9 Behind-The-Scenes Stories You Didn't Know About Your Favourite Films
8. Martin Sheen's On Set Heart Attack - Apocalypse Now
Martin Sheen has been in several big hits including The West Wing, The Departed, Spawn and most famously Apocalypse Now.
Anyone who is anyone knows at least one thing about the classic 70's war film, that being the iconic shot of the helicopters flying in front of the bloodshot red sun. However, legendary imagery aside, one thing that you probably didn't know was that Martin Sheen actually had a heart attack on the set of the movie.
Unfortunately for Sheen, at the time of him having his heart attack the production crew were not close to a nearby hospital at all whilst filming in the Philippines. Director of the film Francis Ford Coppola believed he had caused Sheen to have the heart attack and one evening had an epileptic seizure out of stress.
Coppola said:
"We had access to too much money and little by little we went insane. Ask anybody who was out there, we all felt like we fought the war."
Whilst Sheen recovered, the filming of the production continued with Joe Esteves, Sheen's brother, replacing him for several scenes. Fans often try to pick apart the movie and see the involvement of Esteves but its virtually impossible to spot the differences.