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Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter remains one of the most accomplished war films ever, a status it has acquired largely thanks to the strength of its cast, which included Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, John Cazale and Robert De Niro. In 1977, De Niro was riding high, having established himself as a young talent in Hollywood by starring in The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver and Mean Streets. But as Jay Glennie recounts in this edited extract from the numbered, limited edition book One Shot: The Making Of The Deer Hunter, De Niro was close to burnout and had sworn off making films for at least a couple of years. It would take an impressive offer – and the right script and director – to persuade him to break his self-imposed purdah...
With the script in place and the correct recognition given, attention turned to casting. [Producers Michael] Deeley and [Barry] Spikings knew the tough subject matter would prove problematic in attracting continued support from Universal unless they could find a star with significant box-office and critical appeal. They favoured the actor of who the 1977 June edition of Time Magazine crowned the “hottest actor working in films today” – Robert De Niro.
Speaking to this author 40 years after the film’s release, De Niro “always felt that The Deer Hunter was going to be a good movie; otherwise, I wouldn’t have done it. I was impressed by Michael Cimino. It had its flaws, but there was something very special about it.”
“I’ve been offered huge sums of money to do movies that I didn’t think were right for me,” Robert De Niro once said, “but I turned them down. I don’t need money that much and I find it easy saying ‘No’ because I had to say ‘Yes’ so often at the start.” Like any young actor De Niro had spells of unemployment and featured in low-budget productions in his early screen roles, films such as The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight and Jennifer On My Mind (both 1971), but it was working with Martin Scorsese on Mean Streets (1973) that first announced De Niro to a wider audience.
The young Robert De Niro had been known by his Kenmare Gang New York street name of "Bobby Milk", ostensibly because of his pale complexion, and it was at a Christmas party in 1971 that Scorsese recognised De Niro as the guy he would often see on the streets of the Village and Little Italy. The director knew he had found his "Johnny Boy" and a lifelong friendship formed.
Knowing that his friend Francis Ford Coppola was casting for a young Vito Corleone for his sequel to The Godfather (1972), Scorsese recommended him De Niro and screened him an early cut of Mean Streets. Winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for The Godfather Part II saw De Niro become a star. However the baggage that came with his new found fame was not one that he welcomed. For De Niro, any sense that he was becoming public property hindered his ability to completely immerse himself into any given character, but despite not courting the publicity circuit, he was now a name that could see a film financed and green lit. And he quickly followed up playing Vito Corleone with 1900 (1976) for Bernardo Bertolucci and, in between partnering again with Scorsese on Taxi Driver (1976), playing the traumatised Vietnam vet Travis Bickle, and New York, New York (1977), he would star in Elia Kazan’s The Last Tycoon (1976).
After back-to-back filming, coupled with the emotional energy expelled with researching and gaining an understanding of his characters, De Niro was in danger of burning out. He and Scorsese had agreed to work with each other again on a biopic of boxing legend Jake La Motta, eventually called Raging Bull (1980), but until then he planned some much needed R&R.
“I really don’t want to do anything until Raging Bull,” confirmed De Niro.
As with any film there are always other names up for consideration, such are the variables of the industry. Roy Scheider, hot from the box-office success of Jaws (1975) was originally favoured by Universal, who had signed the star to a multi-picture deal comprising three films. One of those would be Jaws 2 (1978), but crucially the deal allowed for two others that were not sequels to Jaws before filming commenced on Jaws 2. [Producer] Thom Mount recalled the deal as “allowing Roy to have an opportunity to explore some interesting films he was being offered. We, the studio, believed that he wanted to star in The Deer Hunter and as we already had a contract with him it all fit from our perspective. I have heard over the years that the reason given for Scheider not doing the film is that he was unhappy with the script. I very much doubt that to be the case, it was a stunning script; Universal were not in the habit of supporting films with poor scripts. What I do know is that over discussions with his lawyer he felt the role in The Deer Hunter was going to be a starring role and that his fee, the deal he had signed, did not reflect that. So the unhappiness he subsequently had with The Deer Hunter was purely a financial one, the deal he signed with us was now disproportionate, in his eyes, and did not reflect the rise his colleagues had enjoyed within the community.
“Now when we heard that Robert De Niro had expressed an interest none of us on the studio management team were unhappy to see Roy decide not to star in the film. It was our judgement that Bob was a far better piece of casting and a far better actor.”
Deeley and Spikings’ feelings were that only De Niro could play the role. “It had to be De Niro,” states Spikings, and a call was placed into his then agent, Harry Ufland. “Harry Ufland was a great friend of mine,” remembers Deeley. “I said that if De Niro agreed to play the role, we would pay him more money than he had ever been paid before. De Niro was, to our minds, key. He was already so revered within the industry and I knew it would firmly put EMI Films in the big leagues within the US film industry here in LA.”
When De Niro received the script from Ufland it quickly became apparent to him that his much-desired break would not materialise, so struck was he by the story. De Niro remembers seeing the script for the first time and being impressed by the striking visual element of the proposal.
“It was a grey and red script, as I recall, by Michael Cimino. On the cover was a picture of a guy, cradling a rifle, obviously the Michael character in the film, he was kinda in silhouette, with a deer tied over the hood of a white Cadillac, with steel mills in the background – it was such a great shot. I thought it would be a great poster. In fact, when I saw the eventual poster I did call Sid Sheinberg and told him it was too busy and that they should go with something simpler. But anyhow, I liked the story and the dialogue. I just thought it was a terrific script. It was so simple and it seemed so real to me. The characters spoke to me. I liked that they didn’t say much, that there wasn’t anything that was condescending or patronising toward them.”
