Apocalypse

Good evening, I would like to introduce myself to this community. I am @gladiadorr and I love cinema and I have seen that in this community it is possible to do so, so I hope you like my posts and if there is something I do wrong, do not hesitate to tell me since I am new to all this.

And after my introduction, I now want to talk about my favorite movie and it is APOCALYPSE NOW, this 1979 American war film directed and produced by Francis Forcopola, the script written by John Millus is partially based on the short story Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, this cinematic masterpiece tells the story of a special forces soldier Benjamin Wilard who, unable to return to civilian society, is assigned a mission to kill Colonel Kurtz, a soldier who operated behind enemy lines, but who went crazy and became the leader of an indigenous group that treats him like a God.

The film lasts more than 2 hours and is known because it was one of the most complicated shoots in history, among other things the statement was supposed to last 6 weeks, although it finally took 16 months, in addition it had to overcome multiple problems with the actors, especially Marlon Brando who arrived without having read a single page of the script or the original novel and weighing 40 kg more than his role required, as if that were not enough, Martin Sheen had a heart attack during filming, a tornado destroyed the sets stopping filming for 6 weeks and the budget got so out of hand that even Francis Ford Coppola himself had to mortgage his house to be able to continue filming.

Project arose when Coppola was filming Rain people in 1969 at that time George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had asked George Millius to write a film about the Vietnam War, Miriu came up with the idea of ​​adapting the plot of Heart of Darkness to that event, replacing the framework of European colonialism with a harsh criticism of American interventionism, Coppola gave Milius $15,000 to write the script, promising him $10,000 more if it was approved and Milius wrote it during 1969 with the title of Psychedelic Soldiers. It took him to write about 10 drafts and was based on his friend Fred Rexer, a Vietnam veteran, for the role of Kurtz. He changed the title to Apocalypse Now after seeing a fashionable pin during the 60s that said "Nirvana Now." Originally, Milius was thinking of making a black comedy and having it filmed in Vietnam itself during the war with real soldiers and a budget of 2 million dollars.

Now we're going to change the subject and I'm going to talk to you about the two soundtracks that I highlight in this movie.

"The End" de The Doors

The Doors' "The End" is a song that hauntingly captures the dark tone of the story. This piece is deep and psychedelic, with Jim Morrison's hypnotic vocals and the band's instrumentation reflecting an atmosphere of desolation and madness. This song is especially significant because, in a sense, it suggests the characters' loss of humanity amidst the conflict and brutality of war.

"Ride of the Valkyries" de Richard Wagner

One of the most memorable scenes in Apocalypse Now is the helicopter attack, in which Colonel Kilgore (played by Robert Duvall) orders the playing of “Ride of the Valkyries” to strike fear into his enemies. This epic and powerful piece by Richard Wagner adds a touch of irony and surrealism to the scene, as classical music resonates throughout a violent military incursion. The choice of this piece gives an almost mythological air to the war, and highlights the madness and drama of the soldiers’ actions.

When pre-production began, the Vietnam War had already ended in the spring of 1974. Coco revived the project and began production. She asked Lucas and Emilio to direct it, but George Lucas was working on Star Wars and turned it down as Miyo didn't want to direct it either. The responsibility ended up falling on Copola while he was promoting The Godfather II in Australia. The director visited possible locations due to the finiteness of the jungle in Vietnam. He finally decided to shoot in the Philippines because he had access to the Americans here and with very cheap labor. Gray Freddysson, another of the producers, had negotiated with the actors' union to get financing. The budget was around 14 million dollars and the original cast was going to be composed of Marlon Brando, Sigas McQueen and Jim Hackman. Freddyxson even traveled to the Philippines to meet with President Ferdinand Marcos and get his support for the claim and a loan of military equipment.

the first choice for the role of Wellard, but the actor did not want to leave the United States for so long. The next choice was Al Pacino, who turned down the role because he was afraid of getting sick during filming in the jungle, then went to actor Martin Sheen, who unfortunately had already accepted a role in another project, so they called Harvey Kaizen. Three weeks later, the first filming tests began.

Christmas 1976 Coppola returned to the United States and was able to edit part of the film for the first time, but it still needed a new ending. In the first days of 1977, he returned to the Philippines and there he learned that during his absence Martin had a heart attack. Coppola did not answer anyone for fear that production would cancel the film. Fortunately, Shinxa recovered and they were able to finish filming. Filming ended on May 21, 1977 for a total of 2 consecutive years. Post-production was handled by a recurring collaborator of Coppola, the editor and sound editor Walter Mortch, who only had four months to finish. There were several difficulties in editing because the noise of the helicopters did not let the original dialogues be heard. Beyond that, all the voices had to be dubbed in post-production. The producers did not have gun sounds in stereo available.

No ambient jungle sounds because the Philippine crew hadn't had time to film us with two years of shooting and thousands of cans of philic only a madman would imagine that post-production would take less than four months to complete so Coppola had to postpone the premiere from May 1978 to the spring of 1979 there was a test screening for 900 people in April of that year but it was very badly received by critics then came the Camps Festival where critics destroyed Apocalypse Now even more going so far as to say that the film was a disappointing catastrophe despite all the bad press the film ended up winning the Palme d'Or on August 15 1970 and. Apocalypse Now was released in 15 theaters in the United States and had a very good box office takings, earning more than $300,000 in the first week despite being available only in New York and Toronto, and grossed $78 million in the U.S. market and $150 million globally.

If we can learn anything from Apocalypse Now, it is that making movies is not an easy task and that filming is full of inconveniences that can arise at the last minute, whether or not they have the money. This profession can be completely stressful, but at the same time fun and full of challenges.