FILM · 1978 · UK
The Deer Hunter
- Directed by
- Michael Cimino
- Runtime
- 183 min
- Studio
- Universal Pictures, EMI Films
34 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their lives forever.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (34)
- #001
The slaps in the Russian roulette scenes were one hundred percent real. The actors were extremely uneasy about the constant slapping, which naturally increased the realism of the scenes.
- #002
The woman tasked with casting extras in Thailand had great difficulty finding a local to play the villainous figure running the game. The first actor hired turned out to be incapable of slapping Robert De Niro's face. The host, fortunately, knew a Thai man with a particular antipathy toward Americans and had chosen him accordingly. De Niro suggested that Christopher Walken be genuinely slapped by one of the guards without any warning. The reaction on Walken's face was real.
- #003
John Cazale was very thin due to lung cancer when filming began, so all of his scenes were shot first. Michael Cimino knew from the start that Cazale would die of cancer, but the studio did not. When they found out, they wanted to replace Cazale. When Meryl Streep learned of their intentions, she threatened to resign if they did. Cazale died in March 1978, shortly after filming was completed. He never saw the finished film.
- #004
The studio wanted to replace John Cazale when he was deemed uninsurable. Robert De Niro paid for the insurance himself. Cazale died shortly after filming was completed.
- #005
The scene in which Steven, trapped in the river, shouts "Michael, there's rats in here, Michael" came about because John Savage was afraid of the rats infesting the river area and shouted at Michael Cimino. He was yelling at the director to get him out of the water because of the rats. It looked real, and they kept it in.
- #006
All scenes were shot on location (there was no soundstage).
- #007
According to Rutanya Alda, director Michael Cimino became obsessed with the scene in which her character Angela and Steven (John Savage) drink from a glass during their wedding ceremony. In the Orthodox Russian Christian tradition, spilling wine at this moment is a bad omen, so Cimino was determined to capture this portentous moment on camera. He asked the special effects department to make a glass that would cause a visible drop to fall on Alda's dress, but when it came time to shoot the scene it did not work properly. Cimino was reportedly furious and wasted nearly an entire day of filming trying to achieve the effect. In the end, Cimino stood on a ladder just outside the frame and poured some wine onto Alda's dress from above.
- #008
The Viet Cong Russian roulette scenes were shot under real conditions, with the three leads tied to bamboo cages erected along the River Kwai, with real rats and mosquitoes.
- #009
According to cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, the scene in which the deer is shot by Michael was filmed by sedating a trained deer. The drug took half an hour to take effect. They fenced off an area limiting the deer's range, and two cameras were used.
- #010
Christopher Walken achieved his character's withdrawn, hollow appearance by consuming nothing but water, rice and bananas.
- #011
Robert De Niro stated that the scene in which Michael (De Niro) first visits Steven (John Savage) in the hospital was the most emotional scene he had ever been involved in. In AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Robert De Niro (2003), he broke down in tears while discussing the scene.
- #012
This film is one of the first examples of successfully 'Oscar-baiting' in order to maximize box office performance. When the first test screening ended in disaster, the studio was unsure how to market a film with such a brutal and bleak subject. They hired experienced producer Allan Carr as a consultant. Allan Carr realized that the film could only draw audiences if it received recognition from the Academy. Toward the end of the year, he gave it a very limited release in two theaters for an audience of critics and Academy members, and for the length of time that would make the film Oscar-eligible. The film was then withdrawn from distribution, apart from a few showings on a cable network that appealed to cinephiles. When The Deer Hunter won critical acclaim and received nine Oscar nominations, it achieved significant box office success with a promotional campaign emphasizing wide publicity and artistic achievement. Releasing high-profile films toward the end of the year in order to boost their Oscar chances and subsequent box office potential has since become standard practice.
- #013
Robert De Niro was so concerned about the film's controversies that he did not attend the Oscar ceremony. He asked the Academy whether he could sit backstage during the ceremony, but when the Academy refused, De Niro stayed at his home in New York City.
- #014
US Steel only permitted filming at its Cleveland plant, including placing the actors on the furnace floor, after a five-million-dollar insurance policy was secured.
