What Issues did Coppola Face Wile Making ‘Apocalypse now’?
● Apocalypse Now is adapted from Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Darkness
which was originally set in the center of African jungles to the deadly landscape of
the Vietnam War.
● The Philippines was selected as the location for filming due to the similar terrain to
Vietnam. The US army refused to cooperate with the production of the film so
Coppola made a deal with the president of the Philippines in which the army would
be paid for their help in the film and in return would be able to use their entire fleet of
helicopters if they promised to not use them against the communists in Vietnam
● Because of the war, the government had to send different pilots every day to the set,
ruining hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shots. Once in the middle of a
shoot, the helicopters were called away to fight some rebels nearby
● Coppola described the set as “We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we
had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went
insane."
● Orson Welles originally tried to adapt the novella into a film but due to the subject
matter, the lack of a production company to support the project, as well as the
outbreak of WW2, Welles turned his attention to Citizen Kane.
● Apocalypse Now had an approved budget of $12 million under Zoetrope but balloned
to $30 million, meaning Coppola would go into financial trouble if the film didnt’
achieve success as most of that money was his
● The film took 238 days to shoot and after reviewing the footage, Coppola realized
that he had to replace one of his leading actors Harvey Keitel as Captain Willard as
his performance was deemed insufficient enough for his creative vision so was
replaced with Martin Sheen- requiring Coppola to reshoot for days
● Sheen later suffered a heart attack, crawling his way to the side of the road and being
picked up by a bus and given medical care. This left Coppola to either postpone the
shooting of crucial scenes or use a body double, extending the shooting time and the
budget
● Due to the lack of digital technology, he had to use unforgiving jungles and military
helicopters to set his production
● Two months into production, Typhoon Olga caused widespread devistation and
ruined multiple of the film’s sets, forcing the film to shut doen for an even longer
period
● Dennis Hopper, who played a photojournalist, was notoriously under the influence of
cocaine and forgot a lot of his lines
● Marlon Brando was able to wield an unusual level of power when he signed to play
Coronel Kurtz. He was granted a $3 million salary for three weeks, $1 million upfront.
Brando arrived on the set with a shaved head and overweight and didn’t read the
original novella, or learn his lines. Coppola had to subsequently rework the ending of
the film whilst improving with Brando and the cinematographer by shooting him in
shadowy lighting in order to conceal his weight and Brando demanded to only wear
black
● The mental and physical pressure of the film drove Coppola to the edge of his own
psychological limits- life imitating art
● Apocalypse Now is adapted from Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Darkness
which was originally set in the center of African jungles to the deadly landscape of
the Vietnam War.
● The Philippines was selected as the location for filming due to the similar terrain to
Vietnam. The US army refused to cooperate with the production of the film so
Coppola made a deal with the president of the Philippines in which the army would
be paid for their help in the film and in return would be able to use their entire fleet of
helicopters if they promised to not use them against the communists in Vietnam
● Because of the war, the government had to send different pilots every day to the set,
ruining hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shots. Once in the middle of a
shoot, the helicopters were called away to fight some rebels nearby
● Coppola described the set as “We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we
had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went
insane."
● Orson Welles originally tried to adapt the novella into a film but due to the subject
matter, the lack of a production company to support the project, as well as the
outbreak of WW2, Welles turned his attention to Citizen Kane.
● Apocalypse Now had an approved budget of $12 million under Zoetrope but balloned
to $30 million, meaning Coppola would go into financial trouble if the film didnt’
achieve success as most of that money was his
● The film took 238 days to shoot and after reviewing the footage, Coppola realized
that he had to replace one of his leading actors Harvey Keitel as Captain Willard as
his performance was deemed insufficient enough for his creative vision so was
replaced with Martin Sheen- requiring Coppola to reshoot for days
● Sheen later suffered a heart attack, crawling his way to the side of the road and being
picked up by a bus and given medical care. This left Coppola to either postpone the
shooting of crucial scenes or use a body double, extending the shooting time and the
budget
● Due to the lack of digital technology, he had to use unforgiving jungles and military
helicopters to set his production
● Two months into production, Typhoon Olga caused widespread devistation and
ruined multiple of the film’s sets, forcing the film to shut doen for an even longer
period
● Dennis Hopper, who played a photojournalist, was notoriously under the influence of
cocaine and forgot a lot of his lines
● Marlon Brando was able to wield an unusual level of power when he signed to play
Coronel Kurtz. He was granted a $3 million salary for three weeks, $1 million upfront.
Brando arrived on the set with a shaved head and overweight and didn’t read the
original novella, or learn his lines. Coppola had to subsequently rework the ending of
the film whilst improving with Brando and the cinematographer by shooting him in
shadowy lighting in order to conceal his weight and Brando demanded to only wear
black
● The mental and physical pressure of the film drove Coppola to the edge of his own
psychological limits- life imitating art
