Dennis Hopper and Final Production Chaos

Hello and welcome. I am Josh Whittdakom. For today I amm the curator of a place of incredible artifacts and exhibitions, a place that stores the greatest thing on Eth. This is my archive of pop culture. Welcome back to part two of the incredible story of the Making of Apocalypse Now. In this episode, we've got casting directors, drink and drugs problems on set, and a civil war that repeatedly sends the helicopters AWal while trying to finish the film. Just when you thought it couldn't get any madder. Nothing is so terrible as a pretentious movie. I mean, a movie that aspires for something really terrific and doesn't pull it off. Yeah shit, it's scum And everyone will walk on it as such, and that's why poor filmmakers in a way That's their greatest horror is to be pretentious. So here you are, on one hand' trying to aspire to really do something, and on the other hand, you're not allowed to be pretentious. Why do you say, fuck it? I don't care if I'm pretentious or not pretentious or if I've done it or I haven't done. All I know is that I am going to see this movie. And that for me it has to have some answers. and by answers, I don't mean just a punch line. Answers are on about forty seven different levels Right, Tom, welcome to the jungle. Here we are. Eleanor Coppola, you should watch the documentary on this that she made. So she films and she keeps a diary of the whole thing. This is Franis V Coppola's wife. His wife. So she writes at one point, I think that Francis is truly a visionary part of me is filled with anxiety. I feel as though a certain discrimination is missing That fine discrimination that draws the line between what is visionary and what is madness, I am terrified. So that gives you a feel for what we're heading towards. Yeah. So the Philippines is chosen as a location. shooting due to its resemblance to the Vietnamese landscape. I'm presuming I don't know at this point whether Marcos and his wife Amelda Marcos are in charge. I presume they must have been there there for years. All I know about her is she had a billion shoes,n't she? Yeah, she had loads and loads of shoes. There's a great documentary on her actually. Not a good egg. No But great shoe collection. So great shoe collection. Exactly. So it's where it's all about balance isn't it really? Exactly's an a winter Exactly, yeah. She was lovely from the foot down. Yeah. Exactly. George Lucas says it's one thing to go over there for three weeks with like five people and sort of scrouge a lot of footage using the Philippine arrmy. But if you go over there as a big Hollywood production, they're gonna kill you So that's his view on it. Wow. okay. Kopola goes over there with a big Hollywood production Perfect. So they do a deal with the Philippine government to use the Philippine government's military equipment. Oh wow. donon't they need that for Well, think exactly. So most importantly, a fleet of helicopters. several key action sequences of the film But the Philippine government is at that point trying to suppress the communist rebel forces in the south of the country This is incredible. So they often Have to take the helicopters back with very short notice to use them at war. With Marlon Brando still in the back,.'s being thown over actual warfare. That's amazing. I mean, you can see how that might happen. It's not ideal for filming schedule though, is it? No. And then when they return the helicopters, they've been painted in the colours of the Philippine Army again they have to be repainted as US Amy helicopters To be fair to the Philppine Amy, I think, probably Their defensive maneuvers have to take precedence Yes Others you need to repaint If you're going. we've got take these helicopters now because it's really desperate that we use them. you're like donon't bother with a repaint job. But I don't think they're just doing it so they look great. I imagine that's some kind of signifier of what is on what side, isn't it? That must be what it is. So it can be recognizably a Philiine icop I suppose it's not ideal in terms of the news American painted helicopters coming over and joining the war isn't gonna look right Optics not ideal, y. Optics not ideal. Yeah. But then you're waiting for paint to dry to launch an offensive whichich is famously boring. becausecause if you start the propellers with wet paint it's just gonna like a kind of Well, there's an argument. if we're going to really deep dive into this, there's an argument that the propellers would dry the paint. there's an argument they' dry it. I was thinking they'd create a kind of weird effect. Do you know what I mean? Like if you just spin paint. It Guly intgued. If any listeners know, if