- #015
Linda's role was negligible in the script. Michael Cimino explained the setup to Meryl Streep and suggested she write her own lines.
- #016
While filming the wedding scene, Michael Cimino encouraged many of the extras to treat the festivities like a real wedding in order to increase the authenticity of the scenes. Before shooting the wedding ceremony, Cimino instructed the extras to take empty boxes from home, wrap them as if they were wrapping real wedding gifts, and bring them to the set the next day. The fake gifts would then be used as props for the wedding reception. The extras did as they were told, but when Cimino examined the props he noticed that the gifts were much heavier than empty boxes. Cimino tore the wrapping paper off several packages and saw that the extras had actually wrapped real gifts for the wedding.
- #017
Robert De Niro, who prepared for his role by socializing with steelworkers, was introduced as Bob by his landlords and new friends, and no one recognized him.
- #018
According to Michael Cimino, Robert De Niro requested a live round in the gun for the scene in which Michael subjects Stanley to an improvised game of Russian roulette, in order to heighten the intensity of the situation. John Cazale accepted without objection, but before every take he obsessively rechecked the weapon to make sure the next shot was not in the chamber.
- #019
Chuck Aspegren was not an actor when he was cast for a role in the film. He was a foreman at a steel mill that Robert De Niro and Michael Cimino visited during pre-production. They were so impressed by Aspegren that they decided to offer him the part. He was the second person cast in the film after De Niro.
- #020
Robert De Niro claims this was the most physically exhausting film of his career.
- #021
In the original script, the roles of Mike and Nick were reversed in the second half of the film. Nick returns to Linda while Mike stays in Vietnam, sends money home to help Steven, and meets his tragic fate at the Russian roulette table.
- #022
The bar was custom-built for $25,000 in the storefront of an empty shop in Mingo Junction, Ohio. It later became a real tavern for local steel mill workers.
- #023
Various critics objected to the Russian roulette sequences, arguing that such activities never took place during the Vietnam War. Director Michael Cimino intended the scenes to be controversial and stated that no one could be sure of their accuracy. Robert De Niro and Cimino were reportedly at odds over the realism of the scenes.
- #024
When the film was first shown at the Berlin festival in 1979, one of the biggest events in its history resulted when the Soviet delegation walked out of the hall to protest the way the film portrayed the Vietnamese people. The resulting domino effect led the Cubans, East Germans, Bulgarians, Poles and Czechoslovakians to walk out as well, and two members of the jury resigned in sympathy.
- #025
While filming the Russian roulette scene, Christopher Walken recalled being sent to summer camp by parents he hated. At that point in the film he felt betrayed, ostracized and alone, which he felt was what the character was experiencing.
- #026
The deer that Michael lets go was a real deer. The crew had great difficulty getting the deer, which appeared to be used to various sounds, to look at them. In the end, it looked at them when one of the crew yawned.
- #027
Meryl Streep was in a romantic relationship with John Cazale during and after filming, until his death. Dustin Hoffman was aware of this, which was one reason the producers cast her as Joanna Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), since she would bring a feeling of a woman in a fragile crisis to the role. She won her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the film. It was her second Oscar nomination and her second nomination in that category after this film.
- #028
Filming the wedding scene in the church took five days. A real priest was cast for the role of the priest.
- #029
When the group first reaches the mountains, George Dzundza completely blows up the toast line. His reaction is genuine, and several of the other actors can be seen laughing in response to it.
- #030
Christopher Walken was initially to be paid $17,000 for the role of Nick, but because filming took longer than originally planned, his salary was raised to $25,000.
- #031
The film takes place in 1967, 1968 and 1975.
- #032
The deaths of approximately 28 people playing Russian roulette were reported to have been influenced by the scenes in the film.
- #033
During her first take, Rutanya Alda hit her head quite hard on the door frame as she was being removed from the reception hall. For this reason, the take used includes John Savage warning her on screen.
- #034
When this film was being planned in the mid-1970s, Vietnam was still a taboo subject for all the major Hollywood studios. The British company EMI (chaired by Sir Bernard Delfont) was initially the one that arranged the financing. Universal became involved at a much later stage of the film.
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