7. Coppola Creates Apocalypse Now's Iconic Opening Sequence While Experimenting With Waste Footage
Coppola again now with his definitive Vietnam war opus Apocalypse Now, a film that is best described as one gigantic accident, given that it's a miracle the thing ever got finished, let alone was actually any good. The opening sequence of the film, a dreamlike array of images faded together, set to The Doors' immortal classic The End, has the flow and cadence of a meticulously storyboarded and edited scene, yet in actual fact, it occasioned itself to the director while he was screwing around with some dailies that were about to be disposed of. While editing the film, Coppola came across a bucket containing superfluous film stock that was about to be binned, but the director's curiosity got the better of him, and he joked that running the resultant footage with The End would make for an ironic intro to the film. In the end, the only funny thing is how what appears to be considered genius just came to Coppola like an errant afterthought.
Shaun Munro
Contributor
Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.
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