How old are you?
Seventeen.
In screenwriter John Milius' 1969 draft of the script, we are introduced to the crew
who would escort Captain Willard up the Núng River, not on the boat, but on the dock.
Milius writes,
“Willard walks down the dock to the waiting PBR (Patrol Boat, River) - a small light craft
- very fast - heavily armed.
Beside it stands a crew of FOUR” (‘69 Screenplay 16).
The crew was made up of Chief Warrant Officer R. "Chief" Phillips, Jay "Chef" Hicks, Lance
B. Johnson, and Tyrone "Clean" Miller.
Coppola filmed something similar to what we see in Milius’ 1969 draft that was ultimately
cut from the movie and replaced with voice-over while already on the boat.
Captain Willard?
Quartermaster Chief Phillips, sir.
Glad to have you aboard, sir.
Captain, meet our crew.
I imagine that some changes were made to this section
after Harvey Keitel was removed from the cast.
In this episode, we will take a look at the members of the PBR crew and the actors who
played them, Coppola’s philosophy behind directing actors, and the insane detail that
went into creating the Kurtz dossier.
All that and more on this episode of Making Apocalypse Now...
The part of Mr. Clean would be played by a young Laurence Fishburne.
How young?
Well, he lied about his age, saying that he was 18 when, in fact, he was only 14 years
old at the time he was hired.
Apocalypse Now producer Fred Roos–who also served as the casting director–claims that
the production didn’t find out until they were already on-location in the Philippines (Casting).
Fishburne attributes his getting the part to a secretary who happened to walk into the
room while he was meeting with Roos and Coppola.
Fishburne: “A young woman who was working in the office as a secretary got up and walked through.
And as she was walking, Francis finally spoke up and he just looked at her and said, ‘Excuse me,
do you think this kid could be eighteen?’ and whoever this young woman was, she turned
around and looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, I guess so.’
And I think that’s how I really got over on that.”
Fishburne would later become a household name with such varied roles as Furious Styles in
Boyz n the Hood, Cowboy Curtis in PeeWee’s Playhouse, and of course, Morpheus in The Matrix.
Fishburne got involved with Apocalypse Now because he had appeared in the TV movie ‘If
You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band’ that was written by a friend of producer Fred Roos (Casting).
Roos had kept Fishburne in mind for future projects and, when the role of a young soldier
from the Bronx came up for Apocalypse Now, he thought of Fishburne (Casting).
I wasn’t able to find a clip from that movie, but here’s a movie Fishburne acted in shortly
after, titled Cornbread, Earl and Me.
That’s my cousin.
Who?
Can’t you see?
Cornbread, that’s who!
He is not!
Is so!
[music] He’s Cornbread!
Cornbread! [music]
Coppola wanted a very young-looking soldier on the boat to depict the real 16 and 17-year-olds
who found themselves involved in a war that they were too young to really understand (Commentary).
Fishburne would celebrate his 15th and 16th birthdays during filming (Actors Talking).
Fishburne: “And that’s, I think, what my role is about.
I mean, it’s about the kids that were over there… who didn’t know anything about anything.
They were just kind of snatched up and used as cannon fodder for this war.”
Fishburne would be chosen over some other young up-and-comers
like actor/director Kevin Hooks (Cowie 20).
I heard the guys from Brooklyn are really bad.
Yeah, they bad enough.
How bad are you?
I don’t expect you want to know.
The part of Chef would be played by Frederic Forrest.
Forrest had appeared in Coppola’s The Conversation and they liked him enough to just give him
the part without any screen-testing (Casting).
He was hired on with [quote] “a seven-year contract at $1000 a week for the first year
and escalating thereafter” (Cowie 18).
[“Provided you use my good side in the scene where my head is cut off, with Marty”]
Milius said, "Chef was one of my ideas.
I thought this absurd a kind of trait, to be a saucier, and he ends up in the Navy,
and can’t stand it cause all the food is ruined” (Travers 101).
See, I come from New Orleans.
I was raised to be a saucier--great saucier.
Forrest ended up being the last of the PBR actors to feel comfortable in his character.
Coppola said that it can take a week or even three weeks for an actor to feel comfortable
playing their role (Commentary).
When an actor has trouble finding their character, Coppola will invite them to dinner (Commentary).
He had dinner with Forrest who told him that he felt like he wasn’t making the movie–that
he was visualizing himself in Beverly Hills (Commentary).
Coppola told him to incorporate that into the character.
Forrest: “We felt like, after a while, that we really weren’t there, it was like, you
were in a dream or something, you know?
