It's a dance, surely, performance in production. The director, actor, crew, and more.
Francis Coppola (to discuss him again) undertakes a huge journey in producing this film. It truly is one of the most fascinating behind the scenes stories I've ever seen. Written by John Milius, Coppola, and Michael Herr (narration).
Coppola's guts, his willingness to go into the jungle with an open mind. Exciting stuff.
He's a master of many things, but we have to understand he was a writer. Writers are more like actors than directors are. Coppola knows how to go into the emotion that makes any human story absurd and true. He knows how to bring that into his directing, beyond his writing desk, onto the set.
He can create a sort of bubble, a safe zone in which to tangle with your inner self, free of the outside world, free of the schedules, and budgets, and gear just feet away.
This is seen so clearly in the shooting of Willard's hotel scene, a man in a room, fans are helicopter blades, looking into a mirror, wine, bedsheets, weeping, "My... heart... is... broken," Martin Sheen says as Coppola voices direction, or more so images, ideas, objects to engage the heart, the human emotion, the absurdity and truth that makes any real movie worth watching.
Respect to the whole team.
Hotel Scene:
"Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" Excerpt:
Be well. http://www.LionSuit.com
