20 Things You Somehow Missed In Apocalypse Now
2. The Film's Two Biggest Shots Were Each Done In A Single Take
Apocalypse Now is legendary for how long it took to make and how much film was used, but its two most large-scale, complicated scenes were each done in a single take. The napalm-drop during the helicopter attack was created by filling a pipe with gasoline and setting it off with five cameras rolling on it. Coppola had resources to shoot it twice, but after the first, he determined a second take would be unnecessary.
For the climactic scene, with Willard emerging from the river to stalk and slay Kurtz while the Montagnard people have a festival outside, Coppola had only one opportunity to capture a key shot. The Montagnard people of Cambodia were portrayed by Philippian Ifugao people, and part of their agreement to participate in the film involved the delivery of animals for ritual sacrifice. Coppola filmed the people slaughtering a water buffalo as a part of their ritual, claiming he provided no direction to their actions. He refused to have a second animal on standby, because he didn't want to kill an animal for the film, but successfully captured the shot in a single take.