We’d say to Francis, ‘I’m not here Francis, I’m in Montana with Jack Nicholson.’”
Eva can’t picture me in Vietnam.
She pictures me at home having a beer, watching TV.
The surfer, Lance, would be played by 21-year-old Sam Bottoms.
Bottoms signed on-to a seven-year contract at $500 a week for the first year (Cowie 20).
Lance is described by Milius in the 1969 draft as [quote] “a perfect image of the blonde
California surfer, which he is” (‘69 Screenplay 16).
Bottoms was actually from Santa Barbara, California, and was still a teenager when he was first
approached (Casting).
Milius had a strong interest in the California surfing culture, and between the production
and release of Apocalypse Now, Milius would write and direct a movie dedicated entirely
to surfing titled Big Wednesday.
There was a scene in the script that explained that Lance had volunteered to go to Vietnam
because he was rejected by a high-school classmate and cheerleader he was infatuated with, but
it was ultimately cut from the movie (Cowie 43).
However, it does make an appearance in some behind-the-scenes footage taken during the
casting process.
I didn’t know what I was doing with her.
She was… man, she was my dream!
Bottoms said, “Lance was just a surfer, his family were all surfers... and he overcame
his innocence throughout the whole thing” (Travers 101).
Chief would be played by Albert Hall.
Milius describes Chief as “a tough but sloppy looking man,” but he doesn’t seem sloppy-looking
in the final film (‘69 Screenplay 16).
Producer Fred Roos had seen Hall in a play and liked him (Casting).
Hall had appeared in plays and on TV, but hadn’t had many movie roles before Apocalypse Now (Casting).
They thought he was perfect for the role of Chief–the no-nonsense captain of the PBR (Casting).
Hall signed the same seven-year contract for $500 a week for the first year (Cowie 20).
Hall: “Francis was the first director I ever met who kept asking for more.
I had never had that challenge before and I liked it.”
Coppola: “And when you get into this anger, Albert, don’t decide where you’re going
to get to.
Wherever you get to, as long as it is out of you, it’s okay.”
Following the crew’s introduction on the dock in Milius’ 1969 draft are some other
bits that didn’t make it into the final film.
Lance offers Chief some fish that he “fermented and fried in motor oil” causing Willard
to vomit over the side of the boat (‘69 Screenplay 18).
Coppola wrote in the margins of Milius’ script, “OK, he gets sick.
But I need more — something between Willard and the river, the jungle, some observation,
a feeling of something deeper, not just amusing” (Cowie 38).
Then Chief tells the crew a story about going to a massage parlor.
Like Lance’s cheerleader story, this was ultimately cut from the movie, but we can
see it performed in the casting featurette on the blu-ray for The Final Cut.
I said, ‘you’ve just been giving me a hand-massage, now, what is this
very special massage?
She didn’t want to answer that.
Just said I was a ‘very number ten GI.’
Coppola continues his notes, writing, “I want to start getting into Willard's head here.
By now we have got to be into him, interested in him — and linked with him” (Cowie 38).
Now, as you might have noticed, all of the main actors were signed to these unorthodox
seven-year contracts.
Pretty much everything about Apocalypse Now was unique–why should the actor contracts
be an exception?
According to Steven Travers, Coppola was upset that he was abandoned by actors like Al Pacino
and others from the Godfather movies–actors who owed their position in the film industry
to Coppola’s success and vision (Travers 102).
Variety magazine wrote that Coppola’s [quote] “incentive-laden back-end deals... were
his way of getting some 'payback’ from an industry he arrogantly felt never gave him
his due” (Travers 102).
Frederick Forrest expected that his seven-year contract would be for “two or three films”
instead of spending an undetermined amount of time on-location in the Philippines (Travers 102).
But now, the production was in full swing and everyone was ready and willing to give
themselves over to the vision of their leader.
Sometimes the actors would get pages that just said, “Scenes Unknown” and they would
show up with no idea what they were going to do that day (Hearts of Darkness).
Producer Fred Roos said, “You want, each day, to say, 'What will we do today?'...You
want a real plan for each day, but Francis is a writer and as the co-writer of the script,
he could create things at the moment, and if an idea came up, he'd sit there all night
and write it” (Travers 130).
And sometimes, Coppola would skip the writing part and try an improvisation.
Coppola had an interesting technique when exploring and doing improvisations.
Editor Walter Murch said, "Francis had the notion that if you wanted an actor to investigate
a certain part of a character in an improvisational way, you turn film on it, even if you think
the film will never be used, because it makes the actor wake up -- after all, it could be
used, resources are being expended.
