Steven Soderbergh posted, under the pseudonym Mary Ann Bernard (his mother’s name), an edited version of Michael Cimino‘s Heaven’s Gate on his official website, Extension 765 admitting an obsession for the film with the following reasoning for what he’s done:
As a dedicated cinema fan, I was obsessed with HEAVEN’S GATE from the moment it was announced in early 1979, and unfortunately history has shown that on occasion a fan can become so obsessed they turn violent toward the object of their obsession, which is what happened to me during the holiday break of 2006. This is the result.
The reason it’s called the “butcher’s cut” is because it runs only 108 minutes, exactly 108 minutes shorter than the recently released Criterion version.
Included at the opening is a note saying, “I acknowledge that what I have done with this film is both immoral and illegal.” And there is no embed so you’ll have to click here to give it a watch as this serves as just one more chapter in the continuing saga of a film that’s either a masterpiece or a piece of junk, a majority decision, it would seem, will never be reached.
For more on Heaven’s Gate and its legacy read my post from October 2012 right here.
