5 Incredible Films That Almost Never Got Made

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Arguably one of the most troubled productions in history, the journey of Apocalypse Now from page to screen was so mired in difficulty that it spawned its own documentary – Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, from a script by John Milius and Coppola, Apocalypse Now is inspired by the Joseph Conrad novella Heart Of Darkness, but transfers the themes of that tale to the Vietnam War. Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) is dispatched into the depths of Cambodia to assassinate a rogue colonel, who has begun an oppressive rule over a local tribe (Marlon Brando).

Once funding and an agreed script were in place, Coppola began the process of casting. Several choices were approached ahead of Martin Sheen for the role of Captain Willard, and Sheen himself declined due to scheduling problems. Harvey Keitel was hired instead, three weeks before shooting began, but this was shortlived. Coppola, unhappy with Keitel’s portrayal, managed to bring Sheen on board to replace him, and the 17 month-long principal photography process continued.

Several weeks into production, the whole enterprise was shut down, however, when a typhoon destroyed all the film sets. Shortly afterward, the entirety of the payroll was stolen. Marlon Brando arrived to complete one month of work, and was completely unprepared, as well as having gained so much weight that Coppola had to make adjustments to the end of the script. Martin Sheen suffered a near-fatal heart attack in the depths of the jungle, and once filming was finally complete, it took Francis Ford Coppola almost two years to edit the nearly 200 hours of footage he had amassed.

Apocalypse Now eventually saw the inside of movie theatres in 1979 – over six years after Coppola began work on it. In addition to almost unanimous critical acclaim, the film received 30 award nominations, 20 award wins and two Oscars.