Oscar winning director Michael Cimino died today at the age of 77. Here are his best quotes about life, Hollywood, and directing:

When asked by “People” magazine, Nov. 11, 1996 issue, how the disaster of Heaven’s Gate (1980) affected his life: “It was really a great trauma, as everyone knows. Since then, I’ve been unable to make any movie that I’ve wanted to make. I’ve been making the best of what is available.”

“They’ve been running Deer Hunter like crazy on Bravo. And here is the whole goddamned Congress singing ‘God Bless America’ on the steps of the US Capitol. I said, ‘Holy shit, this is the ending of the movie.'” (on The Deer Hunter (1978) in hindsight, post-9/11, London Independent on Sunday, July 2002)

I don’t make movies intellectually, I don’t make movies to make a point, I make movies to tell stories about people.

Films are home movies…