When was deer hunter filmed

Crew members carried, lifted - and pulled resources from the trucks into the trailer. A catering vehicle was set up and people in it prepared a large lunch. One noticed an obvious chain of command on the set with the director barking orders through a walkie talkie to his assistants who would, in turn, instruct crew members to do any number of things - put a light in a particular place, bring a prop into the trailer, get ready to move a tripod, keep the photographers away from the trailer, etc.

On the outside of the trailer, strewn props gave one a sense of the firm's environment. Portable televisions, oars, deerskins, a Hank Williams album and a vintage white cadillac from the 50's along with the steel mill looming in the background gave one a sense of the working-class environment the firm will depict.

On the edges of the trailer, a wintry, bleak effect was created. Brown leaves were thrown on the street. Trees with dead leaves were installed in the lot adjacent to the trailer on Main Street.

When they were not working, crew members sipped coffee, talked with each other and displayed extreme patience as each scene was shot for what seemed an interminable amount of time. Claude Binyon, the film production manager, said the scenes shot Saturday concerned a wedding in the story. And bystanders got to witness the pace, organization and substance of a film production.

According to Michael Cimino , Robert De Niro requested a live cartridge in the revolver for the scene in which Michael subjects Stanley to an impromptu game of Russian Roulette, to heighten the intensity of the situation. John Cazale agreed without protest, but obsessively rechecked the gun before each take, to make sure that the live round wasn't next in the chamber.

According to cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond , the scene where the deer was shot by Michael was filmed by giving the trained deer a sedative. It took half an hour for the drug to take effect. They had fenced off an area limiting the deer's range, and two cameras were used. The Viet Cong Russian Roulette scenes were shot in real circumstances, with real rats and mosquitoes, as the three principals were tied up in bamboo cages erected along the River Kwai.

Robert De Niro was so anxious about the film's controversy that he did not attend the Oscars ceremony. While producer Michael Deeley was pleased with the revised script, he was still concerned about being able to sell the film.

I needed someone with the caliber of Robert De Niro. With Streep came John Cazale. De Niro also accompanied Cimino to scout locations for the steel mill sequence, as well as rehearsed with the actors and actresses to use the workshops as a bonding process. Robert De Niro and John Savage performed their own stunts for the fall into the river, filming the thirty foot drop fifteen times in two days. Robert De Niro , who prepared for his role by socializing with steelworkers, was introduced by his hosts and new friends as Bob, and no one recognized him.

In the screenplay, Linda's role was negligible. Michael Cimino explained the set-up to Meryl Streep and suggested that she write her own lines. During the filming of the wedding sequence, Michael Cimino encouraged the many extras to treat the festivities as a real wedding, so as to increase the authenticity of the scenes.

Prior to filming the wedding reception, Cimino instructed the extras to take empty boxes from home and wrap them as if they were wrapping real wedding gifts and bring them to the set the next day. The fake gifts would then be used as props for the wedding reception. The extras did as they were told, but when Cimino inspected the "props" he noticed that the "gifts" were a lot heavier than empty boxes otherwise would be.

Cimino tore the wrapping paper off a few of the packages, only to find that the extras had in fact wrapped real gifts for the "wedding. When the film was first shown at the Berlin festival in , one of the biggest incidents of its history resulted when the Soviet delegation walked out in protest against the way the film portrayed the people of Vietnam.

The ensuing domino effect led to the walk-outs of the Cubans, East Germans, Bulgarians, Poles, and Czechoslovakians, and two members of the jury resigned in sympathy. Various critics objected to the Russian Roulette sequences, suggesting that such activity never took place in the Vietnam War. Director Michael Cimino was planning on the scenes to cause controversy, and simply stated that no one could be certain of the accuracy.

Robert De Niro and Cimino reportedly argued as to the realism of the scenes. Robert De Niro claims this was his most physically exhausting film. Chuck Aspegren was not an actor when he was cast in the movie. He was the foreman at a steel works visited early in pre-production by Robert De Niro and Michael Cimino.

They were so impressed with Aspergen that they decided to offer him the role. He was the second person to be cast in the film after De Niro. Meryl Streep was romantically involved with John Cazale during the filming, as well as after, until his death. Dustin Hoffman was aware of this, which is part of why he had producers cast her as Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer , because she would bring a vulnerable woman-in-crisis feeling to the role. She went on the win her first Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress, for the film.

It was her second Oscar nomination and second nomination in that category, after this film. The deer which Michael allows to get away was actually an elk. The crew had a very difficult time trying to get the elk to look at them, as it was apparently used to various noises. It finally looked at them when someone in the crew yawned.

The deer hunting scene was shot in the Cascade Mountains of Washington. The mountain shown in the background is Mount Shuksan.

