I am going to make a sweeping statement here: if you don’t want to see Hearts of Darkness, the documentary about the truly fucked up making of Apocalypse Now, you are most likely not a real film lover. You’re a dabbler, a dilettante, which is cool. I was going to say that if you don’t BUY Hearts of Darkness when it comes out on DVD November 20 you’re no film lover, but I know that some of you are poor or cheap.
By the way, yes, Hearts of Darkness is coming to DVD on November 20th. The documentary, which is made up of footage that Francis Ford Coppola’s wife, Eleanor, shot on set, has been MIA since a video release a decade ago. Earlier this year I had a chance to talk to George Hickenlooper, who put the footage together into film form, about the movie being released on DVD and he wasn’t so positive: “I talked to Francis about it three years ago, and at the time he said he wasn’t ready for it to go out,” Hickenlooper said. “I think he’s uncomfortable with certain aspects of the film.”
He also said that Coppola wanted not to cut the film, which famously shows him melting the fuck down in a HUGE way, but that he wanted to add stuff. "What bothers him the most is when he says, ‘Martin Sheen’s not dead until I say he’s dead.’ He wants that clip put in context. He’s embarrassed, but the thing is that he looks heroic in it, in my opinion. He did promise me that he would put it out at some point… but not yet.”
That was back in January, when Hickenlooper was flogging Factory Girl. Obviously something happened in the meantime, and it seemed to happen quietly, since the DVD is coming out in a month! The DVD will include an extra documentary, called CODA: Thirty Years Later, and a commentary with Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor. This should have been on the Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier two-disc set that came out a year or so ago, but fuck it. I just want this movie. And if you’re a film fan, so do you. And if you’re a true CHUD Chewer, you can click here to pre-order the DVD through us!