Apocalypse Now
When he set out to make the definitive cinematic study of the Vietnam War , Francis Ford Coppola had no idea what he was gravel into . As chronicled by the documentaryHearts of Darkness , Apocalypse Nowexperienced its own hellish conflicts on the way to the big screen . From Coppola ’s steep need to the lead actor having a middle attack in the middle of shot , the years - foresightful yield of this lightly veiled Joseph Conrad adaption face up interminable complications and obstacle . It resulted in an all - time moving picture classic , but at what cost ? Without further stir , here are 10 Behind - The - Scenes Facts AboutApocalypse Now .
Martin Sheen had a heart attack in the middle of filming
In the middle of filmingApocalypse Now , the lead thespian Martin Sheen suffered from a mettle attack and had to take time off to recover from it . In the meantime , Francis Ford Coppola lend in Sheen ’s buddy Joe Estevez to stand in for him in all of his view during this hiatus . long time later , when Coppola was edit the movie and needed Sheen to make over some of his voiceover narrations , Sheen was n’t available . remember that Estevez ’s vocalism was almost identical to Sheen ’s , Coppola bring in him back in to do the voiceovers . deplorably , Estevez was n’t credited for any of his piece of work on the movie .
The Doors’ “The End” was initially played over the opening scene as a joke
The plastic film fromApocalypse Now ’s opening scene , with grainy image of helicopters flying across psychedelic landscapes , was really fished out of the trash in the cutting elbow room . It get down off as a joke to roleplay the Doors ’ “ The End ” over the root of the picture . Francis Ford Coppola was quote as saying,“Oh , would n’t it be singular if we started the movie with ‘ This is the end , ’ at the beginning?”When it all meet on the screen , it became this tragically beautiful , mesmeric musical composition that ended up in the final cut . It could be reason that this scene absolutely sets the timbre for the entire moving-picture show .
Filming took more than ten times longer than expected
Shooting forApocalypse Nowwas initially scheduled to last for six weeks , but it ended up lead 16 months . This is around ten time longer than the product was scheduled to last . by nature , the producers that were putting up money for Francis Ford Coppola to stay in the jungle with his casting and gang and all of the equipment for these extra 58 - odd months of motion-picture photography were not best pleased with the managing director . The resultant of 16 months of filming was a humongous 200 hour of footage that Coppola has continued shuffling around and repeatedly re - cathartic .
Laurence Fishburne lied about his age to get a role in the film
Back in 1979 , very few motion-picture fan comment a young Laurence Fishburne inApocalypse Now . He was class away from immortalizing himself as a screen icon with persona like Furious inBoyz n the Hoodand Morpheus inThe Matrixtrilogy . As it reverse out , Fishburne did something a fiddling sneaky to bring his role inApocalypse Now .
When the war epic began shooting in 1976 , Fishburne was just 14 long time old , and therefore could n’t legally take a role in the film . So , he had to lie about his age ( it helped that he looked sometime when he was a teenager ) to secure his part .
Francis Ford Coppola chipped in millions of dollars from his own pocket
The studio was furious when Francis Ford Coppola expire way over - budget withApocalypse Now . Movies are expected to sometimes surpass their budget as the reality of filmmaking set in and unplanned incidents occur , butApocalypse Nowwas ridiculously over - budget . It got to the tip that Coppola conduce millions of dollar bill out of his own pocket , and even ended up having to take out another mortgage on his household and on his winery in Napa Valley . The director did n’t just blow through all of the studio ’s money ; he almost blew through all of his own , too .
The U.S. military refused to lend the filmmakers any equipment
When you ’re making a war movie , it ’s always a good melodic theme to get the U.S. armed services on your side , because then they can lend out equipment that you ca n’t get anywhere else to employ as props . However , sinceApocalypse Nowrevolved around the U.S. military dictate a captain to assassinate one of their own colonels , the real military want nothing to do with the film . Francis Ford Coppola and his crew rather had to borrow equipment from armed forces that were local to where they were shooting in the Philippines .
The slaughter of the water buffalo was real
The tantrum in which the body of water buffalo gets viciously and ritualistically massacre was done for real . If the moving picture was shooting in America , there ’s no way the crew would ’ve gotten away with it . In fact , as an American output , despite hit internationally , the shoot ofApocalypse Nowwas subject to the animal cruelty police of the U.S .. However , when they were shooting in the Philippines , no one was keeping an eye on the production and there were no constabulary or superintendent in sight . So , they did it for veridical and the movie ended up getting an “ unacceptable ” rating from the American Humane Association .
Marlon Brando didn’t learn any of his lines
The character of Colonel Kurtz was in the first place envision as a tall , svelte valet de chambre , and that ’s what Marlon Brando was when he was cast . However , when Brando showed up on the set , Francis Ford Coppola was horrified to fall upon that the actor had become rotund . He also did n’t learn any of his line , or read Joseph Conrad’sHeart of Darkness , which the pic was base on .
This egregious neglect for the work was the beginning ofBrando ’s tricky incline into becoming infamously difficult to work with . Coppola ended up fetch so foiled with Brando that he eventually just lease assistant director Jerry Ziesmer shoot all of his scenes .
Dennis Hopper got a teenaged Laurence Fishburne hooked on heroin
On the lot ofApocalypse Now , drug were getting passed around the cast of characters and crew like bottle of water . Dennis Hopper was particularly notorious for his heart ill-usage on the bent , and even got Laurence Fishburne — who , as we note to begin with , was a stripling lie about his age when he seem in the film — addict to heroin . Those involved in the devising ofApocalypse Nowhave often compared production of the movie to the Vietnam War itself , and the casual drug role ( not to mention , drop a group of untried , inexperienced American men into a hostile hobo camp ) take a leak that ostensible .
Martin Sheen really was drunk in the opening hotel room sequence
Book of Revelation Nowopens with Willard in a hotel elbow room , set to the sound of the Doors , kick the bucket ballistic , peradventure trigger . When this vista was filmed , Martin Sheen got really drunk and secernate the crew to keep rolling the tv camera . He used the panorama to confront his boozing problem , figuring that if the cameras keep filming as he disappear into his own nous , he ’d get to the root of his problems and start to work them out . During this prolonged take , Sheen punched a mirror and abridge his script , and even attempt to attack Francis Ford Coppola . The crew was frightened and uncomfortable and want to stop shoot , but Sheen importune that they continue .
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