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As of February 2004 was living in Paris, France, where he published two successful novels.

In 2001 he published his first novel, "Big Jane". Later that year the French Minister of Culture decorated him with the honor 'Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres' and he received the Prix Littéraire Deauville 2001, an award that previously went to Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal. Cimino said, "Oh, I'm the happiest, I think, I've ever been!" He also wrote a book called "Conversations en miroir" with Francesca Pollock in 2003.

Told "Vanity Fair" magazine in 2000 that his drastically altered looks during his later years were the results of jaw-alignment surgery. During the surgery all of his teeth had to be re-aligned, which altered the shape of his face.

He was attached to direct "The Dreaming Place" in 1997. The film, which was in the early stages of development, was to be a male vigilante story, along the lines of Paramount's Eye for an Eye (1996). Rodney Patrick Vaccaro wrote the screenplay under the supervision of Cimino, and Jonathon Komack Martin Martin was to be executive producer. The planned budget was not revealed.

One of his goals since arriving in Hollywood was to make a film musical. One dream project was a musical inspired by "Porgy and Bess". Not a straight adaptation, it would have been a romance about a black gospel singer and a white Juilliard pianist, as they struggle to mount a production of the opera. Later Cimino was in talks with the producers to direct Evita (1996), but they eventually decided to hire film musical specialist Alan Parker.

In 1987 he attempted to make an epic saga about the 1920s Irish revolutionary Michael Collins with funding by Nelson Entertainment, but the film had to be abandoned due to budget problems. Later Irish director Neil Jordan made Michael Collins (1996) based on his own screenplay.

During the production of Year of the Dragon (1985) in Thailand, he was made an Honorary Colonel of the Thai Air Force.

Among the projects he has reportedly been involved with over the years; some work on The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984); writing contributions to The Dogs of War (1980). The extent of his contributions are unknown, as he remains unbilled for any of these films.

In 1981 he was hired by CBS to direct "Live on Tape," a film about camera crews. but after Heaven's Gate (1980) crashed and burned at the box office, CBS changed its mind; the movie remains unmade to this day.

The story behind the notorious commercial failure of Heaven's Gate (1980) was told by former United Artists executive Steven Bach in his book "Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate", first published in 1985. Subsequently the documentary Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate (2004)) was produced, based on Bach's book and with with new interviews. Cimino has dismissed the book as "pure fiction" and didn't participate in the documentary.

In 1979 he was considered to direct The King of Comedy (1982), which would have re-teamed him with Robert De Niro. Because of Cimino's preoccupation with Heaven's Gate (1980), Martin Scorsese directed the film.

But his biggest success was The Deer Hunter (1978) which won the Oscar for best film.

Michael Cimino studied architecture and dramatic arts; later he filmed advertisements and documentaries and also wrote scripts until the actor, producer and director Clint Eastwood gave him the opportunity to direct the thriller Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974).

In the late 1970s he Cimino passed on an offer to direct Oliver Stone's screenplay for Midnight Express (1978). A few years later he met Stone again and optioned his screenplay for Born on the Fourth of July (1989). Cimino was eager to make the film, going so far as to offer to work for nothing, even attracting Al Pacino for the role of Ron Kovic. The producers declined. The film was eventually directed by Stone himself in 1989, and the two would later collaborate on Year of the Dragon (1985).

Received a B.F.A. degree in Painting from Yale University in 1961 and an M.F.A. in Painting from Yale University in 1963.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 214-219. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

He spent a year and a half working on a script entitled "Perfect Strangers", a political love story. "It bears some resemblance to Casablanca (1942)," said Cimino, "involving the romantic relationship of three people. Someone called it a romantic Z (1969). I was very close to doing it. In fact, we'd already shot two weeks of pre-production stuff, but because of various political machinations at the studio, the project fell through. This was just before David Picker left. He was the producer. There were internal difficulties, that's all. Nevertheless, I'd spent a year and a half of my life on something. It had been a difficult time. My father passed away while I was writing the screenplay. I kept working . . . ".

An article in "The Hollywood Reporter" about Leonard Termo touched on how he and Mickey Rourke were friends, and how Termo had appeared in most of Rourke's films. The article says,"The pair also were set to appear in a Cimino biopic at Embassy Pictures about 'Legs' Diamond that never got made, with Rourke as the legendary 1930s gangster and Termo playing his bodyguard.".