In the film ” Apocalypse Now,” Francis Ford Coppola asked his production designer to add as much realism as possible to give a sense of slaughter, during the scene of Captain William’s first encounter with Colonel Kurtz’s colony. .
Bad luck, the police suddenly showed up at the start of filming, because locals had sold real corpses from the morgue, to serve as ornaments for this sinister setting.
The crew was able to resume filming after passports were confiscated and all bodies returned to authorities. However, Coppola had the brilliant idea of storing authentic rat corpses to add even more darkness to the picture. The smell is unbearable for the technical team and the actors who will sometimes have to stay for hours in the middle of its pestilential odors and these masses of rats, devouring the corpses of their fellows.
Let us point out that the actor Denis Hopper, very often under the influence of drugs and alcohol, had decided to no longer take a shower, to add credibility to his character. These colleagues constantly complained about his filthy smell. To participate in this filming, it was better not to be sensitive to smell, it will be said.
In short… a very well transcribed atmosphere and chaotic filming for a cult film.
