<P> Thom Mount, president of Universal at the time, said, "This was just a...continuing nightmare from the day Michael finished the picture to the day we released it . That was simply because he was wedded to everything he shot . The movie was endless . It was The Deer Hunter and the Hunter and the Hunter . The wedding sequence was a cinematic event all unto its own ." Mount says he turned to Verna Fields, Universal's then - head of post-production . "I sicked Verna on Cimino," Mount says . "Verna was no slouch . She started to turn the heat up on Michael, and he started screeching and yelling ." </P> <P> Zinner eventually cut the film down to 18,000 feet . Cimino later fired Zinner when he discovered that Zinner was editing down the wedding scenes . Zinner eventually won Best Editing Oscar for The Deer Hunter . Regarding the clashes between him and Cimino, Zinner stated: "Michael Cimino and I had our differences at the end, but he kissed me when we both got Academy Awards ." Cimino later commented in The New York Observer, "(Zinner) was a moron...I cut Deer Hunter myself ." </P> <P> The Deer Hunter was Cimino's first film to use Dolby noise - reduction system . "What Dolby does," replied Cimino, "is to give you the ability to create a density of detail of sound--a richness so you can demolish the wall separating the viewer from the film . You can come close to demolishing the screen ." It took five months to mix the soundtrack . One short battle sequence--200 feet of film in the final cut--took five days to dub . Another sequence recreated the 1975 American evacuation of Saigon; Cimino brought the film's composer, Stanley Myers, out to the location to listen to the auto, tank, and jeep horns as the sequence was being photographed . The result, according to Cimino: Myers composed the music for that scene in the same key as the horn sounds, so the music and the sound effects would blend with the images to create one jarring, desolate experience . </P> <P> Both the long and short versions were previewed to Midwestern audiences, although there are different accounts among Cimino, Deeley, and Spikings as to how the previews panned out . Director Cimino claims he bribed the projectionist to interrupt the shorter version, in order to obtain better reviews of the longer one . According to producer Spikings, Wasserman let EMI's CEO Bernard Delfont decide between the two and chose Cimino's longer cut . Deeley claims that the two - and - a-half hour version tested had a better response . </P>

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