Martin Sheen: “You know, Francis had a lot
of courage— one, in bringing me in to play
that part. I was too old, frankly. I was 36
when I came to the Philippines and I’m eternally
grateful to Francis and we formed a friendship
over the years that started with that and
he opened a lot of areas to me and allowed
me to explore a lot of things that I don’t
know if I ever would have gotten the chance
to do and never would have gotten to know
myself as a result of ‘Apocalypse’ if
he that courageous and that generous and that
tough on me. He was tough on me.
Martin Sheen wasn’t accepted into the military
during the war saying, "I was classified 4F
because I had a birth defect, my left arm
was crippled, most of my classmates ended
up in Vietnam … I would have gone. I had
two brothers in Vietnam, one who was decorated,
a Marine, my brother John was a decorated
hero, he survived, he had a very difficult
time, and he's one of my heroes. He's still
alive, God love him. My feelings for him are
of joy ... he became a corpsman in the Navy
... the Marines took all the corpsmen into
combat. He found himself in some horrible
conflicts and lost all his friends. He became
a raging lunatic and ended up in jail and
beat people up,
and finally had a moment of clarity” (Travers 114).
Coppola thought that Sheen was hesitant in
his depiction of Willard. Willard is a pretty
passive character and the hotel scene is our
only real glimpse into the kind of person
Willard is outside of his mission.
Coppola: “Much of what the character had
to do was look at weird things, I mean, it
was always a shot of a face and he’s looking
at whatever it may be, but it was a very passive
kind of a role and I really worried about
that. It’s one of the reasons why I wanted
Marty Sheen to do it because he has such a
beautiful face.”
I don’t follow, sir.
Coppola: “I figured, well, if your going
to look at this fellow, he ought to look nice.”
Sir, I am unaware of any such activity.
At this point, they had been shooting for
4 to 5 months. Let’s take a look at the
production timeline.
You can see here that the hotel scene was
shot after they already had the flight of
the valkyries, the tiger, the playboy, and
the medivac sequences in the can. This was
Coppola's chance to apply further meaning
to Willard’s watchful eye and transform
these images of a character simply seeing
the strange things around him to a character
going through a personal crisis.
Milius relates Willard to Marlow— the protagonist
from Heart of Darkness— saying, "Willard
was my Marlow, a very complex character, a
guy who was ahead of his time, written of
a lot now, but not then… He was a warrior,
but not warlike, but got high on war, it was
his drug, and he had nowhere else to go, he
didn't know what else to do. Willard is a
poster boy for post-traumatic [stress disorder]
syndrome, especially the first scene. I love
the idea that he hopes they're gonna come
to get him” (Travers 117).
I wanted a mission. And for my sins, they
gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service.
Sheen: "My opinion of The Deer Hunter, and
Coming Home, both brilliant films, are really
about civilians who went to war. Apocalypse
Now is about professionals who invented it,
and there really is no comparison. We play,
both Marlon and myself and Bobby Duvall, professional
soldiers, who don't question really the morality
or the right and wrong of fighting in Vietnam,
but rather the methods of how it's fought."
I don't see any method at all, sir.
The sound of a helicopter outside causes Willard
to drag himself out of bed and look out the
window to realize-- after a night of heavy
drinking— that he is still in stuck in Saigon
waiting for a mission— longing to go back
into the jungle. Coppola remarked in the commentary
that reconstructing Saigon in the Philippines
was a hectic day involving lots of “taxis
and people” and Coppola never quite got
it the way he wanted it (Commentary). It’s
interesting that so much work was put in for
a shot that is less than 10 seconds and seen
only partially through the venetian blinds.
Here is some footage of the recreated Saigon
that wasn’t used in the final film.
The way the light shines through the venetian
blinds creates almost a war-paint effect on
Willard’s face. This wasn’t the first
time cinematographer Vittorio Storaro played
with the striped shadows and light from venetian
blinds. In fact, by this time, it was almost
a trademark of Storaro.
Storaro had been finishing up his cinematography
work on Dario Argento’s The Bird with the
Crystal Plumage just before moving on to his
next job— The Conformist by Bernardo Bertolucci.
You might remember that Storaro got offered
the job of cinematographer on Apocalypse Now
because of Coppola’s love of The Conformist.
Well, due to scheduling, Storaro went straight
from The Bird with the Crystal Plumage to
The Conformist and had very little time to
prepare (NYFF55). He met with Bertolucci less
than a week before filming would begin. Storaro
saw some Venetian blinds and immediately had
the idea to use the striping effect of light
coming through the blinds for a scene they
were preparing (NYFF55).
Storaro: I said, "Bernardo, let's create
a kind of cage around this character. Let's
use the light in such a sharp way, that there
is not any embrace, not any harmony between
light and shadows.
