Best War Movie Ever Made Went Through Production Hell to Even Hit Theaters

War is unfortunately an integral part of human history, and cinema has been exploring this topic for more than 100 years.

One of the brightest and undoubtedly the best representatives of the war genre for more than forty years has been Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. At the time of its release, it was one of the most expensive and anticipated projects in the history of world cinema.

Since then, Coppola's film has achieved impressive results: the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, eight Oscar nominations (of which the film won two), successful box office receipts, excellent reviews from film critics, and the unconditional love of viewers around the world.

Apocalypse Now Was a Big Movie Event Even Before Its Release

When Francis Ford Coppola was hired to direct the project, Apocalypse Now became the most anticipated film overnight. The promises were loud: Coppola announced that the film would be financed entirely by himself, using the money he made from two installments of The Godfather. 16 weeks of shooting were planned in the Philippines, with a large number of extras and fight scenes that were unprecedented at the time.

Apocalypse Now became a dream project for many movie fans: a big-budget war movie from the famous director of The Godfather.

However, like any ambitious project, Apocalypse Now faced many problems. The production proved to be much more difficult than Coppola had originally thought. The planned 16 weeks of shooting turned into long months of production hell and a real nightmare for any director.

But Coppola would not be considered a great director if he could not bring such an unwieldy idea to completion.

Coppola Had to Fire One of the Lead Actors Mid-Production

Filming began in March 1976. Coppola enlisted the help of the Philippine government, which provided military equipment for the battle scenes. The director supervised the construction of the sets and selected the locations for the filming, with the firm intention of making the movie as realistic as possible.

Production went according to plan: several scenes were shot, but as Coppola watched the footage, he realized that the film was going in the wrong direction – the director didn’t like Harvey Keitel, whom he had originally cast in the role of Captain Willard.

Coppola had to fire Keitel and suspend filming for a while. The director had to explain to the crew that difficult scenes had to be re-shot, for which he received a lot of criticism. Martin Sheen had to rush to the Philippines.

The Movie’s Set Was Destroyed by Rain

Filming continued as usual until a serious and unforeseen event occurred: an early rainy season began in the Philippines, which the film crew was caught in due to a delayed schedule.

The rains washed away some of the sets, interrupting the production of the movie – the delay was approximately two months.

There was also constant tension among the crew due to the complexity of the filming process. The director tried his best to support his people: he organized dinners, parties, provided constant supervision of doctors, but it only helped partially.

There are rumors that drugs were distributed among the people involved in the production, and some scenes were filmed under hallucinogenic influence. Martin Sheen definitely abused alcohol and later suffered a heart attack during the filming – the actor was unable to work for six weeks.

Marlon Brando Made Production Even More Unbearable

The story with Marlon Brando that happened on the set became a Hollywood legend. The director assured the Oscar-winning actor that he would not have to spend many days on the set, as his participation would only be required in the finale.

Brando agreed to participate in the project and received an advance of several million dollars. In return, Coppola asked the actor to lose weight to fit the image of Kurtz and to read the book Heart of Darkness, on which the movie was based.

In the end, it all turned out to be a nightmare: Brando flew to the Philippines even more overweight, and not only did he not read Heart of Darkness, he did not even read the movie's script.

Coppola had to quickly read him the story and briefly explain the essence of the Kurtz character. Brando, as usual, did everything his own way – most of the colonel's monologues were improvised. To hide the actor's weight, the cameraman had to film him in darkness.

Due to many problems, Coppola lost a lot of weight and suffered several nervous breakdowns. He also mortgaged his own house in order to continue filming. In the event of a box office failure, Coppola could go bankrupt and lose all of his savings. For this reason, the production of the movie became a special mission for him.

Apocalypse Now’s Original Version Had to Be Severely Cut

The original version of Apocalypse Now was five hours long – in order to fit the film into a usual time frame, Coppola had to cut two hours off the film, sacrificing many of the scenes that had been shot. For its theatrical release, the film was shortened by an additional thirty minutes.

Despite all the difficulties, the movie was finally released, and even after 45 years, Apocalypse Now remains relevant. There has never been, and perhaps never will be, a movie in the history of cinema that comes close to Coppola's work in terms of importance and ability to explore the horrors of war and darkness in the human heart. This film is a true classic of world cinema, which will be perceived by future generations as a true pearl that determined the development of cinema for years to come.