Meeting Kurtz: A RARE Workprint REVEALS How Bad It Almost Was | Ep24 | Making Apocalypse Now

[@CinemaTyler]

Wow, it’s been a rough four weeks! This video was supposed to come out two weeks ago, but my family caught a nasty virus (RSV) and I was having a rough time making this video in late October. Then, right after I posted it to Patreon, my two-year-old was hospitalized. It turns out he has asthma and the virus hit him particularly hard. He’s doing much better now, but we’ll be dealing with asthma until he (hopefully) grows out of it. I definitely recommend getting the RSV vaccine if you are able to-it’s been over a month and I’m just now starting to feel better.

[@eatmanyzoos]

take your time, man. this is great work

[@bobmclennan1727]

Best of luck to your kid, asthma's a pain but hopefully it's only temporary

[@Camelcitydispatch]

All the best to you and your family.

[@Brousey]

Promoting a vax..not cool

[@vincentgoupil180]

*Best* to you, your son and family. Always appreciate the videos regardless when they premiere. Actually, more reason to repeat watching them :) Learn something everytime. Imo, take it you may live somewhat near Astoria, Queens. Yea, take extra precautions health wise. New York City air quality ain't the best.

[@davidsummer8631]

For me it makes sense for Kurtz to be obsess because he is surrounded by people who will do anything for him so he doesn't need to be mobile

[@raulpetrascu2696]

Yeah though for someone who's point of their character is they're a vigilant military badass who was fit and crazy enough to join the special forces, airborne, when they're near 40 years old it's not so on brand. Obviously the character had to have let himself go very recently for it to make sense. But like it's not a story of someone becoming drunk with power and getting lazy, that's not one of the themes. I guess it could underscore a certain hypocrisy between his message of crystalline efficiency and the actual reality of his character. But it goes against the idea of the film and the whole disdain of the pleasures of American life contrasting with the few people who give up those things and stay in a constant state of war. Like, Kurtz should not be fatter than Kilgore... At least the way they filmed it he doesn't actually look obese. Just big mostly, almost larger than life compared to all the skinny people around him

[@GrahamMilkdrop]

@@raulpetrascu2696 For me, he has the look of a retired heavyweight wrestler or boxer who no longer puts in the 40 hours a week at the gym that was required to maintain an athletic physique. I think it fits perfectly for the character.

[@NicolasAgeleia]

@@Horsemanray This is a feature of Konrad's Kurtz. The accountant of the outer station praises him, reporting that he brings in as much ivory as all the others put together. The most capable agent of the Company, the sole man of ability in a wilderness that drives men wild. Where all others wither and break he appears before the indigenous population as a thundering, towering king ready to receive initiation into the patrimony of godhood.

[@infinidominion]

...Obese?

[@apexsynthesis1]

yes very good point....like a medieval king

[@OuterGalaxyLounge]

Thank you for highlighting the mastery of Storaro, a great artist. The movie wouldn't be the masterwork it is without him.

[@michaelhall2709]

To add to the pop cultural tally, the animated Star Trek comedy series “Lower Decks” just did an Apocalypse/Heart of Darkness parody with a renegade Starfleet officer named “Admiral Milius.” Yeah, they went there. I’ve heard tell that it was Brando who came up with calling Willard an “errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill.” I don’t know if it was worth Brando’s extravagant salary, but I do think it’s one of the best lines in the film.

[@justinpridham7919]

"I can see light through this." My friends and I always got a kick out of Brando's improvising, being a person acting like he's losing it.

[@retter2critical]

The Brando stuff is underrated in this film.. I think the theatrical cut is perfect in the way it sets up this ending.. redux makes it more anticlimactic.

[@plasticweapon]

agree on both counts.

[@UmbrellaGent]

I don't mean to sound confrontational, but how is it underrated? People hardly mention Apocalypse Now without talking about Brando's mastery. And which changes do you think it make the ending more anticlimactic?

[@retter2critical]

@@RalfPinkaire-f7w No, I first watched it 30 years ago when I was 10 .. Believe it or not, a lot of people think Brando is bad in this film and that Apocalypse struggles with its ending.

