Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (1991)
Director Francis Ford Coppola himself admits that those involved in making his 1979 masterpiece, Apocalypse Now, went insane “little by little.”
A landmark documentary, Hearts of Darkness uses behind-the-scenes footage shot by Eleanor Coppola, the filmmaker’s wife, who was present on the turbulent set for months.
Grade: A (***** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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Hearts of Darkness chronicles the endless various production problems—among them bad weather, actors’ poor health, Harvey Keitel getting fired, Martin Sheen (his replacement) suffering heart attack, Brando showing up double sized, and other issues.
The above troubles delayed the filming of Apocalypse Now, tripling the original budget, nearly destroying the life and career of its director, Francis Ford Coppola.
The documentary was begun by Coppola’s wife, Eleanor, who narrated behind-the-scenes footage.
In 1990, Coppola turned her material over to two young filmmakers, George Hickenlooper and Fax Bahr (co-creator of MADtv), who subsequently shot new interviews with the original cast and crew, and intercut them with Eleanor Coppola’s material.
A quote from the Coppola interview is shown at the beginning of the film:” We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane.”
After a year of editing, Hickenlooper, Bahr, and Coppola debuted their film at the 1991 Cannes Film Fest to great acclaim.
The title is derived from the Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Drakness, the source material for Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, which won the top award, Palme d’or at the 1979 Cannes Film Fest
Among other things, it shows in vivid detail the road to madness. Few documentaries have more sensitively explored the fine line between uncompromising artistic vision and unbound megalomania in filmmaking.
Directed by Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper, Eleanor Coppola
Written by Fax Bahr, Hickenlooper
Produced by George Zaloom, Les Mayfield
Interviewees:
Eleanor Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Robert Duvall
Dennis Hopper
George Lucas
John Milius
Martin Sheen
Edited by Michael Greer, Jay Miracle
Music by Todd Boekelheide
Production: Zaloom Mayfield Productions, Zoetrope Studios
Distributed by Triton Pictures
Release date: November 27, 1991
Running time: 96 minutes
