9 Classic Movie Scenes That Were Awful To Film

There are difficult film sets, and then there’s Apocalypse Now. The cursed production experienced natural disaster, a nigh-on two year shoot, and the leading man having a heart attack. From such trying times, thankfully, came a masterpiece, but the filming sounds like a vision of hell (depicted in director Francis Ford Coppola’s wife Eleanor’s documentary Hearts Of Darkness).

The most disturbing scene comes at the very start of the film, as Martin Sheen’s Willard drinks away his misery in a Saigon hotel room. One of many undergoing trying personal issues at the time, Sheen genuinely is blind drunk for the duration of the scene.

He punches a real mirror, damaging his hand, and it’s unclear whether he’s exorcising personal demons or just really into his character (the actor was battling addiction issues at the time). The crew, haunted by the performance, wanted to stop, but Sheen saw the scene out. It makes for an incredible opening to a great film, but must have been horrific to work on.

This was only a taste of the madness to come for the crew, and the film would veer wildly out of control as the shoot went on, but the image of a bloodied, bladdered, bawling Martin Sheen crawling the floor of his hotel sticks with the viewer above all else.