What you wind up with has a different feel than if it were just an actor and a director
alone in a room saying, "Let's investigate" (although some of that is done, too)" (Salon).
Coppola would usually write up a bunch of little note cards of different ideas he had
for the scene they were about to shoot (Hearts of Darkness).
And then I propose that we do four close-ups–Sam, Chief, Martin, everyone–looking at the birds,
so that I can use the sound of the birds and maybe three birds going through and I can
create the illusion of there being birds.
Coppola’s excitement was infectious.
John Milius being John Milius had this to say about Coppola’s leadership,
“You know, Francis can convince me of anything.
Francis is still my fuhrer.
And I use the term intentionally, because in all my reading about Hitler, I'm convinced
that Hilter has never been portrayed correctly.
Because he had to be like Francis - he could get anybody to do anything.
So Francis can go to Cannes and hog all the credit, and when I call him on it, he says,
"Well, I got in front of the press and I couldn't help myself."
And I forgive him for it.
Because Francis has greatness in him” (Neon 113).
...Montagnard army who worship the man, like a god, and follow every order however ridiculous.
Coppola didn’t want his actors to really “act,” but instead build their character
out of their own personality, saying, “I don’t make the person play the part, I make
the part play the person.
People think that you only do that with non actors.
It works great with actors” (Coppola 157).
Mister Co-pahla, I presume.
Coppola.
Don’t give me line readings!
Coppola and Roos employed the same approach they took when casting The Godfather–they
saw hundreds of actors in both New York City and Los Angeles, going in-depth with “weeks
and weeks'' of interviews and then screen tests (Casting).
They rented a small commercial soundstage and had all of the actors in the same room
instead of auditioning one at a time while the others waited outside (Casting).
Roos said, “It was free flowing.
Not formal.
Everyone was around and switching parts” (Casting).
I’d like, Tommy, you read Willard.
Freddy’s gonna read Chef.
And Sam, you read Lance.
And Albert, you read Chief.
The PBR crew had been cast already and Coppola brought in other actors to audition with them,
improvise scenes together, and bounce ideas off of each other (Actors Talking).
The point was for everyone to get to know each other and to have an opportunity to experiment
and be creative (Casting).
This way, not only do the PBR actors build a rapport, but they create memories that can
be used later.
You guys are fresh, you want to get your boat from here to there, these guys are beginning
to get weird.
How fat can they get?
Let me ask you a question, how much [?] you got on those strikes?
Coppola would have the actors improvise scenes that weren’t in the script and experiment
in a setting where you don’t have to be afraid of looking foolish.
And these sessions were great for building backstory that could be used during the production.
Coppola: “If you’ve got a couple who’s supposed to have been married for thirty years,
imagine a real thirty year old couple, the memories that they’ve built up.
First time they argued, first time they broke up, first time someone was cheating, if they
were, first time this, first time that.”
Rodriguez: “So, it might not even be in the script.
It’s not’ just do it’ so you have the memory of it, and the character--”
Coppola: “It’s ‘just do it’ so that, when you are playing a scene, all of a sudden
something happens and there’s just a flicker in the eye and you know one person is remembering
something that--”
Rodriguez: “An improvisation.”
So, when Sam Bottoms told Lance’s story about the cheerleader or Albert Hall told
Chief’s story about the massage parlor, they could incorporate those memories into
their performance and the other actors can incorporate it into their performances in
how their character views Lance or Chief.
That’s when the rockets hit the place.
They hit it three times.
I think she got zapped.
My orders say I’m not supposed to know where I’m taking this boat, so I don’t.
But one look at you and I know it’s gonna be hot.
Wherever it is.
But above all, each actor knew that they were writing their performance and that they and
their character were intertwined.
Fishburne: “Francis had come to us and said, ‘You guys got the characters down.
Don’t act.’”
Forrest: “We weren’t acting.
We were just living.
We had those characters down.”
Sheen: “He’d tell me constantly, ‘Willard is you, whoever you at this time in this place.”
And it wasn’t just the actors who were living their part, Coppola was as well.
In a diary entry by Eleanor Coppola from April 28th, 1976–shortly after Martin Sheen replaced
Harvey Keitel–Eleanor wrote,
“Francis had two readings with the cast this week.
The actors were very enthusiastic, but Francis is really in a state of anxiety and fear that
the script has some good supporting characters and some good scenes, but Willard and Kurtz
are not resolved and here he is in the middle of this giant production.
I remember the anxiety he felt and the struggle he had with the script of Godfather II, and
it seems, in retrospect, at that time he was himself dealing with the same themes in his
own life— money, power, and family.