you painted a helicopter and then turned on the propellers, would that speed up the drying process? Yeah or make it worse? Do let us know Jen I Jenary what'. I suppose it's hot as well. If it's hot The paint's going to dry quicker Yeah yeah. Maybe you can just get it done quite quickly. What a mid flight maybe? Midlight you would dry as well I don't know. many questions Yeah so many questions. you the answer Well it doesn't matter if it's dried Really That is a good point as well. yeah. onnce you're in No one's going to lean on your helicopter Steve, you've been shot. No I haven't I just sent on the helicopter. Yeah. little Like I put a piece of a four masking taped on saying wet paint, do not touch on the side of the helicopter, you're bombing some communist insurgents That's incredible. It's incredible that the Philippine army were even willing to lend their stuff to a movie set. Like if Britain was at war. Yeah. And we found out that our military were lending out our battleships and stuff like that for a remake of DAas boot or whatever. Yeah. I think people wouldn't be delighted about it. They'd be saying, No, it wouldn't be ideal. You need to be focusing on. Yeah, exactly. Well they're not at war. They're just keeping down insurgents, I suppose. OkayK, fine. Yeah. Where do you draw the line, Joh? Well, exactly, yeah, I don't know what don't know enough about that kind of thing. There's more helicopter problems as well. So the asssistant director Douglas Clayiborne says, you never knew when you were going to lose a helicopter or four or five. So it's hard to plan a day's shooting when you're unsure how many helicopters you're going to have. It's understandable. There's another helicopter problem when a helicopter cuts the top off a tree and sends coconuts raining down on the crew below who have to scatteratter to safety That feels like something would happen in a cartoon. Yeah, it does, doesn't it helicopter chopping off the top of a tree and coconuts flying around. Yeah does. It doesn't feel like something should happen in real life. No. But maybe if it hit a coconut director would split it. You know what Another helicopter catches fire and the pilot says, it burned the socks off the guy in the back seat. Flame camees between my legs. blinded me. I jumped out and ran up the side and put water on my eyes to try to be able to see it was pretty scary. And then I was hit on the head with a coconut. I C couldn't believe it of all the things. I think you're having a bad day. The very last thing I need opoler says I was responsible for that. It was supposed to burst into fes during the scene, I made the charge a little too strong. W. I've always been scared by helicopters. I've never been on one. Well, this chat's not helping. No, it's not, but the idea of going on one. Exactly, yeah, I know what you mean. But I imagine the stats are fine, but you just, you know, I don't know. Also, by the way, Josh, it's not been much an ongoing issue in my life. No, no, of course. I'm not in uundated with offers to go on helicopters. Of course. ye, yeah. So it's fine. and more a sort of get, you know, take the bus guy. Exactly, yeah. And you're not scared of them, are you? Exactly. The Philippines Army also keeps sending different pilots each day for the Chopper squadron Which means that hugely complicated special effect sequences have to be rerehearsed because they've just got different pilots each day. And so they find a workaround, which is American c pilots next to the Philippine pilots who instruct them what to do and when. So they're basically the Philippine pilots are often asked to do kind of complex manoeuvers they don't understand or can't execute And the production team would basically sometimes see like That can't be happening. Three or so helicopters disappearing into a cloud of smoke and just hoping they don't collide. No. But they don't, s itays Fine. This is insane. Yeah. I've had the phrase Francis Ford Chopola in my head for last Oh ye,. I'm not really sure what to do. Noever it' worth that. I'd say anyway, Jes. you're aware of It's in the mix. It's in the mix. So there's another time when so sometimes after takes, the helicopters just turn around and head over onto the hills in the distance and the pilots just go home rather than come back for another take It's quuite hard to stop a helicopter from going home, I suppose. They just say they can't hear you. Yeah, exactly. There's footage of this where Coppler has just heard to say There's got to be a better way to do this. That's such a funny image. Yeah of just the helelicotters going home again. They're going home again. They're going home again. stop flying home. What They don't wait for me to say cut. they just fly home They being unable to stop them. Untenable Also the fumes from the helicopters exhaust giveives the crew headaches and the heat from the fake Napalm blast is so powerful they can be felt a mile and a half away. Wow. I've seen those obviously that is the famous sort of kind of image from apopulis now, isn't it? those huge explosions. Yeah. Fascinated how they did that because they're just massive, they're ginormous.uge So shooting carries on though. while they're shooting, Popola is writing new scenes and reshaping the film as they go along whichich is never a brilliant idea. And all the scenes end with and then the helicopters went home. