FROM RENEGADE TO SACRED KING: HOW THE ENDING OF APOCALYPSE NOW WAS FILMED

Abstract

The paper discusses the process of filming the last section of Apocalypse Now (1979)
directed by Francis Ford Coppola, with emphasis on major differences between the 1969 and
1975 scripts and the film itself, within the New Hollywood auteur context. Instead of ending in
a macho manner with a devastating battle, the film features more fundamental anthropological
patterns. Willard plays a more important role than Marlow in Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness,
Kurtz is more convincing and eloquent and towers as a titanic figure of the “sacred king”
from Frazer’s The Golden Bough. In the long process of shooting the final sequence, the director
allowed Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen to improvise and thus bring the film plot to the essential
ritual of sacrificing the king for the benefit of his people. The paper draws on film stills
to demonstrate the techniques of film composition with an immediate pictorial meaning which
surpass even the atmosphere of the novel.