Coppola defends killing water buffalo in 'Apocalypse Now': 'That was the way they do it'

LOS ANGELES –  Francis Ford Coppola isn't quite done fine-tuning "Apocalypse Now."

The Oscar-winning director debuted a brand-new version of his classic film at the premiere of "Apocalypse Now Final Cut," held Monday at the Arclight Cinerama Dome.

This is the second time "Apocalypse," now marking its 40th anniversary, has undergone a notable update. In 2001, Coppola released "Apocalypse Now Redux" with 49 minutes of additional footage, including extended scenes of the river, French plantation and Playboy Playmates entertaining the troops (along with more Marlon Brando dialogue).

That cut was "too long," Coppola said Monday, and the 1979 original was a "perhaps too short." Now at 183 minutes, his "Final Cut," originally prepared for this year's Tribeca Film Festival, is "a version that I like."

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Brando, Martin Sheen and Robert Duvall star in the twisted tale, inspired by Joseph Conrad's novella "Heart of Darkness." The film follows Captain Benjamin Willard (Sheen) on a mission up the Nung River deep into the jungle in Cambodia to kill the rogue and presumably insane Army Special Forces Col. Walter Kurtz (Brando). 

Coppola revisited his epic war film in a Q&A following the screening alongside Sheen and Laurence Fishburne. Here are five things we learned.

An overweight Brando shaved his head without telling anyone

After negotiating a rate of $1 million per week (for three weeks), Brando showed up on the set and just wanted to ruminate with Coppola in his trailer for four days, Coppola recalled. The director knew Brando was overweight when he cast him, but the actor had promised to shed the pounds.

"And I think he was sincere that he wanted to lose the weight, but losing weight is hard," Coppola said. In fact, when Brando arrived "he was even heavier." 

Unsure of how to costume his military-brass leading character, Coppola decided to clothe Brando in loose black pajamas. And on Day 5, Brando arrived with a look of his own.

"I can't believe my eyes," Coppola said. "His whole head is shaved ... and that meant to me, that's Kurtz!" And they got to work.

Despite the heart attack, Martin Sheen has no regrets

"If I had known going in what I was in for, I would have maybe changed my mind but I have not the slightest regret," said Sheen, 79, who famously replaced actor Harvey Keitel two weeks into filming and then suffered a heart attack during the taxing shoot in the Philippines. "I have never done anything in my life that was so relevant and so deeply personally changing."

The shoot was 'extremely dangerous' 

Coppola touched upon how "extremely dangerous" the shoot was, noting that "Apocalypse Now" was made before the days of computer-generated effects.

"We were up in the air when flares were hitting us," he said. "One of the things I'm so proud of is we did not lose one person," he continued, before quickly revising his statement. "One person was lost on a construction crew ... which is one too many. But it was extraordinary that we did all that we did with all this flying around and the explosions."

Why a real water buffalo was killed in the film 

Part of the production deal struck with locals to film on their land included trading animals, including chickens and pigs, for slaughter, Coppola said. Two water buffalo were also promised.

"That was a big part of their compensation," he said.

After his wife, Eleanor, a documentary filmmaker, captured the locals' first water buffalo sacrifice, he decided to film the second, equally bloody and brutal slaughter for the final scenes of "Apocalypse Now."

"I did not direct it or anything, that was the way they do it," said Coppola, noting that he refused an offer to keep an extra water buffalo on standby if the first shoot didn't go to plan. "I'm not going to kill an animal for a movie; I'm not going to kill anything for any reason." 

Coppola wants to make an optimistic film next

"I look at the future of mankind in the most positive way," the 80-year-old filmmaker said after screening his dark, often horrific work. "I can't tell you how hopeful I feel. ... Should I be so fortunate to make another film, I feel it will be one that the theme and the message is thrillingly positive. Because I see that for us all."

"Apocalypse Now" won Academy Awards for cinematography and sound, and was nominated for six others, including best picture, director and supporting actor (for Duvall).

Coppola's "Final Cut" will be released in select IMAX and Nagra myCinema theaters starting Thursday followed by a home entertainment release on Aug. 27.