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Apocalypse Now is a epic war film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Coopola co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Herr and John Milius. The film was loosely inspired by the 1899 novella Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Instead of the film taking place in late 19th-century Congo, it took place in the Vietnam War.
The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a renegade Special Forces officer who is accused of murder and presumed insane.
Milius became interested in adapting Heart of Darkness for a Vietnam War setting in the late 1960s, and initially began developing the film with Coppola as producer and George Lucas as director. Eventually Lucas wasn't able to direct so Coppola took over directorial control. Several issues lengthened shooting date to over a year (original shooting date was March 1976). These problems included expensive sets being destroyed by severe weather, Brando showing up on set overweight and completely unprepared, and Sheen having a breakdown and suffering a near-fatal heart attack on location.
After photography was finished in May 1977, the release was postponed many times while Coppola edited over a million feet of film. Many of these difficulties were revealed in the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991).
Apocalypse Now performed well at the box office when it opened on August 15, 1979. It opened in three theaters in New York City, Toronto, and Hollywood, grossing $322,489 in its first five days. It has grossed over $80 million in the United States and Canada with a worldwide total of over $100 million
Source: Wikipedia
The film follows a river journey from South Vietnam into Cambodia undertaken by Captain Willard (Martin Sheen), who is on a secret mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a renegade Special Forces officer who is accused of murder and presumed insane.
Milius became interested in adapting Heart of Darkness for a Vietnam War setting in the late 1960s, and initially began developing the film with Coppola as producer and George Lucas as director. Eventually Lucas wasn't able to direct so Coppola took over directorial control. Several issues lengthened shooting date to over a year (original shooting date was March 1976). These problems included expensive sets being destroyed by severe weather, Brando showing up on set overweight and completely unprepared, and Sheen having a breakdown and suffering a near-fatal heart attack on location.
After photography was finished in May 1977, the release was postponed many times while Coppola edited over a million feet of film. Many of these difficulties were revealed in the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991).
Apocalypse Now performed well at the box office when it opened on August 15, 1979. It opened in three theaters in New York City, Toronto, and Hollywood, grossing $322,489 in its first five days. It has grossed over $80 million in the United States and Canada with a worldwide total of over $100 million
Source: Wikipedia
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