[@lptomtom]

Many people believe the Earth is flat, it doesn't mean that what the vast majority of people think (the Earth being round) is "underrated"

[@GhostRanger5060]

CinemaTyler, you outdid yourself this time. So many behind-the-scenes stories around the making of the greatest movie every produced, Apocalypse Now. Bravo, sir!

[@danielstreuli7563]

Dude! Your series you have is incredible. Look forward to your videos so much. Thanks dude. I love Apocalypse Now. Watched it 11 times. Your videos make this film so much more for me, learning the whole story of a production of a incredible film. Thanks again dude

[@Justfilloutthe111111]

the depth of this series is insane. thank you!

[@qoncept]

It's absolutely mind blowing how much you've learned about this movie. My favorite, and I've probably spent as much time listening to things about it as I've watched it.

[@kremesauce]

I’m so glad to read your son is doing well and recovering Tyler! I can’t wait to jump into the video

[@CornishCreamtea07]

That brightening up effect is amazing. It's almost like you are retroactively increasing the lights in the scene.

[@RanDyLan]

When I was a UCLA Film School student 40 years ago, I made the connection of the plot similarities of “Apocalypse Now” and “Citizen Kane” and made a parody short movie called “Citizen Kurtz”! I was quite happy with the script and the results….at least at the time!

[@MagneticDonut]

These documentaries are teaching me to love the movie. Thank you for sharing!!

[@adambane1719]

You're an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.

[@tourbillon9617]

Five years after I saw Apocalypse Now, I joined a cinema club. I said I didn't get the buzz over the Valkyries Ride scene. They explained that no screen in my hometown was big enough to showcase that scene. The guys in the club had seen it on Stockholm's biggest screen. For me the movie was just a long wait for Brando and it was worth it. 15 year old kids were used to waiting in 1979.

[@michaelhall2709]

@@tourbillon9617 I think it looks plenty spectacular enough on my modest home theater, but whatever.

[@insanejughead]

Three hours later, and I've already soaked up this video twice! Good shit, Tyler! Thank you.

[@GreatestAuthorinFlorida]

Congratulations. You got me to sit through an entire ad. Thumbs up. You also made me want to watch the movie, The Substance.

[@thetruth1862]

I've binged this whole series on this movie and you my friend are on top of it , I applaud your content 😊

[@Skimmerlit]

This series is brilliant.

[@Fisher_Films]

Your timing couldn’t be better! I have to recreate this scene for my final exam in a few weeks and this has given me so much insight into how to direct it. Thank you!!

[@billywood2814]

This is great stuff. I have a box set with a lot of the these longer unedited scenes from the 5 hour version and it’s been a few years since I watched them. I have to now get the disc out and watch them again, also to check how much footage there is on there.

[@retter2critical]

Love this series.. One of my fav in youtube history.

[@mbgrafix]

Indeed outstanding...as is everything I've seen by Tyler.

[@retter2critical]

@@mbgrafix Look out for Decameron film festival online from No 20

[@aliensoup2420]

Its remarkable the impact independent films have on the culture of cinematic technique and language. If Apocalypse Now was made in the 60's for a studio, the executives would be screaming, "We're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars a day on these sets and actors, I want to see it on the screen", and for that we would have gotten a flatly lit theater production. The audience never knows what they are missing in the final product. So much of what we perceive to be inspired genius, is often a desperate struggle to salvage a vision from a quagmire of failed attempts and dead-end ideas.

[@PACKYCSONE80]

These videos are a masterclass.

[@ponkor]

Your work is amazing.... Please keep it up.

[@bb1111116]

The lighting in Citizen Kane is of course brilliant. Using that as an inspiration is one of the reasons that Apocalypse is a great film.

[@DavidWilling]

Brilliant video! Personally I find this to be Brando's only good scene in the film but as a fan of Storaro I loved your in depth look at his work.

[@johanstone]

I just found this channel and im an instant fan. Thank you so much for this.

[@henrypreston6204]

love this series!

