegas’ is a relationship; ‘Dead Man Walking’ is a relationship, and they’re very contained movies. They’re compressed and not in wide open spaces all over the place. – Michael Cimino
Even the details of a rifle, which are nothing but mechanical, if they are made carefully, with attention, become beautiful, satisfying. – Michael Cimino
I wish I was making movies back in the days when John Ford made movies and you were a director under contract to a studio. John Ford had years when he made three movies in a year. – Michael Cimino
If you can’t stop somebody from working and making movies that you hate, what’s the next best thing? Destroy them personally. – Michael Cimino
All one has to do is look at old footage of the firebombing of Dresden during World War II and think of the people beneath those bombs. It’s horrific. – Michael Cimino
It’s very important to follow your instincts because, beyond what you know exists or what you’re told exists in a given area, your intuition plays a big part in finding something special. – Michael Cimino