10 Behind The Scenes Documentaries Even Better Than The Movies

Francis Ford Coppola's psychological war epic, Apocalypse Now, is one of the most haunting depictions of Vietnam ever put to film. It explores what happens to the human mind when faced with all the horrors and dogmatic ideology that comes with war. The characters are forced to combat their own psyche, more so than the enemy.

The experience of making the movie was almost as taxing on everybody involved. The crew spent months on location in the Philippines. During which time a typhoon wrecked the sets, Coppola fired his leading man (Harvey Keitel), and eventually suffered a mental breakdown. But that was just the start. Coppola was then forced to take out a huge loan to finance his film, that at one point was nearly $2 million over budget.

At every stage of the production Coppola came up against difficulties. Marlon Brando proved as unruly as his infamous repute made out; Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack; and half the supporting cast begun mirroring their roles by indulging in all kinds of drug use. Dennis Hopper (the photojournalist) famously requested an ounce of cocaine in order to complete his scenes.

And that barely scratches the surface. Francis Ford Coppola's magnum opus nearly killed him.