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Another great episode, CT. I think I’ve seen or read most of the Storaro material, but I like the way you organized it. That said, the lab talk was new to me. I take it you found the info in ENR and the challenges of the new film stock in American Cinematographer? I’m struck by the alchemical nature of celluloid, vs the high tech foundation of digital video today. I don’t mean to say that the chemistry of film development is non-scientific, but (to me) there is an artesian aspect. I mean alchemical almost literally-the labs, working behind the scenes in mystical obscurity, searching experimentally for . . . for what? . . . for cinema gold? For a process to transform an element (silver) into another element (art), a product that is of a different category entirely. To oversimplify the idea that I’m wrestling with here is that physical film, silver on celluloid, is magical, while our modern digital recording is not. We are losing a magical process. We are losing the artistic knowledge of craftsmen in favor of technicians and technologists. Speaking of process, Brando and Coppola’s process is also fascinating. It is also somewhat obscure, as no one seems to agree on what “the method” is and each actor comes up with his own mysterious process. It’s something that can only be partially taught as technique. I marvel at the luxury of time that Coppola had to work with his actors, especially in the scene that is the main subject of this video. Every movie Ive worked on was ruled by the schedule, every day was defined by the number of pages we had to get, was measured by that goal and how far behind we were falling. Time is money. The primary object of a film budget is to buy time. There is one exception to this experience where a director had this luxury for a single night when we went hours into OT. It was towards the end of the shoot and it involved a talented actor struggling with his character and flubbing his lines, not hitting his marks, and performing badly. It’s was a crucial shot of a crucial scene. The reason the director had the luxury of time on this one scene is that most of the crew were loyal friends of the director. We believed in the project (it was a thriller/horror flick, somewhat derivative of Saw and a hundred other cheesy horror film, without the pretensions of Great Art). We were there because we wanted to be a part of it and to help our friend (Bill Dear, in case you were wondering) get the shot. We didn’t expect to get paid for the OT. And it was here that I got to see an actor and a director use the method, or some kind of method, to create a performance, a true emotional moment in an otherwise silly psychokiller horror flick. It was the shot that sold the horrible emotional weight of insanity. And the actor (Crispin Glover) wasn’t grasping it. He knew his lines off camera but flubbed them every time the camera rolled. He knew the blocking, but couldn’t pace it while performing. He was becoming more and more frustrating and each take was worse than the last. The director and the actor found a solution through physicality. The actor was holding an important prop: an axe. The director had the actor change how he was holding the axe, experimenting with different grips, holding the axe in a different hand (continuity be damned). And this was the key that turned the lock and opened the door. When the actor found the right grip, he said, “I’ve got it now”. The director said roll. We rolled. And the actor nailed it. And that’s all I really know about “the method”. I’ve witnessed the unfolding process of “the method” this one time, and it involved how the actor was holding a prop. It takes many forms (so I am told), but this time it was the how an object felt in the actor’s hands, how he experienced gripping it, feeling the weight of it, that caused the character to come into focus for the actor. The character became true. I’ve not witnessed anything like this before or since. It was worth all the OT in the world to see it.

[@randallsnyder5757]

Any chance you are talking about Simon Says? If so... I haven't thought of this one in 15 years. But I admire Glover and his work in general.

[@sandiaYpescado]

Woah these are still coming out!!!! Hell yeah. I have been tits deep in Nam and AN for three weeks and these have been great. I had no idea there were going to be new ones. Thank you sir.

[@vincentgoupil180]

11:09 "after studying cinematography for *nine* years ..." If Storaro was with his fiance when he first saw the painting* it would have been before they married in December 1962, four years after he started cinematography school not nine years. "Apocalypse Now" came out in 1979 seventeen years plus after Storaro saw the "The Calling of St. Matthew". So Storaro knew about Caravaggio a while before he used the spotlight technique for Kurtz. * Bookcase "Light and Darkness of Colonel Walter E. Kurtz and St. Matthew". From an article at *asc* online "The Guiding Light - Vittorio Storaro" page 2, paraphrased "For the few years, Storaro studied ... Caravaggio ... Finally in late 1963 ...". So as Storaro says in interviews he knew about Caravaggio in his early twenties. 10:51 "When he (Storaro) finished his first movie, "Youth March", ... he went to a church, he saw this painting by Caravaggio "St. Matthews". "Youth March" came out in 1969 nine years after Storaro most likely finished school. But Storaro already knew about Caravaggio seven years earlier, 1962, before he finished his first movie. Not a big deal in the scheme of things but it confuses some people that Storaro being an Italian knew nothing about a fellow countryman when he studied Caravaggio and other paintets and writers in his early twenties.