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Just so he's got that option. Yeah. Yeah. We've got that in the bag. Eactly. Marlon, you just need to say, Oh look, the helicopters are going home So just say that at the end of every scenence. it will be fine So further problem with filming on location is they can't view the rushes because they've got to go to Rome processing and then they have to be returned to the makeshift viewing room, so they're on a ten day delay of viewing the rushes. F feels there should be a better system than that, doesn't it? It's the technology of the time, isn't it? I suppose so. Is that it has to be put through some kind of system and then reduced. Yeah, I suppose fine Yeah. Yeah, yeah ye So after ten days, he views the first rushes and he realized that Harvey Kaitel has been badly miscast in the lead role. Oh wow. And so they scrap all of it and they get rid of Harvey Kaitel. No. Yeah, which they could have done instantly if they hadn't had to wait ten days for the rushes. That's incredible. Wow. So is that just ten days of completely unusable footage then Yeah, because they've got the wrong lead. Yeah. Wh is crucial, I'd say Yeah. But I mean, they may have feel like I suppose there might be other stuff. Yeah, there may be other incidentental stuff. Saining this crucial character is not usable Yeah. so he needs a new lead So he goes to meet Martin Sheen at LAX airport. Kopola shaves off his beard to make him look like a tidy in control filmmaker and Sheen accepts the role. I wonder whether Sheen Points will regret that decision, although it's worked out in the long run So early in filming with Sheen, Copple is worried about Sheen's performances. He worries he's coming across as bland And he claims the Copola gets these worries from a dream that he's had about where a green beret has told him that Willard, the character isn't textured enough. Right So he says in the dream that he, Coppola, the Green Beret and Sheen were all in a cramped hotel room together. the Green Beret advises him to get Willard an intimate moment admirring his own beauty, telling him that these guys are all vain. So he does this, inspired by the dream. Wow. He shoots a scene with Willard admirring himself in the mirror in a cramped hotel room Okay And in the story, he's just had his divorce finalized and he's having a breakdown, Willard. So this scene is crucial to the film. Sheen Idal has been drinking all day before this sea And basically, I don't know if you've seen the scene but it's really dark. I I just check, you've been drinking all day. You have great ideal. Brilliant than you. Yeah, yeah. That's ideal, yeah.. becausecause I've got of fucking problems during the scene Sheene basically punches a mirror to simulate Willon actually cuts his hand. I guess, I've seen that scene, yeah yeah. Yeah. Everyone's waiting for copla. You've seen all the scenes. you just haven't seen them in order Every is waiting for Copola to cut, but he lets it run on for a little longer whilest she's looking the mother, then shows cut, but Sheen hased to carry on with the scene, finally ends up smearing the blood across his face and his chest and this is like this big moment Yeah. So he has actually cut himself on film genuinely. Yeah, yeah. Wow It's a dark scene. I mean, he's hammered, isn't? Yeah yeah. It's worth noting that Sheen's children have been brought with him to this set. His children, Charlie Sheheen, obviously and Charlie S's brother Amelia Estez, who both go on to be actors They spend a combined total of eight to nine months living on and off this set in the Philippines. Wow So there's some mad stories from them In his memoir, Charlie Sheheen talks about the horror of the film's climax where basically people sacrifice a real water buffalo with a machete. and Charlie Sheheen as a ten year old is just watching that He says he can never unsee it and he wished he was still asleep at this point. Yeah, I get that. So him and his brother are doing like typical childhood activities like fishing and water