Our studio has been through a lot of trial and tribulation this semester, and it’s no surprise we are feeling a little deflated and uninspired. Even so, we definitely need to keep the energy up to finish this semester. In a meeting with one of our course co-ordinaters, she suggested to have a look at other epic filmic breakdowns to compare/contrast/reflect and so forth. I jumped to the making of Apocolypse Now (1979), which I knew was a disaster to shoot. I knew there was a documentary on the making, Hearts of Darkness: A Film Makers Apocalypse (1991), but I was yet to view it. Hearts of Darkness documents the sensational events surrounding the making of Apocalypse Now and the director, Francis Ford Coppola‘s struggle to complete the film. The film includes footage and sound secretly recorded by Eleanor Coppola, wife of Francis.

The filmmakers had issues on all levels. Firstly, they had issues with the epic scale of the production. The production was huge, and likely very difficult to manage. To add to this, the elaborate sets, of which there were several, were not equiped to last the monsoon that blew through the Philippines in the midst of shooting. Nearly everything was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. These struggles existed on a much smaller scale on the set of Human Resources. Our initial script was far too large to complete in the time frame we were given to complete our first task. To add to this, we had troubles making out set look like an office space.

To add to this trouble, Coppola had made a deal with the Filipino govt, that allowed Coppola to use the government’s entire fleet of Military helicopters. Only the fleet could be called away at any time to fight rebel uprisings on the borders of the Philippines.  This is relatable to us, as there were decisions made from above, that did not agree with the way we wanted to make our web series, but there were things that where out of our control. Coppola watched as a helicopter fleet turned and flew away half way through a take on the set of Apocalypse Now, there was nothing that could be done.

Coppola wanted to rewrite the script that he had co-written with John Milius. Coppola was not happy with the ending and hoped to rework it, to make it closer to his personal vision. This can be related back to our experience working on Human Resources. We did not receive a second episode until late in the term. As well as this there were some ongoing script related tensions. The media students felt unhappy with certain parts of the script, and felt that certain parts were unachievable to film. On the other hand, the writers were understandably dismayed at the idea of their script being tampered with. As far as cutting the script back to make it more achievable to film, both parties worked well together to achieve this.

During the shooting of the film, Coppola received word the Marlon Brando desired to drop out of the film entirely. Other actors had to be sort out as back up. Brando played the role of Kurts in the end, but there was a great deal of tension around how Brando, and Coppola wanted the character of Kurts to be played both physically and psychologically. Brando had put on a lot of weight, which conflicted with the original physical appearance of the character of Kurts. We also had similar issues. The appearance and on screen presence of one of our lead characters was criticised. There was a lot of discussion about whether he was right for the role. We ended up asking him to switch roles, and then, as our alternative actor fell through, we had to ask him to come back to his original role.

And then there were issues of going over time, and over budget. Coppola funded a large amount of money for the film out of his own pocket. The stress of such an epic and extensive shoot was felt by Coppola and his wife, as well as Martin Sheen, who played the lead role of Willard. Sheen had a mental break down, and a heart attack during the shoot. Dennis Hopper, as legendary and genius as his is, was well on the road to cooking it.  I believe the stress and anxiety of things not going to plan was felt on a much more micro scale by most of us working together on Human Resources.