[@creamboyfuengshwei]

It's insane that we are nearing the end...

[@baileymoore7779]

Please clarify. Is there a projected number for this series? Say it ain't soooooo-woah-woaaaaaaah

[@lptomtom]

I don't want this series to end, it's such a wonderful in-depth look at one of my favourite movies!

[@knickd1979]

Tyler, you are creating videos that I myself would love to have created if only i had the same motivation and talent. there was a time when i wanted to be a Director like Kubrick or Coppola but what you're doing is quite cool in its own right. i ADMIRE your work. keep goin'!

[@lazyartiste_2357]

Can't wait for the next episode And take care man.

[@bicivelo]

Whoa! New video!! Thanks!!

[@davehandelman2832]

GODDAMN great work, Tyler!!!!

[@PrivateJoki]

Thank you for all the good work. Must have been a nightmare directing Brando..

[@analog_ape]

Love this series!

[@stevemcnary7963]

Brando also didn't do Rod Steigers closeups in the legendary Taxi scene in On The Waterfront.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

Here is hoping you do a video on the "De-evolution of weapons" scene that is in the workprint.

[@Warp75]

I felt like Kurtz after watching Megalopolis….the horror the horror

[@Squirrelmind66]

Coppola: Are my methods unsound? Film critics: I don’t see… any method at all… sir.

[@Warp75]

@ Very good 😊

[@perrymalcolm3802]

Ahhh!! Brilliant!!

[@IrishMcScottish]

Last time I was this early, Brando was just 200lbs lol

[@newagain9964]

Corny

[@Demonico-j7x]

Now I can only see Kurtz as uncle Fester 😂

[@traumgeist]

To add to the list of parodies, there is Eekpocalypse Now (Remember Eek the Cat? Me neither) and a parody recreating the stop motion animation from the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas special on a sketch comedy show (Mad TV if I recall correctly).

[@infinidominion]

Eek was Fox Saturday morning cartoon status early to mid 90's and was kind of a ripoff of Heathcliff, just years later

[@BoPunk]

“I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. This is my dream; this is my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor… and surviving." 💀💀💀

[@Johnconno]

We don't call them 'Work Prints' they're known as 'Electric Sketches'.

[@stupidminotaur9735]

nice work

[@daltongalloway]

Another banger

[@HeathcliffBlair]

Great. Thanks.

[@alm4655]

How the hell did Coppola go from this to Megalopolis?

[@BourbonISvegan]

Getting old with 100% belief in your own idea without the humility to accept criticism from others. Just a wild shot in the dark 🤷🏻.

[@bobmclennan1727]

This has probably come up before, but where should I go to seek out the best possible copy of the theatrical release?

[@travellingshoes5241]

A Bluray disk probably.

[@davidgoodfellow2384]

Brandos performance is a piece of cinema history his lines have been quoted many times

[@ricogomez4020]

This was a walk on performance and the real talent is the editor & cinematographer that made something out of nothing.

[@loganstroganoff1284]

Wow i don't like the images lightened at all lol. The darkness of so many scenes really amplifies the fever dream ambiance for me.

[@aumarigan]

3:11 Igorots were actually good English speakers. They were taught by American Thomasites. Martin Sheen wouldn't have any difficulty in communicating with the Igorots.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

I never realised that Kurtz was meant to be tall. And I don't think he'd have appear any more or less intimidating if I thought he was tall.

[@tristanfoss7469]

We caught catfish. Pretty good size. Three feet.

