If there’s one film that has probably the most insane behind-the-scenes tales, it’s Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. From coronary heart assaults to star wrangling to solid firings to stoned actors to precise wars to just about every thing that might go sideways throughout manufacturing, Apocalypse Now had all of it. Don’t consider us? Go watch Hearts of Darkness and also you’ll get a fairly good thought of every thing that was occurring. Don’t plan on seeing that? Simply ask Emilio Estevez, son of star Martin Sheen, who watched his dad have a complete meltdown on the set of Apocalypse Now when he was simply a youngster.
Estevez lately appeared on the Completely satisfied Unhappy Confused podcast, the place he recounted the time he was introduced onto the Philippines set of Apocalypse Now solely to see his film star father make movie historical past whereas additionally breaking down fully. However first let’s set the scene, which is among the most-cited ones from the movie as a result of simply how scary it obtained, with Martin Sheen getting drunk and punching a mirror to the purpose the place it brought on his hand to bleed profusely, one thing you see within the remaining movie.
That’s fairly horrifying, however the best way Estevez tells it, seeing his previous man partake in such antics (on Sheen’s birthday, no much less) is what made Apocalypse Now so particular to him. “He has this meltdown on set because he was celebrating his birthday and he was drinking…Francis had him isolated in his room and I was there. I watched it happen. And I was there when they carted him out and he was ranting and raging and screaming.”
Estevez added that the constructing the place filming was going down on Apocalypse Now at that time was really meant for courtroom, one thing Sheen was all too conscious of. “He demanded to go into the courtroom because he says, ‘If I don’t go in there’ — and he’s screaming at my mom — ‘I need to go into that courtroom because if I don’t go in there, some poor son of a bitch is gonna go to jail for masturbating in front of a pig.’ And Francis was like, ‘Martin, Martin, no. Come on, Martin.’…It was hilarious. We got him in the car. We started driving — God knows where, just somewhere away from where we could get him calmed down and he announced to everyone in the car that he had to pee.” Between Estevez and Laurence Fisburne, youngsters certain had been getting an eyeful on the set of Apocalypse Now!
What’s your favourite behind-the-scenes story from Apocalypse Now?
