MOVIE NEWS – One of the greatest war movies ever made, went through a deadly hurricane and near-death experiences and used real dead bodies as props.

Apocalypse Now is known as one of cinema’s most incredible war epics and one of director Francis Ford Coppola’s greatest works. Still, this epic film is also memorable for the complicated legacy it left behind, which included actor controversy, near-death experiences, dangerous weather conditions due to a hurricane and a police case after a report of dead bodies found on set.

Apocalypse Now inspired by Joseph Conrad’s novel The Heart of Darkness follows Captain Willard’s (Martin Sheen) crazy journey through the jungles of Vietnam to assassinate the rebel Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), driven mad by the violence of war and living in the ruins of an ancient temple where he is worshipped as a demigod by the native villagers. The crumbling ruins are littered with corpses, decapitated heads and overgrown foliage. Watch the classic trailer below.

On one occasion, co-producer Gray Frederickson visited the church during filming. He reportedly learned that dead bodies were being used as props for the film but had previously dismissed it as an outrageous rumour. On the day of her visit, Frederickson saw several dead bodies used as props, hanging from trees and strategically placed around the church setting. Frederickson demanded that the bodies be removed, at which point the local Philippine police arrived to question all cast and crew members and confiscated their passports. As the bodies were unidentified, the local authorities had to ensure that a serial killer was not at large.

Other tragedies and scandals overshadowed the shooting. Actor Sam Bottoms was infected with hookworms during filming, and the parasite destroyed his liver. Dennis Hopper and Marlon Brando did not get along, which led to Brando refusing to be on set at the same time as Hopper. Typhoon Olga destroyed 40 to 80 per cent of the set, and before filming was finished, Martin Sheen, then 36, had a heart attack and was half-paralyzed and crawling through the jungle because he was far away and alone on the set. Sheen was worried that funding would be cut off if word of his condition got out, so he claimed to have had a heat stroke. Despite all the difficulties, Apocalypse Now has received eight Oscar nominations and is being hailed as one of the best films to date, which we fully agree with.

Source : Movieweb