[@DarthTriffid]

You take Brando’s performance here and jus5 about everywhere else… and whatever was going on in his life to rob the world of a more “together” Brando and more performances of that calibre is shocking t9 think about

[@aac7183]

I love this movie and am really impressed by this and the other Cinema Tyler series. However I have never understood why Brando was so essential to this movie . For me he caused Coppola to engineer a long list of compromises due to Brando’s basic unsuitability for the role as written . I am of the opinion that another actor could have been cast whilst maintaining or improving the film’s qualities.

[@vincentgoupil180]

Nominate *Klaus Kinski* as Kurtz.

[@aac7183]

@ Well Kinski wasn’t grossly overweight and does have the intensity box ticked ! His on-set behaviour could perhaps be a slight issue 😉

[@vincentgoupil180]

​@@aac7183 No problemo, Klaus Kinski's accompanying handler Werner Herzog would have freed up Coppola to work on the movie rather than baby some actor

[@vincentgoupil180]

@@aac7183 Your nomination to replace Brando?

[@aac7183]

@@vincentgoupil180 This is a very pertinent point . I was going to say that Kinski’s accent could have been problematic ,then I remembered Brando’s approximation of the English language . Lee Van Cleef could have been interesting as well

[@GeoffBurt08]

This is masterful analysis. It does not need the music track running underneath it. I found that distracting.

[@1travstone]

The thumbnail looks like Carl from sling blade

[@michaelredd-b2t]

Was Kurtz trying to get ahold of a nuke?

[@jpmzo]

This Italian cinematographer never heard of Caravaggio or Chiaro Scuro...?

[@peterkirby1753]

Brett also killed Jimmy Hoffa! 😀

[@TheJuRK]

I'd read recently that Brando made Coppola pay for The Godfather by misbehaving in Apocalypse Now. Brando was resentful that he'd sold his points back to Paramount for The Godfather for a quick buck and even sued Paramount to get them back. (He'd do the same thing with the producers of Superman and that's why he didn't appear in that sequel either).

[@jos3goodkid]

Points ???

[@BryceZed]

@@jos3goodkidBasically, points is a portion of the profits. Brando took the up front money (similar to Welles on “The Third Man”), and so he didn’t make anywhere near the money he could have & wasn’t a happy camper.

[@FIREBRAND38]

@@jos3goodkid Percentage of the profits that the movie makes. Either net or gross profits. So, when Alec Guinness appeared in _Star Wars_ he demanded 2.5% of the gross profits from George Lucas who gave him the two and a half (percentage) points. Since 1977, Sir Alec and his estate have made approximately $95 million off those points as I write this.

[@bernielove3019]

@@FIREBRAND38 Ans Sir Alec deserves every penny!

[@newsbender]

@@FIREBRAND38he didn't demand 2.5%, he asked for 1.5% and got it. When the movie performed well after opening, this was raised to 2.25% as a bonus.

[@Iskelderon]

Still amazing how the lighting hid so much of the three tons of lard Brando had put on before the movie.

[@emilianohermosilla3996]

This is crazy! Haha 😃😆

[@phaeton01]

6:21 i want a cute mutton yard girl

[@mbgrafix]

Anyone have an opinion of the *Apocalypse Now* satire, *Porklips Now?*

[@Twistedwag]

Because of this comment, I just found and watched Porklips Now. I was not disappointed. Thank you, internet stranger.

[@mbgrafix]

@Twistedwag Glad I was able to help. I had a good laugh watching that film for the first time back in the 80s. Now you need to watch *HARDWARE WARS.*

[@john7070]

Did you use AI upscale? I keep saying eyeballs in sweat drops.

[@IrishMcScottish]

That sounds like something Dennis Hopper would say lol

[@marcustmachado]

Brando was fat...so what? His performance was amazing and he portrayed a crazy killer, someone who was away from society rules. What´s the problem if he got fat? This is not a Rambo movie.

[@CinemaTyler]

I think the main issue was that Brando had told Coppola that he would lose weight and then showed up to set too heavy to wear the costume and portray Kurtz in the way that was originally planned. You can see from the interview clip in the video that, in the process of modifying the Kurtz character, Brando also didn't want to appear overweight in the movie.

