by Rhys Jones.
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 war and psychological film directed by Francis Copola which follows an adaptation of the 1899 novella "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, however it is changed from 19th century Congo towards the setting of the Vietnam war. The film follows Captain WIllard (Martin Sheen) who is tasked with assassinating Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando) who is a special forces officer who has gone rogue. Apocalypse Now is considered to be one of the greatest war films of all time and is considered to be one of the best films of all time. However, the reality of its production would ironically mimic the war, this would include mass drug abuse from cast and crew alike, the fact that the were filming during the Philippine Civil War, crew mutinies, and the harsh climate alongside extreme weather leading onto numerous setbacks would delay what was presumed to be a 2 month filming period to over a year as a result of these complications. This article will explore the numerous hellish experiences and issues which were prevalent throughout the filming of Apocalypse Now and provide insight into the effect these issues would create on cast and crew.
The Philippines would be selected as the filming location due to the fact that Vietnam was both still considered to be too dangerous as an area of contention as the Vietnam War only would have just ended with production starting in 1976. The Philippines would also be selected due to the fact that the Philippine military would allow for the use of their American helicopters during the filming of battle scenes. However, complications would start to arise when many of these fight scenes would have to be cancelled as The Philippines were engaged in a civil war at this point. This would often result in the military needing to take the helicopters mid-filming to attack actual targets. These delays would be further worsened when early in the film’s production a typhoon would hit and destroy most of the set, leading onto the film surpassing its budget by $2 million. During this period many crew members left to go to the US and never returned. The extreme weather, accompanied by the abundance of disease and intense heat strokes from the tropical climate would mean that by the film initially started filming it had already been delayed by 6 weeks and would lead towards the film being way over budget, Coppola would have to use much of his own money and would have to take out a mortgage on his house to assist in the payments of the film.
The low motivation and tiredness would result in large alcohol and drug abuse from cast and crew, with many of the actors asking for cocaine to give them the energy to continue resulting in many scene having actors drugged up, The production would result in Martin Sheen suffering from major alcohol addiction, resulting in a body double being used for some shot due to his alcoholism making him unable to act. Furthermore, the film's opening scene where Sheen has a mental breakdown in a hotel room, where he would dance, cry and break a mirror was not acting and was as a result over his alcoholism abuse due to the strain of working on the set. The mass abuse amongst actors and crew would result in Marlon Brando antagonising them due to him viewing them as unprofessional (ironic as he would refuse to learn lines or even read the script). However, the alcohol and drug abuse can be viewed more as a way in which the cast and crew tried to manage and mitigate the intense and unforgiving environment, which can be seen as the great issue as it often resulted in tiredness and would wither away motivation to continue filming.
Marlon would also worsen his relationship with copallo to the point where the assistant director would have to take Copola’s place due to Marlon Brando refusing to work with him too. Copola approached several actors such as Clint Eastwood, Al Pachino and Jack Nicholson but Harvey Keitel would take the role. However, Harvey would also almost instantly refuse to act and would leave the set due to Copola’s disagreement with his portrayal of Willard. This would lead to Martin Sheen replacing him. Marlon Brando would be overweight once shooting started and he would not have read the original story “Heart of Darkness” or the actual script itself and would refuse to learn his lines as a result, meaning all of his acting was in complete improvisation, his scenes would also be shot in darkness to hide how he became overweight. Marlon would antagonise and provoke other actors on the set due to him viewing them as unprofessional too, leading to conflict between him and many of the actors and crew members. Often resulting in many crew members leaving and even in extreme cases attempting mutinies. He would later refuse to work with certain actors meaning two recordings would have to be performed switching between the two actors and would be brought together through editing. This made the production process increasingly more complex, resulting in more shoots and major discontent from cast and crew. Once filming initially finished it would be discovered that the film would not have an ending meaning reshoots would have to occur. This demonstrates how the aggression which developed during shootings, mostly between Marlon Brando and everyone else, would delay and complicate the filming process.
Controversy would arise when one of the members of production would get real dead bodies from a morgue as set pieces outside the temple in the later acts of the film. Later on the police would arrive as it would turn out the man supplying the bodies was a grave robber and not a man working at a morgue. Furthermore, Martin Sheen would suffer a major heart attack when he was on his own off set. During this while undergoing a heart attack he would have to crawl half a mile to receive aid. Controversy would arise as he would be told not to mention his heart attack to the studio as it would mean they would have to cancel filming. Sheen, Coppola and those who assisted him would disguise the attack as merely heat exhaustion.
Overall, we can understand the nature of the issues experienced during filming as the intense nature of filming in The Philippines (during a civil war), alongside intense climates and weather would cause major delays and discontent, spiralling people down the route of major alcohol and substance abuse as a management strategy. Finally we can see how Brando’s lack of cooperation and general difficulty to work with would only further delay and degrade relations, meaning the issues mentioned previously would only enhance its effect on cast and crew. Ironically, the intense heat and drug fueled frenzy of the production mimics the actual Vietnam War and the apocalyptic nature could very have contributed to what made the hell on earth atmosphere of the film even more surreal due to the true hardship which cast, director and crew alike suffered during its process.
by Rhys Jones, August 2022.