He was extremely happy to discover, on the
day, that the costume designer had a similar
idea and dressed the actress in black and
white stripes (NYFF55). Storaro was very interested
in the separation between light and shadow
and later came across this Alfred Stieglitz
photo from 1889 in Northern Italy depicting
a woman striped by the shadows and light coming
from the blinds (NYFF55). He would later revisit
an old short that he had worked on in which
he had forgotten that he had also used the
striping effect of venetian blinds. They had
a soundstage and he had a student grip take
all the stage lights down from overhead and
place lights on the other side of the set’s
window (NYFF55). In Storaro’s mind, the
light represents something and the dark represents
the opposite and with the blinds, we get a
strong sense of the conflict and separation
between these two things.
The Conformist, is about a man’s struggles
with being swept up by fascism. He tries to
conform, but there is a conflict within himself.
This conflict is represented in the separation
of light and shadow— reality and artifice
created by fascism.
Amore.
Storaro said that Bertolucci would “express
each scene” in the proper conscious way,
but not completely— there was always some
part that was suggested or symbolic or hiding
in the shadows (NYFF55). This likely encouraged
Storaro when heightening reality for Apocalypse Now.
Here, we can already see the conflict between
light and shadow as representing this conflict
in Willard. The light is civilization and
the shadow is the dark, primal nature of humankind.
Civilization is creeping in from outside,
but it appears that he is already approaching
the heart of darkness when we meet him.
There is a conflict in every human heart between the rational and the irrational.
Between good and evil.
Coppola: I always imagined the type of operations
he did he spent many many many nights in the
jungle alone eating what he could and so he
was used to a very solitary kind of strange
existence.
When Storaro arrived
in the Philippines, he had brought with him
his own team made up of camera operator Enrico
Umetelli, gaffer Luciano Galli, and key grip
Alfredo Marchetti, but it wasn’t long before
Storaro would realize that the sheer scope
of Apocalypse Now would require assembling
a second unit to help shoot the film (Cowie 48).
Coppola agreed to this request and they hired
on Stephen Burum as second unit director and
cinematographer who would be aided by “one
of Storaro’s favorite operators” named
Piero Servo, who had brought his own cameras
(Cowie 48). Of course, Burum would have his
work cut out for him because he would have
to match the intense style of Storaro’s
cinematography. Burum would later go on to
be the cinematographer for such movies as
The Outsiders, The Untouchables, and the first
Mission Impossible movie.
Burum said, "I agreed to head up the second
unit, so about a month later I got on a plane
and flew to the Philippines. About a day and
a half after I got there, I met Vittorio,
who introduced me to Piero Servo, who would
be operating the camera for me. Vittorio then
said to me, 'I want you to watch me shoot
two scenes before you do anything: So first,
I watched Vittorio shoot [the military briefing]”
(American Cinematographer 95). And shortly
after, Burum would shadow Storaro on Willard’s
drunken night in the hotel.
Burum said, "I was looking very carefully
at what Vittorio was doing, because I knew
I had to duplicate exactly what he was doing
not only technically, but spiritually.
I'd gone to school [at UCLA] with Francis, so
I understood how he thought, but I didn't
yet understand how Vittorio thought, and it
was very interesting to observe the way in
which he used the light. Coming from the industry
in Los Angeles, I was used to having all of
this equipment; we had more gadgets and tools
than anybody else in the world. Vittorio,
on the other hand, was just using Brute arcs
and Photofloods with blue gels on them. In
the hotel room, he had two arcs coming in
through the windows and a little cluster of
lights bouncing up on the ceiling to provide
a bit of fill. Then, back in this dark corner,
he had a lamp on with a lampshade over it.
By doing that, he made the black in the corner
look better, because he had that bright reference
in the frame. He also had this elaborate system
of cutting pieces of paper or gels for the
shades in order to block out the light coming
toward the camera, and have as much of it
as possible hitting the wall instead” (American Cinematographer 95).
Sheen: "I remember complaining to Francis
one day about my confusion about all that
was going down and I said to him, 'I don't
know who this guy is, who is this Williard?'
And Francis just looked at me square in the
eye and he said, 'He's you. Whoever you are.
Whatever we're filming at the time. You are
that character.’"
The scene was shot on August 3rd, 1976—
Sheen’s 36th birthday. He had been drinking
all day and Coppola had an idea to incorporate
Sheen’s drunkenness into the scene (Travers 116).
By the time they got going, Sheen was
so drunk that he could barely stand (Hearts of Darkness).
Storaro set up two cameras and they started
rolling without telling Sheen what to do,
but letting Sheen know that they could wrap
for the day
whenever he felt like it (Cowie 69, Hearts of Darkness).
