Year of the Dragon - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Year of the Dragon or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Year of the Dragon

[jessie]

For this movie, co-writer/director Michael Cimino drew considerably on star Mickey Rourke's real-life boxing prowess. But at first, Rourke didn't take his physical training seriously. So Cimino hired a real-life Hell's Angel to be Rourke's trainer, and the biker (according to Cimino) worked wonders with the once-reluctant Rourke.

[maureen]

Michael Cimino hired real life Hells Angel Chuck Zito actor , stuntman and bodyguard to train and bodyguard Mickey Rourke during complete shooting of Year of the Dragon, and even used Zito in three different scenes in the movie ,. Chuck played a cop, cab driver and boxer while working as bodyguard and trainer to Rourke in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina.

[javier]

Oliver Stone took a cut on his normal screenwriting fee on the basis that producer Dino De Laurentiis would bankroll Stone's dream project, " Platoon ". When De Laurentiis had difficulty getting distribution deals on " Platoon ', he passed on producing it. Ironically, " Year of the Dragon " was only a moderate box office success while " Platoon " would win the Oscar for Best Picture and make over $135m at the US box-office. This would be another disappointment for De Laurentiis and would eventually lead to the demise of his filmmaking empire.

[carla]

In adapting Robert Daley's novel, Michael Cimino and Oliver Stone changed the hero's name from Arthur Powers to Stanley White.

[kylie]

According to production manager Randy Cheveldave director Michael Cimino finished shooting on budget. Producer Dino De Laurentiis promised him the luxurious Mercedes car that character Joey Tai drives in the movie, if he stayed within the budget. If not, Cimino would forfeit $50,000 of his salary. "It was four days over schedule, but $130,000 under-budget," Cheveldave remembered, so Cimino got his Mercedes. [Times Colonist, 2016]

[richard]

Cimino prefers to shoot in anamorphic as "the bigger the screen the bigger the canvas you have to paint." He says it's not a technical advantage, but he simply likes the feeling of widescreen. He makes a point of saying that he's not a teacher and can't speak about film in theoretical ways. He learns by working with other filmmakers.

[christina]

The only critic in Los Angeles who appreciated the film, despite hating everything else he's made, was Sheila Benson. Cimino thinks it's "because she's married to a Chinese man" and knows that the exploitation of Asians by other Asians is a real thing.

[edgar]

Michael Cimino was officially allowed final cut of the film, but was forced to make one change to the ending. "The only change they asked me to make, which to this day I still find inexplicable because I think it sums up the movie, was to the very last line. At the end of the movie, there's another fight that breaks out on Mott Street, during a funeral parade. Mickey is in the middle of the mêlée, Tracy runs in and picks him up off the ground, they both look like survivors of a war. The camera closes in. If you look closely, you can see that they're not saying the line that you're hearing. The last line of the movie was, Stanley looks at her and says, 'Well, I guess if you fight a war long enough, you end up marrying the enemy.' Oliver Stone himself is married to a Vietnamese girl right now. I'm sure you'll see American's with Iraqi women at some point. For reasons that I can't understand, that line was not acceptable, so I took a line from some other place in the movie and I slipped it in and it doesn't make any sense at all. But that line, that sums up the whole movie."

[janice]

Cimino says the 21st century is going to belong to China. "People used to say I was crazy, but half of Beverly Hills is owned by Chinese interests. You go on Rodeo Drive shopping it's all Chinese women. Go to clubs at night, all the great looking girls are Chinese. Not Japanese, Chinese. All the musicians at Julliard now are no longer Jewish, they're Chinese. They have such an amazing work ethic." He views visiting non-English countries, cities, and cultures is like a woman in that "you can learn from her, but to really learn from her if she's teaching you something you have to fall a little bit in love, or a lot in love, and each time you go to one of these places you end up with a love affair."

[maureen]

John Lone, Dennis Dun and Victor Wong would later appear in The Last Emperor (1987).

[amber]

Cimino was approached multiple times to direct the film and turned it down repeatedly. One of the reasons was his belief that he still holds "that very few people really know anything about the subject matter of Triads in America." He finally relented on the condition that he be allowed to write the screenplay. He realized after committing to the film that the studio already had a firm start date for production, and knowing that he couldn't possibly do the writing, research, and other pre-production work alone he brought in his friend Oliver Stone "one of the great writing talents." He adds James Toback, Raymond Carver, Gore Vidal, and Robert Bolt to the short list as well. .

[tom]

The end scene sees a mostly Chinese crowd crashing together around Stanley as Tracy tries to reach him, and it's a mix of actors and non-actors. "They just add a texture I guess. It's like spices with food, different spices, a mixture of things. Sweet sour." I mean, come on Cimino.

[oscar]

Cimino hates dealing with the press, while talking about how hurt he was when Stone's film Alexander (2004) was criticized for its failure to portray the historical figure's homosexuality. "What's that got to do with Alexander? Everybody knows he was homosexual, why do you have to talk about it on the news? It's still recorded in history." He says Stone loves fighting with the press whenever possible.

[riley]

While Chuck Zito was training Mickey Rourke in all the local gyms on different location's, they had their own portable stereo and would only listen to Elvis Presley and Bruce Springsteen music during their workouts.

[norma]

The name of the main character in the movie, played by Mickey Rourke, is "Stanley White" (it is said he is of Polish descent and changed it from "Wizynski"). In the closing credits, there is a Stanley White credited as "Technical Police Consultant".

[francisco]

Cimino credits Clint Eastwood with his career. Cimino's debut as writer/director, 1974's Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, only got made thanks to Eastwood's belief in him. The contract gave Eastwood the right to fire him after the first three days of shooting, and thankfully he never felt compelled to do so.

[jeffrey]

Stanley White (Rourke) is based on a real cop, "a Polish cop, one of the toughest cops I've ever met in real life." Cimino added.

[oscar]

Tracy's apartment was not a set. In order to get the desired view though the windows, it was specially constructed at the top of the famed Clocktower Building in New York. Cimino says in the commentary track how proud he is to be the first (and likely only) director to get that view of the New York skyline. "I can't stand going to a place and shooting it the way everyone's shot it before. People go to Paris, there's always the Eiffel Tower. They come to New York and it's The Plaza Hotel and Central Park. So I wanted a view of the city which would be unique and memorable."

[tom]

"Mickey is a fighter by nature," Cimino says, adding that the only reason he doesn't fight professionally is that he hates to train. Cimino hired an ex-Hell's Angel biker "forcing" Rourke to run each morning and spar each day too.