Spikings remembers Cimino being a little daunted by the idea of directing De Niro: “Michael wasn’t keen on this; I think he was a bit scared of Bob.” Be that as it may, Cimino knew that a great working relationship with his star would be of vital importance and asked that the pair meet prior to moving ahead. Ufland, mindful that De Niro was meant to be on a break, wanted to meet his would-be director first before recommending that his client do so.
“I would often meet with a director before sanctioning a meet with Bobby,” [says Ufland]. “That is one of the roles of an agent: shielding your client. I did it for Marty Scorsese, Bobby, all of my clients. So I asked Cimino to meet me before setting up any meeting with Bobby. He was fine, Cimino was my best pal... until Bobby said yes and then he barely spoke to me. It was like we had never met and did not know each other.”
Meeting Cimino for the first time, De Niro instantly “responded to him, he was full of his project, of his subject, and I could see he was ready and felt the film had to be made. We were open to one another, ready to meet anywhere and anytime to work together to that end. I felt there was something fresh and something good there.”
The feeling was mutual. Any initial reservations Cimino may have had were dispelled. The two instantly hit it off, with Cimino saying at the time that, “Someone like Bobby is so rare. He is a craftsman, a professional. He believes that acting is something to work at, that a special performance is not entirely an accident. Bobby lives that. He’s his own best example.”
Nowadays undertaking extensive research is commonplace for many actors. However, De Niro’s research is now the stuff of legend. Dubbed "The System" by its originator, the Russian theatre director Konstantin Stanislavski, it morphed into "The Method" when Lee Strasberg adopted it for New York theatre school the Actors Studio. Made famous by students of the school such as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and James Dean, extensive research just seemed a natural way forward to De Niro, affording him the opportunity to explore the underlying motivations and emotions in each of his characters. Newsweek’s Jack Kroll wrote of De Niro in the Seventies: “He has the gestural sophistication of an actor in touch with primal feelings... As with all the best actors, his acting is a riveting, unexplainable blend of pure abstraction and absolute reality.”
Before fully committing to star in Cimino’s film, De Niro had one more request. He suggested that he and his director visit the locations already pinpointed as places of interest and also take in new localities. “I was curious, I still am, and it was a great way of getting to know Mike, so I went with him to look at the American locations.”
This chimed with Cimino’s ideas for the film when he said, “I would never suggest that the geography or visual environment of the film is more important than what’s going on with the people, but it’s a major factor in getting the right tone. Intuition plays a big part in finding something special. He [De Niro] insisted before he committed on seeing the locations, so I had to take him to all the steel mills, I even had him sleep over at a steel worker’s house.”
Director and star criss-crossed the US, meeting steelworkers, creating for De Niro a connection and an understanding of their habits and speech patterns, a practice he still uses today.
“I always look at everything,” says De Niro. “The important thing is to think it all out. Sometimes I write down my ideas. The main thing is to put in the time – even if it’s boring. Then you know you’ve connected every possibility when you make your choices. Sometimes, I practice the nature of a person’s lifestyle, which I undertook in my characterisation of Michael. I spent a lot of time in Mingo Junction and Steubenville, Ohio, soaking up the environment. I also tried to become as close to becoming a steelworker as possible without actually working a shift at the mill. I’d have done that too, except none of the steel mills would let me do it. They let me visit and watch but not actually get involved. What was great was that no one recognised me as being an actor during that time.”
Returning home, The Deer Hunter had a director and star in sync with one another and, importantly, Deeley and Spikings had their man. Deeley kept his word, paying Ufland $1.5 million for De Niro’s services. “He had only earned a million before, that was fine. We were delighted."
“Yes,” says Spikings, “thankfully reason prevailed and Bob agreed to do it.”
Deeley quickly seized the initiative: “As soon as Harry confirmed to me that De Niro was on board, we, EMI Films, took out a full-page advert in Variety stating that he had signed on for our new picture. It was a great image of De Niro wearing a pair of sunglasses, carrying a rifle and here we were saying in no uncertain terms that we, EMI Films, were a force to be reckoned with.”
De Niro had a call to make. “I had convinced Marty to make Raging Bull and had already begun training with Jake La Motta, but knowing we were some way off having a script in place and all the various elements, I asked Marty if we could hold off a little so that I could work with Mike on The Deer Hunter. This was fine because Marty, I think, was working with Liza Minnelli on a play and also on The Last Waltz, so I cleared it with him: ‘Are we OK if I film The Deer Hunter?’ We had been working hard on Raging Bull and I would not have wanted to have jeopardised that.”
With their star in place, it was important to build a credible supporting cast, and De Niro played a key role.
“Look,” says Deeley, “when you engage Robert De Niro you are not only getting one of the finest screen actors ever, but you are working with an actor who cares about the whole picture – and that includes his fellow cast members. He knew every actor in New York.”
“Bob played a huge part in casting the movie,” agrees Ufland. “He recommended the actors, he brought them in, and he sat with them with Cimino. It was important to Bob that they cast authentically. He was close to the casting director Cis Corman, who was close friends with Barbra Streisand.”
Remembering the casting period, De Niro felt, “It was normal. It felt right to be involved and offer Mike any support I could. It happens seamlessly when you work with a collaborative director.”
One Shot: The Making Of The Deer Hunter (Coattail Publications) is out now.
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