Apocalypse Now: Production

 FILM PRODUCTION - FRANCIS COPPOLA

Hotel Room Scene

The scene at the beginning with Captain Willard alone in his hotel room was completely unscripted. Martin Sheen had been drinking all day and Coppola had an impulsive idea to incorporate Sheen's drunkenness into the scene. By the time they got going, Sheen was so drunk to the point where he was unable to stand. Later on, they set up two cameras and started rolling without telling Sheen what to do and say whilst letting him know that he could wrap up for the day whenever he felt like it.

Coppola stated that at the time of the shoot he intended to represent the different levels of good and evil in oneself and believes that Sheen has done things that no one had ever seen or ever talked to anyone about that must've been locked inside him for a long time. Moreover, this scene is Sheen essentially releasing that torment and sort of venting in a physical manner. Coppola needed something to set up the dark side of Willard and instil this conflict within him that would ultimately drive him towards Kurtz and an approach for displaying this conflict within the scene.





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