Michael Cimino Pitched A Star Wars Film That Sounds Like Firefly

[Brendon Connelly]

STORY UPDATED: Cimino's idea is now at the foot of the post.

As we're wondering about how Disney might sequelise and spin-off Star Wars, and hoping for some bold and ambitious moves, here's an interesting tid bit about one old possibility that never came to be.

Michael Cimino wandered a cross a Twitter joke apparently at his expense, and decided to reply - while also slipping in some surprising new info.

@maxevry @germainlussier Unfair & unfunny. I made a unique pitch for the 2nd film in 1978/9.

? Michael Cimino (@Cimino1939) December 7, 2012

Of course, as soon as I noticed this, I tweeted back to Cimino telling him that I'd love to know more. Maybe he'll one day oblige.

Now, my interest is not so much because I'm a huge, swooning Star Wars fan but because this is Michael Cimino, director of The Deer Hunter, Heaven's Gate and, my particular favourite film of his, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. If he pitched on a yogurt commercial I'd like to know what he came up with. In fact, I'd like a Blu-ray copy of that commercial.

So back in '78-'79, even while he was sweeping the boards at the Oscars, Cimino's Star Wars pitch was rejected - but then in the 80s, Lucas approached both David Lynch and David Cronenberg to see if they'd like to be involved in Return of the Jedi.

It's clearly not that he's worried about "less commercially minded filmmakers" - he's always considered himself to be one such outsider, anyhow. I assume it's that Lucas wanted these guys to march to the beat he established in the first picture. He didn't want their pitches, he wanted their service to his concept.

Can't say I blame him. Shame he just wasn't so good at keeping perfect time with himself when it came to the prequels.

UPDATE: Cimino has now shared his comments on what his Star Wars movie would have been like and, to me, it sounds an awful lot like Firefly.

Everyone was pitching ideas for STAR WARS / Mine was simple: / A straight Western / but with lasers. / All the sets already built of course.

— Michael Cimino (@Cimino1939) December 7, 2012

[Paskettiwestern]

I don't know if I buy that this account is actually being run by the real Michael Cimino. Last I checked, it hadn't been verified. That being said, if it IS Cimino, I'd sure like to hear what his pitch was about.

[Devil Dinosaur]

Can we stop bashing the prequels? Not because they don't deserve it, but because I've decided to try pretending they didn't happen and if people keep mentioning them it subverts my denial.

[_OM_]

...I can see Han Solo vs Darth Vader in the Jedi Roulette scene: On the fifth pass, Solo's blaster goes off when the chamber is empty. The reason? Vader had the safety on the blaster pressed down by the Force each time it came his turn to pull the trigger.

But that's not the punch line. The punch line is that, at the table, the first casualty, on the first round, is none other than a rodian. Yes, it's true: Greedo *did* shoot first...

[Ferb Morgendorffer]

Kind of agree with Cimino (if it is him), that was a bad joke. I'd have gone for Rebels forced to play roulette by Imperials or, like in the clarification, a set-building joke (that's I how interpreted it at least).

While I understand Lucas's desire for control I'd love to visit the AU where he let Lynch, Cronenberg, and Cimino* play with his toys without restrictions, even if it could have gone trainwreck worthy* - though who knows, there the series might have kept going without break since Lucas wouldn't have been burnt out.

*Not a dig in any way at Lynch, more a ref to Dune, which I liked despite it's many flaws even before Twin Peaks made me a fan for life. And TBH I've never seen any of Cimino's films.

[Amergin]

I won't watch a Cimino Star Wars unless he drugs out Jar Jar on death sticks and he gets lost on some jungle planet playing Russian Roulette.