Now he is struggling with the themes of Willard’s journey into self and Kurtz’s truths that
are in a way themes he has not resolved within himself, so he is really going through the
most intense struggle to write his way to the end of the script and understand himself
on the way” (Coppola 43).
I took the mission.
What the hell else was I going to do?
But I really didn’t know what I’d do when I found him.
Meanwhile, Willard opens the Kurtz dossier and starts to learn about the man he is on
a mission to kill.
The research process for Apocalypse Now took from “early spring of 1975 until about June
of 1977” and was completed entirely by Deborah Fine in Los Angeles (Cowie 21).
Fine was tasked with researching [quote] “Montagnards; the NVA (North Vietnamese Army); Cambodian
ruins; rubber plantations; combat bunkers; ARVN operations; US Forces’ wardrobe; China
Beach; PBRs (Patrol Boat, River); weaponry; and USO shows” (Cowie 21).
On February 8th, 1976, Coppola sent Fine a telex about the dossier reading, “Essentially
the various envelopes and files in Willard's pouch contain the main narrative thread of
the story.
When he was briefed by the General ... he only really focused on the fact that there
was some big assignment, and he was being sent on it.
He does not digest (nor the audience) any of the details on Green Berets, Col. Kurtz
(called Leighley in shot scene must be dubbed to Kurtz), the Rheault-like murder charge,
the phasing out of the Green Berets, the so-called war-within-the- war between the regular army
and the Special Forces, etc.
All we show at the beginning of the picture is that he kills on special assignments, that
there's a guy named Kurtz who's out there, insane - and that he must be killed.
· · · Each scene begins with the withdrawal of a sealed classified document - Willard
breaking the seal, and an examination of the information, pictures, clippings, letters, etc” (Cowie 22).
Coppola separated the dossier story into “seven seals” –each time Willard opens a new
piece and reveals more and more about Kurtz.
These were:
One, “up to Nu Mung Ba” that we see first.
Two, takes place after Hau Phat.
Three, involves Kurtz’ personal life.
Four, goes into a [quote] “more frightening area of insanity.”
Five, is given to him at Do Lung and contains info about Captain Colby.
Six, is Colby’s military file with the letter that says, “sell the kids.”
And seven, contains the codes for the air-strike (Cowie 22).
The physical Dossier prop was incredibly detailed.
Fine researched everything down to Kurtz’ “yearbook photo” and how the “letterhead
and stamps” would appear on classified military documents (Cowie 22).
Fine even made “tax returns” for Kurtz as well as “driver’s license” for his
wife and tons of letters to his family (Cowie 21).
Milius wrote letters that Dennis Jakob revised (Cowie 21).
Coppola filmed Willard reading one of the letters from Kurtz to his wife, which was
cut from the film.
I hope no one sees this message, written in the calm lonely far out languid afternoon
with my total love.
Readings and long monologues were later replaced with a narration written by Michael Herr.
Herr was a writer and war correspondent most known for writing Dispatches–a memoir about
his time as a correspondent during the Vietnam War (Herr Wiki).
Herr would go on to co-write Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam War film, Full Metal Jacket.
We’ll talk a bit more about Herr in some later episodes.
The scene ends similarly to how it does in Milius’ 1969 draft.
He writes,
“Suddenly there is a slow buffeting as if the air around them is being sucked out and
replaced quickly - The boat shakes slightly - Willard gets up - there is a distant rolling
NOISE like interrupted thunder…”
Coppola wrote in the margins “At first it seems something natural and unfathomable and
it frightens [the crew]” (Cowie 38).
Hey, what’s that?
Arc light.
B-52 strike.
What’s that?
Arc light.
The arc light was an operation in which B-52F bombers that had previously carried nuclear
weapons, would instead drop conventional munitions on enemy areas in Vietnam (Arc Light Wiki).
The bombs would be very loud and Coppola intended to use sensurround–a kind of surround-sound
made for movies like 1974’s Earthquake (Sensurround Wiki).
They ended up mixing it in their own version of sensurround and intentionally made the
theater seats rumble with the sound of the bombs going off in the distance (Commentary).
Smoke!
Secondary burn!
Hueys over there.
Lots of Hueys.
Tune in next time when we’ll meet Colonel Kilgore or is it Colonel Kharnage?
Played by the legendary Robert Duvall.
This episode's one-dollar companion PDF features some more info on Laurence Fishburne's time
in the Philippines, including his friendship with Emilio Estevez and meeting Marlon Brando.
It’s just one dollar and it really helps the series.
Or you can support me on Patreon at the $5 level for access to all of the Companion PDFs I’ve made.
Thanks for watching!