The original lead (Harvey Keitel) was fired after a week, and his replacement, Martin Sheen, eventually suffered a heart attack on set.
Director Francis Ford Coppola famously stated, "My film is not about Vietnam. It is Vietnam". The first phases of production in the Philippines were plagued by "logistical horrors". Production Disasters:
Upon arriving in Africa, Marlow witnesses the "absurdity of evil"—native laborers in chains and a man trying to carry water in a bucket with a hole in it. Here, he first hears the name Kurtz , a legendary agent rumored to be a "prodigy" of humanity, yet deeply entrenched in the ivory trade.