The volcano shown is Mt. The waterfall is Nooksack Falls. The wedding scene at the church took five days to film. A real priest was cast as the priest. As the Oscars drew near, the backlash against the film gathered strength. The demonstrators waved placards covered with slogans that read "No Oscars for racism" and "The Deer Hunter a bloody lie" and thrust pamphlets berating Deer Hunter into long lines of limousine windows. Deric Washburn , nominated for Best Original Screenplay, claims his limousine was pelted with stones.

According to Variety, "Police and The Deer Hunter protesters clashed in a brief, but bloody battle that resulted in thirteen arrests. During the helicopter stunt, the runners caught on the ropes and as the helicopter rose, it threatened to seriously injure John Savage and Robert De Niro. The actors gestured and yelled furiously to the crew in the helicopter to warn them.

Footage of this is included in the film. The film takes place in , , and When Christopher Walken did the Russian Roulette scene, he was remembering being sent to summer camp by his parents, which he hated. He felt betrayed, ostracized, and alone, which he felt the character was experiencing at that point in the film. According to Michael Cimino , he would call Deric Washburn while on the road scouting for locations and feed him notes on dialogue and story.

Upon reviewing Washburn's draft, Cimino said, "I came back, and read it, and I just could not believe what I read. It was like it was written by somebody who was mentally deranged. Cimino then fired Washburn. Cimino later claimed to have written the entire screenplay himself. Washburn's response to Cimino's comments were, "It's all nonsense.

It's lies. I didn't have a single drink the entire time I was working on the script. The script eventually went through several drafts, evolving into a story with three distinct acts.

Washburn did not interview any veterans to write the script, nor do any research. Write the fucking script! But all I had to do was watch television. Those combat cameramen in Vietnam were out there in the field with the guys.

I mean, they had stuff that you wouldn't dream of seeing about Iraq. He recalls, "We finished, and Joann looks at me across the table, and she says, 'Well, Deric, it's fuck-off time.

It was a classic case: you get a dummy, get him to write the goddamn thing, tell him to go fuck himself, put your name on the thing, and he'll go away.

I was so tired, I didn't care. I'd been working twenty hours a day for a month. I got on the plane the next day, and I went back to Manhattan and my carpenter job. This movie is one of the earliest examples of successful 'Oscar baiting' in order to maximize box office performance. When the first test screening turned out disastrous, the studio was unsure how to market a movie with such grim and depressing subject matter.

As a consultant, they hired veteran producer Allan Carr , who realized that the movie would only attract an audience if it received recognition from the Academy. He gave it a very limited release in two theaters near the end of the year, for an audience of critics and Academy members, and for the period that would qualify the film for Oscar eligibility. The film was then pulled from distribution, except for a few screenings on a cable network that catered to cinephiles.

When The Deer Hunter received critical acclaim as well as nine Oscar nominations, it was given a wide release and a promotional campaign that underscored the artistic success, leading to a substantial box office success. Releasing high-profile films near the end of the year to increase their Oscar chances as well as their subsequent box office potential has become standard practice since. It later became a real saloon for local steel mill workers. The deaths of approximately twenty-eight people, who died playing Russian Roulette, were reported as having been influenced by scenes in the movie.

George Dzundza completely blows the toast line when the group arrives in the mountains the first time. His reaction is legitimate, and a few of the other actors can be seen laughing in response. The wedding sequences were filmed in the summer, but were set in the fall. To accomplish a look of fall, leaves were removed from trees and painted orange. They were then reattached to the trees. Rutanya Alda actually struck her head quite hard on the doorway during the first take while being carried out of the reception hall.

This is why the scene includes John Savage warning her in the take which was used. When this movie was being planned during the mid s, Vietnam was still a taboo subject with all major Hollywood studios. Universal got involved with the movie at a much later stage. It was not a film of which Wayne was fond, since it presented a very different view of the Vietnam War than his own movie, The Green Berets , had.

Jan Scruggs , a Vietnam veteran who became a counselor with the U. Department of Labor, thought of the idea of building a National Memorial for Vietnam Veterans after seeing a screening of the film in spring , and he established and operated the memorial fund that paid for it. Jeff Bridges was considered for the role of Nick.

Scenes showing off the city including the hospital, the Eagle Supermarket, the steelworks factory were all shot in Cleveland. The funeral sequence was filmed all the way in the state of Pennsylvania at McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery but was posed as if being shot in the 'Steel Town of Clairton'. The scenic views of the mountains also included Lake Chelan of Washington. Some of the scenes were also shot in Bangkok in Thailand introducing them as Saigon in Vietnam.

The U. Here's what the airport looks like today:. The 3-hour movie, The Deer Hunter has received an 8.

The 70s classic marked as John Cazale's final feature film before he passed away on March 12, , due to lung cancer. The movie won its creators and actors 5 awards and 4 nominations at the Academy Awards.