[@marcustmachado]

@CinemaTyler Yeah. The video is great. Coppola was a hero for making a great movie and survive working with Brando. I just need to say that "fat brando" never bothered me since the first time i watched AN. But of course the ending could be much better with he was fit or thin....we will never know.

[@redgreen__]

Beat the notifications here

[@Derpy1969]

Does every director refine utter garbage into a work of art or are they just lucky and all films are garbage at the beginning and most don’t get perfected?

[@bradfordlangston836]

I'm not a filmmaker but I'd lean towards the latter

[@George_M_]

See the original Star Wars - a disaster saved in the edit. Most filmmakers kind of have no ideas what they're shooting. On the other hand there's films like Fury Road, edited in the story board phase and shot exactly as it should be.

[@KLondike5]

I've seen weird cuts of Dumb & Dumber or Something About Mary where there's all sorts of extra trash scenes still there that were cut out for the theatrical release or just wisely cut to make it a good film. If those long cuts would have been released, the movies would have had a totally different tone and not hit as well if at all. I don't think I made it from beginning to end for the Redux Apocalypse Now.

[@zombieleaf]

I wouldn’t say that every film is garbage at the beginning, but the entire editing process is cutting out or rearranging everything that is unnecessary, or distracting, or just doesn’t work, so it is inherently a process of making the film better. Though I’m sure there are also plenty of films that got ruined in the edit

[@ricksmith2127]

He didn’t do so well with refining the butter garbage that was Megalopolis into work of art

[@mygumybear]

However, Brando doensn't look obese, his face is just harderned. Also, look at current generals arent they mostly on the bigger side, because they do most of the brain work they dont go out and fight. So Brando was actually the size he should be for that character, All the still pictures on Brando looks good.

[@travellingshoes5241]

Kurtz was special forces though.

[@toddincabo]

👍

[@kurtangle83]

The part with the Kodak film and you mentioning "the blacks, the blacks" a couple of times was unintentionally funny cause in my mind I went "Oh, Tyler has gone racist." ;)

[@morten1]

His overweight just made him seem like a crazed buddha

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

This just underlines how awful most movies are today, even including Coppola's Megalopolis.

[@cappy2282]

Marlon great actor but also an insufferable toolbox. This movie would have been fine without him

[@stevenedwards4470]

They should have replaced Brando on day 2. It would have been better for him long run.

[@vincentgoupil180]

Agree, Brando should've been canned and replaced with ... wait for it ... Klaus Kinski. See Wikipedia's article on Werner Herzog's 1979 "Nosferatu the Vampyre" and the theatrical release poster. Looks like Brando. Plus, Kinski's performance in "Aquirre the Wrath of God" makes for a mad Kurtz. Though Brando's old roommate Wally Cox would have made as much sense as Brando's portrayal.

[@stevenedwards4470]

@vincentgoupil180 🙄 Yes. I've heard he was easier to work with.

[@vincentgoupil180]

@@stevenedwards4470 Of course, Kinski's handler Werner Herzog would accompany him.

[@vincentgoupil180]

@@stevenedwards4470 Who would you have nominated to replace Brando ?

[@stevemcnary7963]

Gene Hackman or George C.Scott would've been better.

[@vincentsaia6545]

Sorry to nitpick, but Chef was not Willard's friend. Willard was a lone wolf who was not interested in bonding with the crew of the PBR. Yes, he was starting to relate to them but he fought it for the sake of his mission.

[@jimmerhardy]

I never thought Brando looked fat and now I know why. A 6'6" double for long shots. Well, whatdayaknow.

[@steboTCB]

I watched this movie when it came out i always thought it got boring when Brando appeared.

[@alexjone5]

Brando was doing unspeakable things to those young native boys of the island. Shame.

[@DoFeedThePigeons]

What was with the simpsons insert? Not sure I like it, keep your videos sensible and professional please

[@travellingshoes5241]

Full stops at the end of sentences please.

[@jimrockford2335]

It was a reference to how iconic that particular scene was, and still is, in popular culture. The creator made the point excellently by using that clip from the simpsons.

[@POWBxDX4DxZOMB]

Real💯💯💯.🙏🏽🩸🧟🦬🦁🦅