Documentary that chronicles how Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now (1979) was plagued by extraordinary script, shooting, budget, and casting problems – nearly destroying the life and career of the celebrated director.
For all the years (well over 40 now) that I’ve been involved in the independent film community, I have yet to find anything I love to watch more than a behind-the-scenes documentary about how a particular movie was made. Whether I’m watching the orchestration of a large, expensive studio project or the resourcefulness and quick thinking of a small indie production, it never fails to astound me just how challenging and precise the act of directing is as a way to fulfill a creative vision.
I’ve directed 4 features, dozens of short films, and a couple of music videos, and still, I am endlessly struck by how individual the style of each filmmaker is, and this is the very reason that I never tire of watching others.
Francis Ford Coppola stands at the forefront of those attempting these enormous artistic feats, and in terms of making acclaimed movies and the sheer force of will required to create these images, none has ever proven more adept at the game; his movies like “Dementia 13,” “The Conversation,” The GODFATHER trilogy and perhaps most famously, “Apocalypse Now”–an almost fatal combination of physical and spiritual exhaustion which very nearly destroyed the great director.
While “Apocalypse Now” was only based (and loosely) upon Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella ‘Heart of Darkness,’ Coppola transplanted Conrad’s contemplation of the evils of European Colonialism in the Congo into the surreal nightmare of the Vietnam War. Captain Willard’s journey up the river into Cambodia, to assassinate Colonel Kurtz, an officer who has gone insane and is now worshiped as a god by his native followers.
“Apocalypse Now” earned 2 Academy Awards for cinematography and sound, as well as 3 Golden Globes for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Duvall. Though his early success with the first two installments of The GODFATHER films was dismissed by many as pure luck, “Apocalypse Now” proved Coppola to be an undisputed legend on a par with other cinematic titans like Scorsese, Kubrick, Welles, and Kurosawa.
The tale behind the making of “Apocalypse Now” is a legend in and of itself. Coppola financed his movie with his own personal funds and, before he and the cast and crew departed for the Philippines, he commissioned his wife, Eleanor Coppola, to document the entire undertaking. Eleanor’s documentary, titled “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse,” documented the making of the nearly 238-day-long project and documented how, at nearly every turn, Coppola’s film was almost destroyed by typhoons, illness, the rapidly spiraling cost of the movie, and the director’s very own unraveling. The production was an utter mess. Martin Sheen, the movie’s lead, suffered a heart attack mid-production, forcing Coppola to shoot around him for 6 weeks, using a stand-in for wide shots.
Add to this the fact that Coppola had envisioned Colonel Kurtz (the mysterious anti-hero played by Marlon Brando) as a tall, lanky man of immense and terrifying presence, but Brando arrived on the set several hundred pounds over weight and not at all prepared to film as such, causing confrontation and tension between director and star, and of Coppola’s last-minute scrambling to create the shadow-casting enigma seen in the movie. All this, compounded with the extreme financial burden the film placed upon Coppola (who reportedly mortgaged his house and winery, and poured $30 million of his own money into the project), and you have a real disaster on your hands.
Despite the total chaos, the 96-minute-long “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse” manages to balance the tragedy of the production with Coppola’s ultimate triumph, in weaving together Eleanor Coppola’s original footage with new interviews with both the cast and crew, and showing very candid, often deeply personal, interviews of both Francis and Eleanor. Co-directors Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper added some newer interview footage from about 1990 to complement Eleanor’s original movie, and the contrast between director Coppola during the production-thin, weak, overwhelmed and on the brink of insanity-and the director a decade later reflects so accurately how a film can very nearly consume its own creator and the movie that was produced within it; and the resulting documentary truly does capture both a director’s worst nightmare, and also an artist’s incredible strength.
While there are hundreds of well-made documentaries about the behind-the-scenes of favorite films, like the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, “Hearts of Darkness” should be required viewing for any movie enthusiast. It’s not just informative but incredibly humanizing to watch such a driven and successful artist devolve to the point of self-doubt and physical pain, and then document that descent honestly and humanely. Whether you are a filmmaker yourself or a casual observer of the cinematic arts, you will leave with a new and profound appreciation for the artistry that is film.
Now available on 4K Ultra HD™ Special Collector’s Edition and an elegant photo book created in partnership with Joseph Logan Design, the design team behind Sofia Coppola’s Archive book. The photo book features archival photography from the Coppola family, new photography from Eleanor Coppola’s short films, and her own behind-the-scenes footage from “Hearts of Darkness,” “The Virgin Suicides,” and “Marie Antoinette.”
Special Features on the 4K Ultra HD™ + Blu-ray™ + Digital Collector’s Series:
DISC 1: 4K UHD (Movie + Special Features)
- Legacy Features
♦ The Making of Hearts of Darkness
♦ Eleanor & Francis Coppola Audio Commentary - Lionsgate Limited Extra
♦Eleanor Coppola: Art Is All Around Us
DISC 2: BLU-RAY (Movie + Special Features)
- Legacy Features
♦ The Making of Hearts of Darkness
♦ Eleanor & Francis Coppola Audio Commentary - Lionsgate Limited Extra
♦ Eleanor Coppola: Art Is All Around Us
DISC 3: BLU-RAY (Special Features Only)
- Legacy Feature
♦ Original 1979 Apocalypse Now Trailer - Lionsgate Limited Extras
• Documentaries:
♦ A Visit to China’s Miao Country (1996)
♦ Circle of Memory
♦ Coda: Eleanor Coppola introduction
♦ Coda: Thirty Years Later (2007)
♦ Making of Marie Antoinette (2007)
♦ Francis Ford Coppola Directs The Rainmaker (2007)
♦ On the Set of CQ (2002)
♦ Making of The Virgin Suicides (1998) - Shorts:
♦ Peeling a Potato Is a Work of Art (1976)
♦ Victorian House (1976)
♦ Joyce Goldstein (1976)
♦ Refrigerator (1976) - Hearts of Darkness Trailer (2025)
10k
20k
1.5k
2.2k