Coppola: "At the time of doing that scene,
I was talking in terms of, you know, showing
the different levels of good and evil in yourself
and I imagine that this guy did things that
nobody had ever seen or even ever talked to
anyone, must still be in him. And he must
still have that Kurtzian other side in him."
Coppola: "I thought, I wish there was one
scene at the beginning that established that
he was a complex, deep guy. So the audience,
and audiences will do this, would read into
if he's looking at something interesting,
that they would read emotion or thoughts in
the character that's really, he's just looking,
is very passive."
Coppola needed something to set up the dark side of Willard and instill this conflict within him
that would drive him ultimately to Kurtz with the question being: what would he do when he gets there?
But Coppola needed an approach for displaying this conflict within the scene.
Earlier Coppola had a dream that he was shooting
the scene with Sheen and a Green Beret advisor
and the advisor told Coppola that all these
elite military guys were vain— in the dream,
Coppola had Sheen go to the mirror and admire
his beautiful face “and when he turned around,
Francis could see that Marty had suddenly
turned into Willard" (Coppola 103).
Sheen: "He was hard on me in that he would
not let me get away with any cheap shots,
acting wise, you know. He wanted me to fully
realize myself in this piece."
Coppola decided to take this approach in the
scene, having Sheen admire himself in the mirror.
Coppola: "Marty, go look at yourself in the
mirror.
I want you to look at how beautiful you are, I want you to look at your mouth--
mouth and your hair.
You look like a movie star."
Costas: "What do you think you were trying
to be, that no long matters to you?”
Sheen: "Well, all my life, I wanted to be
a movie star, you know, and here was the opportunity
of a lifetime, I was working with the most
important talented director in the world on
the biggest feature ever made with one of
my idols, Marlon Brando, you know. And I'd
felt terribly insecure and empty about it
all. It just didn't make any sense. Why me?
And why this? And why now? You know? Over
and over again, I would talk to Francis about
who is this character Willard, and how do
we play him, and Francis was always, always
clear about it, in that he'd tell me constantly,
Willard is you, whoever you are at this time,
in this place."
In her production diary, Eleanor Coppola writes,
"Yesterday Francis shot the scene in the hotel room.
He let Marty get a little drunk, as
the character is really supposed to be.
He and Marty both knew they were taking a chance.
The first layer of the character Marty played
was the mystic, the saint, the Christlike
version of Willard. Francis pushed him with
a few words and he became the theatrical performer,
Willard as the Shakespearean actor. Francis
prodded him again and he moved to a street
tough, a feisty street fighter who has been
at the bottom, but is smart, knows some judo,
is used to a scrap” (Coppola 103).
Crew: "Fellas, get right here, as soon as
you can, please …"
A Vietnam veteran and friend of Sheen's named
Joe Lowery taught Sheen about hand-to-hand
combat (Cowie 69). Lowery told Sheen that
it was best to practice in front of a mirror
[quote] “because nothing is faster than
your own reflection” (Cowie 69).
Since the scene would just play out over music,
Coppola directed Sheen during the shooting
of each take. He told Sheen, "You're evil;
I want all the evil, the violence, the hatred
in you to come out" (Travers 116). Coppola
had told Sheen to be vain, and now he told
Sheen [quote] “now frighten yourself, Marty”
and Sheen punched the mirror (Travers 116).
Sheen: "I was so intoxicated I didn't realize
how close to the mirror I was, and when
I struck it, I ended up catching my thumb in
the mirror and split it open a bit."
Sheen said, "Francis tried to stop it, and
he called for a doctor and there was a nurse
standing by, I said, 'No, let it go,' I said,
'Let's have it out right here and now.' It
had to do with facing my own worst enemy,
myself" (Travers 116).
Coppola was conflicted. He wanted to stop
and have a nurse look at Sheen’s hand, but
Sheen wanted to keep going. Sheen was blind
drunk and likely wasn’t really in a position
to judge exactly how badly he had been injured,
but luckily it wasn’t too bad.
Coppola: "I was sitting up on a piece of the
furniture and I knew that I should say "cut"
because he might have hurt his hand. And yet,
if I said "cut," it would mean that the scene
would be stopped and ruined and all of this
that he had gone through would have been lost
and so I sat up there and I bit my tongue
and I allowed it to go on, against partly
my better judgement, and there was I, as the
director, wanting him to have the scene which
I knew he wanted to have and yet at the same
time I said, "my god, I'm responsible for
this guy" and so finally when we did cut and
immediately gave medical attention to his
hand, you know, I felt badly, I'm not sure
his wife appreciated that I allowed him to
go on longer after he had cut his hand. It
was an accident and I was responsible but
nonetheless I did and the scene is as it is
because of that decision."
