Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

A documentary about the making of a film. The subject is a large-budget war film shot in the Philippines. The plan was six weeks; the shoot took sixteen months. The material was filmed by the director's wife. Eleanor Coppola moved about the set with a small camera and recorded moments nobody else saw; she also made sound recordings without her husband's knowledge. What is recounted goes in order: a typhoon destroys the sets and filming stops for months; helicopters hired from the government disappear when fighting breaks out; the lead actor has a heart attack and the news is kept quiet; the actor who is to play the ending has not read the text and arrives in a physical condition far from what was expected. The budget grows and the director puts in his own money. The most striking part is the sound recordings: at night in his room the director says the film will collapse, admits there is no script and notes that he has told nobody. The narrative builds no story of success; even the awards the finished film won stay in second place beside this process. Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper directed; Eleanor Coppola is also credited among them. Among those speaking are the director, his wife, the actors and people who contributed to the script. Who it is for: anyone interested in film history and the reality of production. Who it is not for: anyone who has not seen the film; the documentary describes its plot and ending openly.