skiing But then they'll just kind of glide past these multim million dollar film sets with fake body parts hanging from palm trees and stuff like that. My goodness. ye yeah. Emilio Estevez, who's a bit older than Charlie Sheheen, strikes up a friendship with Lawrence Fisburn because obviously, Laurerence Fisishburn's only fourteen and a few days after meeting they take a boat out onto the local river, getet too close to shore, Emilio jumps out to push it away And he finds he's in quQuicksand and he starts getting sucked under the water. Wow. The greatest fear of any child, Quicksand. It really is. It was a big fear from me. Yeah, hugely. Yeah. Lawce Fishmurn saves him drags him back on board. And from that they've got a lifelong bond with these two actors. Incredibly, Martin Sheeen doesn't find out about this until decades later, when Emilia Esteves writes about in a joint family memoir You know you feel your dad's going through a tough time but you don't mention to him that you got stuck in quicksang and really sucked under Well, this is the kind of tough time his dad's going through, Martin Sheeen filming this. They're driving back from set and Martin Seen is pissed again. He' abruptly announced he's gonna use the toilet. As soon as the car pulls to the side of the road, Martin Sheen strips naked, bolts into the jungle and just keeps running Beuse he was shy to get really far into nobody could see him doing his business. So Emilio and his mother, Janet, have to basically trek into the jungle drag their un the story about now. Yeah and drag their dad back to safety. Wow. So it's wild, isn't it? Yeah. Amelia Estez actually wants to be in the film. so he gets to be an extra for this Uulun Bridge sequence He has to spend three weeks in combat training, learning to operate heavy firearms And he's assigned to man an M sixty machine gun and the scene is considered too long and the entire performance is cut from theatricales me. I think there's a point as well, like is this the right place to have my family? or is it pos they just go back home? I mean, I'm not sure if this is good for them or me. No, I know.' hard to be involved But I think maybe we just take this as a difficult six month and they live their life back home all weeak on the phone. I don't. Yeah. It does feel like that, doesn't it? Rather my ten year old seeing a water buffalo being hacked to death before tea. I think it's not yeah, it's not working. We've all tried. it's okay. Yeah. Things aren't going well at the start and then typhoon season is three months away, but for some reason the worst typhoon in forty years to hit the Philippines hits the Philippines. O of course it does. Sets and equipment are washed away or buried in mud Basically the production has to be shut down for six weeks, allowing time for the locations to be recovered and rebuilt On returning to the USA for this period, Martin Sheheen says, I don't know if I'm going to live through this. These fuckers are crazy. All these helicopters and really blowing things up. It was freaky. At the airport he kept saying goodbye to everyone. Really? Yeah. So how a genuine sense this could be the last thing he does. Wow. Yeah, and it almost is. We'll come to that But Koppola at this point, his main worry is the script, how he's gonna to end the script. So blown away one thousand pages are just floating around in the air, like stuck to trees and stuff.. So Eleanor writes in her diary. Francces said he had had a dream about how to finish the script But now that he's awake, it wasn't really any good. It is Francis again. Yeah yeah. He's real one for having these precient dreams, isn't he? Well, he's an artist, Tom. Yeah. Did I have a dream about this podcast this morning No, no, no. We talked about all the fears plaguing and most of this seemed related to the fact that the script isn't finished He's been reading, researching, talking, thinking, writing and wrestling with it every day for almost a year now. I suggested you just dictate the whole thing right now complete off the top of his head He's in there now with a tape recorder He started at the beginning and's going straight through. God, I hope. Wow. The dreams I have, the repeat dreams I have is that I'm at Weembleley watching England and I'm picked out from the crowd to play. Do you have that dream? I do. and for some reason I only have work shoes. L, you know, like sensible Yeah, yeah. shhoes that you'd wear to an interview when you're in sick for. Th shoes. That's some reason I have that dream Not a liear. I say Wow Th times a year, four times a year. and I have to come down and I look down on my feet and they're like Oh my go. What does that represent? What does that represent? And