Co-writer and director Michael Cimino’s 1978 war drama The Deer Hunter, featuring Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken, successfully turned the Vietnam War into a valuable commodity for Hollywood. However, despite earning respect and accolades for the movie, Cimino’s project ended up being quite controversial.
But why should that mean that the actors and the crew didn’t enjoy the process of making the 1978 war drama? Involving a lot of real-life physical violence, Robert De Niro even had scenes where he got slapped in the face and spit on by Christopher Walken. But in the end, instead of letting it go for the sake of filming, De Niro actually exacts his revenge on Walken.
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Director Convinced Christopher Walken To Spit on Robert De Niro’s Face
Michael Cimino’s take on the Vietnam War for his 1978 war drama The Deer Hunter happened to have been one of the most brilliant and successful plotlines in the history of Hollywood. But unfortunately, when the movie was released it was still a taboo topic, as the war had just ended three years ago.
Thus, with the political scenario and the wounds still fresh, Michael Cimino‘s movie featuring Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken turned into a major controversy. However, still, The Deer Hunter turned into a commercial success and even won prestigious accolades.
While shooting the film, the cast had a joyous experience and in one segment, Michael Cimino even convinced Christopher Walken to spit in Robert De Niro’s face. Evidently, Walken found it an extreme step and thus hesitated initially. However, when he did it, De Niro was completely shocked and even furious.
Robert De Niro Exacted His Revenge on Christopher Walken With a Slap
During the production of The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino certainly took extreme steps like convincing Christopher Walken to spit on Robert De Niro’s face. This evidently made De Niro furious and almost leave the set. But, according to IMDb trivia, Cimino was aware that, “he’s [De Niro] got courage!”.
However, why should that mean that Robert De Niro wasn’t upset? Believe it or not, things got far worse for him later on, when Michael Cimino included a scene where De Niro was supposed to get slapped in the face by extras in Thailand. Although initially when actors were hired, they were incapable of slapping Robert De Niro, eventually they found a local Thai man with a particular dislike of Americans.
So when Robert De Niro got slapped by the local Thai man, he suggested that Christopher Walken be slapped for real by the guards without any warning. Trying to exact his revenge on his co-star for getting spit on the face, De Niro suggested the idea. In the end, Walken was actually slapped without any warning and therefore the reaction on Walken’s face shown in the movie, was genuine.
Watch The Deer Hunter on Netflix.
