Coppola revisits 'Apocalypse Now'

Coppola believes the film's new edit will make it even more forceful

PARIS, France -- Film director Francis Ford Coppola is to unveil a new version of one of his biggest hits at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Coppola says the new 3hr 17min version of 'Apocalypse Now' did not merely reintegrate scenes left out of the original edit, but had been completely re-edited using original material.

"The result is a film that is 53 minutes longer, and whose theme emerges more clearly," he said.

"It is a more disturbing, sometimes funnier and more romantic film, whose historical perspective has become more forceful."

The film, released in 1979, starring Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper, is based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Duvall), and Best Director.

Graphically depicting the horrors of the Vietnam war, it became as well known for its on-screen images -- especially U.S. helicopter gunships heading into battle playing Wagner over loudspeakers -- as for the behind-the-scenes drama.

At one stage Sheen, who plays Captain Willard, collapsed after suffering a heart attack, while an earthquake destroyed $1 million worth of sets and delayed filming, prompting insiders to dub it 'Apocalypse Later.'

Cannes Festival president Gilles Jacob said Coppola, who also directed the Godfather trilogy, would attend the screening, though the exact date had not yet been scheduled.

"It seems to me important, 21 years after marking the history of cinema, and just one year after the first visit of an American president to Vietnam, to show that this work has lost none of its force or disturbing impact," Jacob said.

This year's Festival runs from May 9 to 20.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Cannes International Film Festival
Francis Ford Coppola
Apocalypse Now

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