Sheen: "Yeah, I still got the scar. Yeah,
I cut myself and bled quite a lot, and Francis
tried to stop the scene. And I begged him
to continue rolling, there were two cameras
going, and he said he couldn't do it and they
had a nurse standing by and I said, "Please,
I must do this for myself, I beg you to leave
it going." And he did. And he allowed me to
wrestle, in a sense, with some demons that
I had been wrestling with for quite awhile.
And now I was doing it in a public forum and
in a sense I got them out."
Eleanor writes, "Francis had a moment of not
wanting to be a vampire, sucking Marty’s
blood for the camera, and not wanting to turn
off the camera when Marty was Willard” (Coppola 104).
Both Coppola and Sheen knew how truthful
this performance was— Sheen was Willard
and this moment really expresses Willard’s
nature— not to mention, it adds some great
humor to the next scene.
Are you all right, Captain?
What's it look like?
Sheen: "I had done that scene in bars, I'd
done that scene at home, you know, in my drunkenness.
I'm an alcoholic, you know. And I had to come
to grips with it. I had to exorcise that out of myself."
Coppola: Why did you come back?
Why did you come back?
Think about it.
Your wife...
Home...
Car.
My heart is broken.
Eleanor talks about the aftermath of filming
this scene saying, "I was outside in the street,
shooting [for the documentary]. When I went
back to the set, Enrico, Vittorio and the
people who had been inside during the scene
were coming out, visibly shaken. Silent and
disturbed, emotionally affected by the power
of Marty/Willard baring his guts in the room…
I waited for Francis to come outside after
the wrap. He never came. Finally, I went into
the set. Francis and Marty were alone. Marty
was lying on the bed, really drunk, talking
about love and God. He was singing an old
hymn called “Amazing Grace” and trying
to get Francis and me to sing with him, holding
our hands and crying… His cut finger had
been bandaged. It started to bleed again because
he was squeezing our hands, hard, and sometimes
hitting edges of the bed… The nurse came
in and I helped hold his arm, so she could
put a fresh dressing on the cut and try to
stop the bleeding. The cut was not deep, but
it was right on the knuckle and he kept bending
it. Everyone was trying to sort of ease him
toward the car. The Filipina nurse was praying
out loud and saying, 'Jesus loves you Marty.'
It took about two hours to get him in the
car and back to the hotel in the rain... Francis
wanted an actor to have confidence in him,
even if wasn’t all written in the script.
Confidence that he would find a way to get
to that moment where the actor, the person
and the character merged into reality when
the cameras are rolling." (Coppola 104).
Sheen: "I pretended I couldn't remember a
lot of the things that I'd done that night.
Actually, I remembered it all."
Since they had been in production for nearly
5 months before shooting this scene, this
actually wasn’t the first injury Sheen sustained
during production— [quote] "He had already
fainted from the heat and needed four stitches
from cuts after standing too dose to an on-set
explosion” (Travers 115).
At first, Sheen didn’t want to see that
scene. The scene wasn’t in the version that
premiered at Cannes, but Sheen would later
go it in New York with friend who had been
in the Army and was “shocked” by what
he saw (Travers 116).
Costas: "What did it look like when you saw
it?"
Sheen: "Pretty frightening. And today I don't
recognize that man, he's a pretty sad guy.
Pretty sad man. Trying to be something he
wasn't, afraid of things that he shouldn't
have been. Immature in a lot of ways. Very painful guy."
In a separate interview, Sheen said, "It was a transcendent scene. I am an alcoholic, and the insanity of alcoholics
is, you think that's who you are ... that's
where I was at that time. ... I knew I was
gonna wrestle one of the demons ... some part
of me wanted to see it on film.... I had to
look at that, and see what family members
had seen in me: self-loathing, guilt. All
the things that destroy our humanity. I had
to live that” (Travers 116).
Sheen had already been a well-known actor,
but after Apocalypse Now,
he would be a movie star (Travers 114).
It’s hard to think of anyone else playing
Willard at this point, but Sheen wasn’t
the first choice to play Willard— they had
originally wanted Steve McQueen for the role
who entertained the idea but ultimately declined
(Casting). Sheen wasn’t available, so they
cast the great frequent Scorsese player Harvey
Keitel, but things didn’t go so well…
This episode’s companion PDF is a little
more simplified for the sake of time. In this
one, I compare the introduction of Willard
in John Milius’ 1969 draft, Willard’s
introduction in Coppola’s 1975 draft, and
Willard’s introduction in the final film,
as well as a selection of interesting comments
from the previous episode.
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