Francis Ford Coppola's APOCALYPSE NOW is considered one of the greatest masterpieces in film history. But filming in the Philippines was a real nightmare. Lead actor Harvey Keitel was fired by Coppola, his successor Martin Sheen suffered a heart attack, a typhoon destroyed almost the entire set and the Philippine Civil War broke out. Instead of six weeks, the shoot took 16 months, devoured twice the budget and almost cost Coppola his career and life.
Eleanor Coppola, wife of the master director, was present during the disastrous shoot and filmed behind the scenes. In 1990, she handed over her material to filmmakers George Hickenlooper and Fax Bahr, who edited it and supplemented it with new interviews with staff and cast. The result is a documentary that is as ruthless as it is gripping, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991 and subsequently won various awards.