I never find out how I do either. I just sort come down and I see the shoes and that's like Well not wellild because you wouldn't do well even if you have footbs. the bo theish is neither here nor there Well there's a chance they look at my workshoes and say, we don't have to worry about him. let's not bother marking him. That's the same That the space. Exactly. yeah. So due to the delays and the typhoon, he needs an extra three million dollars to complete the film. So Kobbler goes to United Artists, agrees the deal where theyd loan him the money, and if the film fails to turn the profit, he will be personally liable for the repayment That is a risk, isn't it Wow. And he puts his estate up as collateral against the loan So in June, they returned to the Philippines to resume production. and the first thing on arriving back is a French plantation set, which is the key scene for the film. This is due to a key scene where basically towards the end when they're about to encounter a house owned by a French family refusing to leave their home. stillill seem to be living in the nineteen fifties. However, the art department go hugely over budget on the set. and basically after days of shooting, they abandon the scene and Koppola says, Eone forget that we even shot it. It no longer does it exist. so that's gone. That's the first thing they do upon returning. But why? Because they spent too much. It doesn't work. No, it just doesn't work as a scene. A lot of this, isn't there It's rare to hear about these movies where they just film loads and just get rid of whole chunks like that Yeah. Obviously you get small sections, but it feels like there's loads of massive set pieces and he's just going that' not working. Well, yeah, another major sequence is the Dooong Bridge sequence. So during the bridge sequence, things get out of hand Popola who first took up cigar smoking,' now shifted onto marijuana because he says it helps dull the critical voices in his head on set And so the rest of the cast is indulging in that, also cocaine and alcohol, readily available to those who want it during filming. Yeah. I think Francis Walkopl has got to get a old on that It doesn't feel ideal, does it? You're already heading for double the length of filming you were hoping for and now you're bringing drugs into it. I know. I don't think that's the answer, surely. Some days it's so hot the cocaine melts as well. with thepe There were people who went out over the edge, started drinking, basically had to be shipped back. They couldn't function. It's incredible. Absolute carnage. Yeah. So during the Dou Long Bidge filming, actor Sam Boton is so high on speed He thinks that he's accidentally shot Martin Shane Do he sow off his face So he says Sam Bombs, that the only way he could deal with the situation was to pretend it was all a dream. So he smoked loads of weed, drank too much, twice dropped acid on camera Oh that's interesting. So it'sort a coping mechanism on some level. Yeah, exactly. because it's all horrific. Yeah, yeah, yeah. that's really interesting. He's mad, isn't it? He says the team were visiting sex workers whenever they had the chance He says, and if the rains would come everybody would run off to the massage parlours. It was pretty insane. There was a lot of gonorrohea going around too, as I remember king inse. This is hell, absolutely hell Yeah. Wow, what situation? Or a great laugh. Yeah, absolutely. yeah, it depends on your Depends what you're into. Y life stylistose. yeah, exactly. ye. Some people might be going, this is the best film I've ever filmed on. But you can see where those parallels between if you've started episode one with this quote from Francis A F Coppola parallels between the Vietnam War and the way they're filming. There's so many things are true of Vietnam warar itself And then I've got good news. this is where Marlon Brando is due to arrive. Okay, great. So as if things aren't going swimmingly enough. Marlon Brando is now due to arrive in the Philippines But they don't have an ending yet for the film because they haven't worked it out They haven't worked out who they want his character of Kurtz to be yet And so Brando arrives well, Brando has promised Coppola by the time he arrives on set, he will have lost weight to be in line with a man who's been living feral in the jungle for a significant period of time. If I was a betting man, I'd suggest he hasn't done that. Well he's actually put on weight since then last. Yeah you are. so where's my money? So Copola suggests leaning into the weight as a plot and costume point Brando says he doesn't want to appear fat. Okay whichich you've got to say is your own fault there. Yeah, you know this is being