The making of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War movie masterpiece Apocalypse Now would make for a compelling TV miniseries. Screenwriter John Milius, the real-life inspiration for The Big Lebowski’s Walter Sobchak character, reimagined Joseph Conrad’s classic 1899 novella Heart of Darkness as the ultimate war picture. Milius switched out Conrad’s late-19th-century Congo setting for the battlefields of Vietnam. He switched out Conrad’s story of a steamboat captain heading upriver to meet the mysterious Kurtz for the story of a disillusioned soldier traveling upriver to assassinate the mysterious Colonel Kurtz, who has amassed a cult following deep in the jungle.

Apocalypse Now is a thrilling story, chronicling Captain Willard’s dark odyssey through the horrors of warfare with mind-blowing visuals and a truly epic scope. But the story of how the movie got made is arguably just as captivating. Not only did it famously go way overbudget and way overschedule; Coppola fired his lead actor and there was a civil war going on. Paramount+ dramatized the production of a different Coppola film, an obscure little movie called The Godfather, in its limited series The Offer. But the production of Apocalypse Now would’ve made for a much more exciting miniseries.

Apocalypse Now’s Troubled Production Would Make A Perfect Miniseries

Apocalypse Now is one of the most notorious productions in film history

The production of Apocalypse Now took place in the Philippines and the shoot was planned to last for five months, but it ended up lasting for over a year. Extreme weather conditions destroyed a lot of costly sets. Coppola fired his original lead actor, Harvey Keitel, in the middle of filming, and replaced him with Martin Sheen, who suffered a near-fatal heart attack on location. Marlon Brando showed up to the set completely unprepared for his role. There was also the small matter of a real-life civil war taking place in the country they chose to shoot in.

Apocalypse Now finally wrapped filming in May 1977, but the problems weren’t over yet. Coppola continually delayed the release date as he obsessively edited and re-edited more than a million feet of film. It’s one of the wildest behind-the-scenes stories in movie history, and after all that chaos, Coppola managed to deliver a true masterpiece. Apocalypse Now (in its original form, anyway) is one of the greatest movies ever made. All this drama and mayhem – in service of creating something beautiful and profound – is such an incredible story that it would make for gripping television.

Why Apocalypse Now’s Production Is Still So Fascinating

Hearts of Darkness immortalized this wild behind-the-scenes odyssey

At the time of its release, the troubled production of Apocalypse Now was the subject of a lot of discussion in the press. But even now, decades later, it remains a fascinating talking point among film buffs. When any great film comes along, curious cinephiles want to know how it came to be. Mad Max: Fury Road’s journey from development hell to a Best Picture nod is a classic underdog story. The story of the mechanical shark breaking on the set of Jaws is interesting because it necessitated what ended up being the most ingenious part of Steven Spielberg’s approach.

But Apocalypse Now is a special case, because the story is so unbelievable and larger-than-life that it would still be enthralling even if the movie itself turned out forgettable. Fascination with the fraught production of Apocalypse Now was only bolstered when the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse – one of the most iconic making-of docs ever made – was released in 1991. Comprised of footage shot by Eleanor Coppola on the set of Apocalypse Now, Hearts of Darkness chronicles an obsessive genius’ no-holds-barred approach to achieving his ambitious, scattershot cinematic vision at any cost.

Paramount Already Made The Offer – The Story Of The Godfather

Paramount picked the wrong Coppola production to turn into a miniseries

Paramount has already set a precedent for the production of a Coppola masterpiece to be turned into a TV miniseries. It already turned the making of The Godfather into a limited series called The Offer. Although The Offer was primed to be a wild, gritty Hollywood drama capturing the height of New Hollywood, it ended up being a disappointment. It has really strong performances rounding out its ensemble cast – particularly Matthew Goode as Robert Evans – but it’s let down by weak writing. It’s bogged down by pointless subplots and its showbiz insider references can’t sustain the whole series.

If the streaming numbers for The Offer were strong enough to make a future for the series viable, then the making of Apocalypse Now would provide a solid basis for a second season. The Offer already cast a bunch of the key roles for an Apocalypse Now-centric season 2: Dan Fogler as Francis Ford Coppola; Justin Chambers as Marlon Brando; Derek Magyar as Robert Duvall. The groundwork has already been laid for the chaotic production of Apocalypse Now to be turned into a miniseries. Paramount just needs to find some better writers to do it.