'I don't think any of us meant it to be exploitive,' Spikings said. All's fair in love and war.' Producer Barry Spikings, while proud of the film, regrets the way the Vietnamese were portrayed. I got on the plane the next day, and I went back to Manhattan and my carpenter job.'Īccording to Christopher Walken, the historical context wasn't paramount: 'In the making of it, I don't remember anyone ever mentioning Vietnam.' Robert De Niro added to this sentiment: 'Whether the film's vision of the war actually happened or not, it's something you could imagine very easily happening. I'd been working twenty hours a day for a month. 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. He recalls, 'We finished, and Joann looks at me across the table, and she says, 'Well, Deric, it's fuck-off time.' I was fired. I mean, they had stuff that you wouldn't dream of seeing about Iraq.' When Washburn was finished, he says, Cimino and associate producer Joann Carelli took him to dinner at a cheap restaurant off the Sunset Strip. Those combat cameramen in Vietnam were out there in the field with the guys. Write the fucking script! But all I had to do was watch television. 'I had a month, that was it,' he explains. Washburn did not interview any veterans to write the script, nor do any research. The script eventually went through several drafts, evolving into a story with three distinct acts. 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.Īccording to Deric Washburn, he and Michael Cimino spent three days together in Los Angeles at the Sunset Marquis hammering out the plot. 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. The film was then pulled from distribution, except for a few screenings on a cable network that catered to cinephiles. 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. 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. When the first test screening turned out disastrous, the studio was unsure how to market a movie with such grim and depressing subject matter.

This movie is one of the earliest examples of successful 'Oscar baiting' in order to maximize box office performance.

Deer hunter russian roulette