filmed, Marlot. So basically what they do is Kopplar and Brando lock themselves away to discuss the whole script further delays, this is plot the story, the character of Kurtz Despite the fact that two thirds of the film has already been shot, they just now go to lock themselves away to discuss who this character is. It's remarkable, isn't it? Yeah? It's not ideal, is it? And they'd off to be ready to shoot in the morning and then they'd send the crew to lunch as Brando wasn't ready and Kopola Stilland decided what he want from Kurtz. those delays were costing Kopola eighty grand a day. That must have been so intense. Yeah You know, breaking characters down and working out their motivation and all this sort of stuff can be the hardest stuff you do, I think when you're writing. Yeah. It's like there's sort of maths to it and it just takes it's tough really to break that sort of stuff. sometimes it like the fun of dialogue, which often can be much more of a freeing experience. that plus the fact that it's Marlon Brando Yeah and you're away from home and it's already way over budget and everyone's high on drugs. and you the director also developed a bit of a drug issue. Yeah. I just can't imagine how intense that must have been. So Ellena Kopola writes at this point, I'm sitting on a rock on the set It feels like a rock. It looks like a temple fragment, but I know it's been made by the art department The crew has been waiting since eight AM to shoot is almost three in the afternoon now Francis and Marlon have been down in the houseboat working on his death scene today and most of yesterday The asssistant director is saying if they don't start shooting in the next thirty minutes, it'll be too late to get the shot today. eighty thousand dollars down the drain. Wow. But eighty thousand dollars, I suppose by that point when it's just you're hemorrhaging so much, the cost of a day must almost feel Nothing. signignificant and that's the danger of it, I suppose. Beuse we've got to get it right. Exactly And then if it is those little drips,, I say eighty thousand, but, you know, in the scheme of Hollywood movie eighty thousand, I suppose on its own as a single day thing isn't the end of the world. You can see how that can just keep totallypping over and over and over and over. you know it, you're another two billion doll. Oh my Godd. And so This is so stressful. Yeah. So Brando's on the verge of quitting that the cinematographer attempts Brando and Copola onto set saying he's created some strange light and smoke So they all go onto the set and they start improvising. And so Kopa has taken Q cards onto set, but basically Brando improvises all the time, at times performing for as long as forty five minutes, just totally improvising. Wow. Stuns Copel and the crew. W. And that during one slowquatater Willard M Sachine's character. Brando reaches into the dark and grabs a buzzing fly without breaking a thought. No. And when they finally call cut on the speech he opens his hand to reveal the fly is in there. That's incredible. Yeah. Please tell me that the openen Palm and fly was filmed as well. Yeah, I don't know. Be that's a real missed opportunity if not. That's amazing. It's like Mr. Miyagi. yeah, the same thing happed to the karate kid, doesn't it So Rad as having Brando deal with Kopola has decided to cast Dennis Hopper as if things aren't bad enough as a photojournalist working in Kurtz's compound. Yeah. So Hopper is famously, I'd say more unhinged than Yeah, yeah. ye. He's one of the names when you think about sort of Reckless. Yeah. So when David Lynch is casting Lou Velvet, the character Frank Booth, who's a psychosexual woman beater, Dennis Hopper says, you've got to cast me, I am Frank Booth. Okay I do. I do Surely at that point you to say. Okay, we're to look elsehere Well, let me tell you some more Dennis Hopper stories to get you your feel for who Dennis Hopper is So in the nineteen fifty eight Western from He to Texas They've got a director called Harry Hathaway who's like really strict and he despises Dennis Hopper because he's an improvisational kind of modern actor Marlon Brando style, right? And he demands that Dennis Hopper reads a simple tenline scen exactly as written. with specific moments. And Hopper refuses forcing retake after retake. they basically eventually end up in a standoff. Really Pathaway points at the stack of film counts and threatens to keep the crew there for months until Hopper agrees. Wow, amazing. Hopper finally relentss on take eighty. eightight zero Brilliant. Yeah. basically that's in the fifties. After that they basically blacklist him. He's blacklisted in Hollywood. But then he does Easy Rider. Amazing movie, which is especially