A revealing portrait of the making of Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic, compiled from footage shot by his wife Eleanor during the legendarily troubled shoot, with contemporary interviews with members of the cast and crew, Hearts of Darkness offers an unflinching behind-the-scenes look at one of the most turbulent shoots in cinema history. Coppola faced a series of escalating problems: budget overruns, typhoons that destroyed sets, a heart attack suffered by lead actor Martin Sheen, and erratic behaviour from the mercurial Marlon Brando, whose late arrival and physical condition threw the film’s climactic sequence into chaos. Eleanor’s camera captures her husband’s growing anxiety and existential despair as the production dragged on interminably. Far more than a making-of film, Hearts of Darkness is a haunting meditation on ambition, obsession, and the psychological toll of creative pursuit.

There will be Open Captioned screenings at 20.40 on Monday 7th, and 15.50 on Wednesday 9th.

Notes by David O’Mahony