Doors: 7.30pm Film: 8.00pm
With the impending release of The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola’s self financed 120 million dollar potential masterpiece / disaster-piece Megalopolis, and it’s accompanying discussion / bizarre controversy surrounding it’s production, we take a look back at the king of all madcap Coppola productions with this remarkable film documenting the sheer insanity surrounding the production of Coppola’s undoubted 1979 masterpiece, Apocalypse Now.
Combining archival footage shot by Francis Coppola’s wife Eleanor and interviews shot later with those involved in the making of the film such as Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, George Lucas, John Milius, & Martin Sheen, ‘Hearts of Darkness’ delves into the psyche of an artist on the edge as Coppola wrestles with his famed uncompromising artistic vision in the face of a $31 million dollar (easily $200+ million in today’s money) production of staggering technical and physical complexity.
Filmed in the forests of Philippines, the production deals with everything from severe shooting conditions and cast and crew problems, to life threatening illnesses and natural disasters, all in pursuit of Coppola’s mad undefinable vision of a Vietnam war epic that has become both the textbook example of late 70s filmmaking excess, as well as one of the towering achievements of America’s golden age of modern cinema.
Truly one of the great films about filmmaking, the descent into near madness for Coppola is fascinating to watch as he chases his vision and nearly loses all sense of reality in an up river journey into the jungle almost as bizarre and wild as the ones experienced by the characters in the actual film.
Also available is a discounted joint ticket for this screening and our November 29th screening of ‘American Movie’, a profoundly funny and beloved cult documentary about a young filmmaker with no less ambition but far less money (approximately $3000) attempting to shoot a horror film in mid 90s Wisconsin, only to a face a series of hopelessly hilarious setbacks.