his film. In the pre production of Easy Ridder, Rip Torne is initially cast the character that Jack Nicholson plays. The casting is changed because of a confrontation between Dennis Hopper and Rip Torne. Right. In nineteen ninety four, Hopper goes on the Tonight S showow with Jay Leno and says that Torne had pulled a steak knife on him during an argument And that's why he was recast. Wow. But Riptorn sues Hopper over this for defamation and says it was actually Hopper who pulled a knife on him forcing him to disarm the director. Right. And the court rules in Torne's favour. Dennis Hopper has to pay a million dollars in damages. He is quite wild, Dennis Hopper. In nineteen eighty, he arrives at Rice University in Houston to film his movie out of the blue and he decides to Cap off the event with an art happening which is a death defined stunt known as the Russian Dynamite Death chair. Okay. So this is banned on campus by the University due to safety issues So he hires a load of school buses to transport the entire audience to a local stock carar rac trrack outside of the city limits afterwards. No And then he sits in a chair. This is when he's a student. This is him wrapping up his not.. No, no, no, this is nineteen eighty. So this is when he's a director to bring director. Okay, okay, okaykay. He sits surrounded by real sticks of dynamite. Okay. He sits on a chair in the middle. And there's this precise quirk of physics that if they all detonate at the same time, facing outward briefly create a vacuum in the exact center. where he sat. So It's a massive explosion. And then what happens to him? He's in the center on the chair, so he'll be fine. Oh he's gonna to be safe, I say o. Yeah, yeah. It's like a physics trick. yeah. It's quite a high stakes physics trick. Okay. I I thought you meant someone out the chair, then hoffered for five seconds or something about that. Oh no, no, just he's in a huge explosion and then he walks out. Okay got you. And he does it and that does happen. He walks out The smoke completely unharmed. Wow covered insert. But that's how that's the kind of guy is. That's how he ends a university screening Well you do that at every last leg rap party at the end of. I do. ye, yeah exactly. yeah, it's a nightmare. Yeah. It's a nightmare. But it's less and less dy in might' time because TV budges have been squeezed Exactly, exactly. So it's less impressive and also the physics is more worrying. Exactly, but you know, youve got to stick with it. When you've said you're going do something, you' got to stick with That's amazing. So he's absolutely clearly has this sort of wild child. Heis alcoholic, he's a drug addict nineteen eighty three. This is when he basically he does get an Sober from nineteen eighty three. Yeah. So he's filming a film called Siny Lauro, right in Mexico and he suffers from drug induced hallucinations and he becomes convinced that the Third World War has started and that he is being targeted himself, whichich isn't ideal So flees the movie set disappears into the desert and authorities later find him walking stark naked along a rural highway Francis Forordkoppler really likes employing actors who love running into the wilderness naked. Exactly. That seems to be his thing either because they need the toilet. Yeah But they catch him because he's attempting to board a commercial airliner by walking directly onto the tarmac now. thirty two sticks of dynamite. Yeah At this point. Is he making at this point is they? I think so. yeah. I'm not sure. At this point, his friends step in and they say you might need to Go to rehab here, mate? It feels like intervention territory. This feels like your rock bottom. Yeah. We can see your rock bott. Yeah So your rock on your bott. You're okay So u He goes to rehab, they put him in a padded cell in rehab. to give you an idea what stays in. Be nothing says a rehabilitation like a padded cell does it? No, exactly. Nothing goes more hand in hand with the word rehabilitation. Yeah. It fully embraces alcoholics anonymous, cuts out Alcohol, drugs, even caffeine. He says Sobriety sold his life. He never now has another drink again in the rest of his life. That's restores his bankability withithin three years of being clean, he does blue velvet, H'iers, Oscar nominated performances in both those. Speed, he's in speed. Amazing. He's in water worldorld sadly. although people say that's actually better than his reputation. Sober for the rest of his life for twenty seven years until he dies in twenty ten One of the quirks of his later life becomes a Republican voter, which you wouldn't expect. Yeah, it doesn't feel in keeping. I think his character in spepeed is one of the all time great. It's a great