Why did Michael Cimino pick Isabelle Hubbert?

It's a theory, but nothing more... Bach intimates at Cimino being smitten with her, but never mentions any knowledge of an actual relationship... something he surely wouldn't refrain from doing, considering the tone of the piece.

If I can make a guess, I think he always wanted a foreign actress for the role, and his "promise" to cast an star actress was just lip-service (just like his promise to cast a star actor). Why Huppert? I don't know. Her career was finally taking off at this point. Cimino claims it was purely accidental: during casting, he happened to end up in front of a theater showing The Lacemaker and instantly knew he wanted to cast her. Of course, Cimino was never one to let the truth get in the way of a good story.

The casting of this film was most likely a huge contributing factor to this films failure. Cimino had Clint Eastwood as a lead in 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot' and Robert DeNiro in 'The Deer Hunter'—2 big popular names—yet he chose to cast Kris Kristofferson as his male lead in 'Heaven's Gate'. Kristofferson is an excellent character actor and support for other big names—he is not a marquee light up. And who is Isabelle Huppert when she is not at home? Considering the limited appeal of the films subject matter and the large budget that was being allocated on this—Cimino, who is a true auteur—made a big casting blunder, when what he needed were 2 big names to help attract. Who knows though if this would have made much of a difference.

Are you referring to the original poster? If not best to do some research Vagabear.

I just watched Final Cut and what I found interesting is there was no discussion of why all the female big names passed. Here was an Oscar winning director, in a big epic film and yet the women passed. I think had UA addressed that they might have had a better film-namely that Ella's role was pretty poorly written.

That said I actually thought IH did as well as anyone could with the part.

Ehe was one of the few excellent things in the film.

Kisskiss, Bangbang

Well, you have the IMDB here, which makes weird that you say that her only US role was in that film, as Hal Hartley's Amateur was everything but non US.