History Trivia / ApocalypseNow

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/HarrisonFord usually had big leading or major supporting roles, most of which have him as wiseass, a badass, or both. Here he has a fairly minor role in which he plays a pencil pusher who's not involved in active combat.

** There were also many problems with the various cast members. Creator/MarlonBrando was cast as Colonel Kurtz, being his usual prima donna self. He showed up to the set morbidly obese rather than with the muscular physique that was called for, leading to the decision to film Kurtz solely from the shoulders up. Worse, when he arrived on set he had read neither the script nor Joseph Conrad's ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' like he had been told to. [[note]] Brando did en up reading the novella one week into shooting his scenes. And in one night too. [[/note]] The actors were disgruntled because Coppola forced them to sign term contracts with his production company. Unsurprisingly, many cast and crew members were drunk or stoned while filming; Creator/DennisHopper got a teenaged Creator/LaurenceFishburne addicted to heroin.

* TroubledProduction: '''And how!''' This was a case so famous that it has its own documentary dedicated to it, ''Film/HeartsOfDarknessAFilmmakersApocalypse''. Coppola himself summed it up by saying "My film is not about Vietnam, it ''is'' Vietnam," and famously explained that "The way we made [the film] was very much like the way the Americans were in Vietnam. We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane." Let's see, where do we start?

* StuntDouble: Creator/MartinSheen needed a double to do all his shots for a few weeks after he had a heart attack. Rather than shut down production until he recovered, the crew elected to film as much as possible with a double (Sheen's younger brother, Joe Estevez) standing in for Sheen (the double having his back turned to the camera) and then doing the close-ups after Sheen was well enough to return.

* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/FrancisFordCoppola cast Creator/MartinSheen having been impressed by his audition for ''Film/TheGodfather''.

** The original director assigned this script? ''Creator/GeorgeLucas''. God knows what kind of film this almost became. Website/{{Cracked}}.com also makes one interesting assumption. Considering how long this movie dragged on, it's possible that if Lucas made this, he never would have gotten around to making ''Franchise/StarWars''. [[https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/11/11/an-interview-with-gary-kurtz According]] to producer Gary Kurtz, Lucas' version would have been a dark comedy akin to ''Film/{{Mash}}'' shot {{Mockumentary}}-style in 16mm in Southern California. Lucas also intended to hire a Japanese crew to sneak into Vietnam to shoot stock footage on location. The crew's nationality and secrecy being due to the fact that at this time, the Vietnam War was ''still going.''

** The original director assigned this script? ''Creator/GeorgeLucas''. God knows what kind of film this almost became. Website/{{Cracked}}.com also makes one interesting assumption. Considering how long this movie dragged on, it's possible that if Lucas made this, he never would have gotten around to making ''Franchise/StarWars''. According to Coppola's audio commentary, Lucas' version probably would've been a documentary-style 16mm film shot in northern California with a couple of helicopters.

** Frederic Forrest was considered for Willard before being cast as Chef.

** Similarly, Colonel Kilgore's "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" is almost always said with the wrong emphasis. Parodists tend to deliver the line as a BadassBoast, while Robert Duvall actually speaks it with the jaded voice of a man who has become BoredWithInsanity -- the delivery of the line is very nonchalant and not with the kind of relish that imitators use. In fact, the BloodKnight characteristic that Kilgore embodies makes the sad intone of "Someday this war is gonna end" the principle line in the quote: he's bored that the insanity of the war is going to end. The quote is also gotten wrong, as Kilgore does ''not'' say, "I love the smell of napalm. It smells like victory." This is what he actually says:

* Cast the Expert: Creator/RLeeErmey is casted as a helicopter pilot while working as the military advisor for the film.

--->'''Kilgore:''' I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of them, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill? Smelled like ''({{beat}})'' victory.

* TroubledProduction: '''And how!''' This was a case so famous that it has its own documentary dedicated to it, ''Film/HeartsOfDarknessAFilmmakersApocalypse'' Coppola himself summed it up by saying "My film is not about Vietnam, it ''is'' Vietnam," and famously explained that "The way we made [the film] was very much like the way the Americans were in Vietnam. We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane." Let's see, where do we start?