characters Yeah. It's a fantastic movie, spepeed. It's brilliant. And it's so exciting, but his performance is just incredible. It's just so sinister. Yeah Yeah, what a great movie He describes himself in the sixties as probably being as left as you could get without being a communist But by the eighties he' voting for Reagan, he votes for both George Bush's, his fifth wife There's a sentence. Okay, yeah It's a very Hollywood sentence to be fair, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. there's so many, really, to be honest, leading men. Yeah. When you click on their personal life, whatder happens to be on the Wicked is like different ye S spouses. ye. So Victoria Duffy, she's a staunch Democrat and she raises over a million dollars for John Kery in two thousand four, failed a bid to be Democrat President. She's like doing fundraisers at her house and Hopper says that he was asylum majority during political fundraisers at his own home And he's also he's in a conservative film called an American Carol, an anti liberal satire Other famous Hollywood conservatives, Joh Voy and Kelsey Grammer, who's a classic Hollywood Republican. That checks out. He ends up voting for Barack Obama as well. But it's quite funny that he does such an about turn from being this kind of wild hippie to ye being one of the few Hollywood Republicans. Well, they say people become more conservative if they get older, don't they see they thing's they? Well, exactly, yeah, ye. So on the day Marlon Brando's due to arrive, Dennis Hopper decides his only way to prepare for the arrival of Marlon Brando Stroke Curtz is full immersion into the role. Right. So he changes into a full captain's uniform, musters up an army who are the Ifgau tribe who are they're filming with them and he drills them in war games and when Marlon Brando finally arrives, he musters the troops to greet the colonel. at which point things get weirder and weirder according to Hopper. The soldiers' faces camouflage starts to melt And some of them turn into parrots and some of them turn into snakes And eventually the soldiers demonstrate their ju Jitsu techniques to Kurtz. He says it was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced in my life, but of course, it all happens inside his own head because he's I'd be high, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So that's how he prepares for the arrival of Marlon Brando. So now you've got Dennis Hopper on set. You got Marlon Brando on set and everything's ready Coccaine, alcohol, heat The jungle. You've got Martin Shane and I'm going to tell you now A the start of the final episode. Martin Sheen has a heart attack and alost dies. What? Yeah. No. Yeah. So I when I say no, actually when I look at the context, the actual truth but yes, that feels about right. That does feel about right. Wow. So we'll be covering that. in the final episode and the filming will finish and incredibly Despite all of this, victory will be claimed from the jaws of defeat by Francis Ford Coppola. I mean, I suppose if he is filming everything and for forever And he has got a good edit. He's got still got money for an edit. It gives you a fighting chance, doesn't it? Your worst chance if you've got no footage and barely any time for the edit, if you actually have reams and reams of film, then who knows, you could probably pull something out as he clearredly what. As Michael will tell you about this podcast, the edit can save you. The edit can always save you If you want to hear about Seen's heart attack, etcet, then you can join the Fan Club now and episode is there waiting for you along with loads of great bonus episodes. justust click the link in the show notes. othertherwise, we'll see you afterwards in a few days for that final part of the story. Goodbye. Very excited. byye bye. L night Francis watched the footage from the first week shooting They were the scenes with Hardy Kaitel who plays Willard Afterward, he sat down on the couch with the editors and said Well, what do you think? I went upstairs to say goodnight to the children, and when I came down fifteen minutes later, Francis had made the decision to replace his leading man understand Two days ago, Francis shaved off his beard and flew to Los Angeles He met with Martin Sheheen at the airport Marty agreed to take the role of Willard. I had some personal concerns about my own physical condition. I was thirty six at the time and I felt old and out of shape and I was smoking. Th packs a day. Not a healthy gang. I wondered if I'd be able to keep up a strenuous schedule. At the time I hired on, remember It was only a sixteen week shoot ich didn't prove to be the case, but who knew that at the time? you know Yeah.