Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse Page #4

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or three dollars a day,

I hope we weren't taking advantage of

people, but that's what they were paid.

So, you could get not one person.

You could get 10 or 20 or 100.

Ever since I was a student in college,

we used to do a thing

before every production,

and since I've been making films,

we did it,

and it made those films have good luck.

And what it is...

Everyone kind of just grab someone

or touch someone

that's connected with everyone.

Gather round

so that everybody can see.

- Good luck.

- Good luck.

And then we say this word three times.

"Puwaba."

- What's the word?

- Puwaba.

Puwaba.

One, two, three.

Puwaba, puwaba, puwaba!

Hey!

It's the first day of shooting.

There's a current of excitement.

The location is a salt farm

next to a river.

In the scene, a helicopter brings Willard

to meet the patrol boat

that will take him on his mission.

Okay. Stand by!

Action!

On one level, the film

is an action-adventure story.

It's a story of a journey

into a strange and unknown area,

but it also will hopefully exist

on a philosophical and allegorical level,

so that, ultimately,

my desire is that it sheds some light

on the events that took place

and why they took place

and what it did

to the people involved in them.

Almost we are persuaded

that there is something after all,

something essential waiting for all of us

in the dark areas of the world,

aboriginally loathsome, immeasurable,

and certainly, nameless.

Last night, Francis watched the footage

from the first week's shooting.

They were the scenes

with Harvey Keitel, who plays Willard.

Afterward, he sat down on the couch

with the editors and said,

"Well, what do you think?"

I went upstairs to say

good night to the children,

and when I came down

15 minutes later,

Francis had made the decision

to replace his leading man.

We bit the bullet

and did a very, very unpleasant thing,

which is replace an actor

in mid-shooting.

Not only unpleasant, but expensive,

since we had to throw out

several weeks of work and start over.

Take one.

Action.

What do you think, Willard?

Terminate the Colonel.

Terminate with extreme prejudice.

Two days ago, Francis shaved off

his beard and flew to Los Angeles.

He met with Martin Sheen at the airport.

Marty agreed to take the role of Willard.

I had some personal concerns

about my own physical condition.

I was 36 at the time,

and I felt old and out of shape,

and I was smoking three packs a day,

not a healthy guy.

I wondered if I'd be able

to keep up a strenuous schedule.

At the time I hired on, I remember

it was only a 16-week shoot,

which didn't prove to be the case,

but who knew that at the time?

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