“I don’t really have the time”: Francis Ford Coppola’s failed attempt at luring John Lennon to ‘Apocalypse Now’
Even the most respected directors in Hollywood can be reduced to fanboys if the opportunity to meet someone they admire presents itself, even if John Lennon didn’t exactly reciprocate the enthusiasm Francis Ford Coppola showed in trying to lure the musician into a visit to the set of Apocalypse Now.
With the benefit of hindsight, Lennon definitely made the right call. After all, Coppola’s Vietnam-era masterpiece became one of the most famously troubled productions in history after going massively over budget, miles behind schedule, and being forced to leap over brand new obstacles on what must have felt like a daily basis.
Of course, what emerged on the other side was one of the greatest movies ever made, and yet more evidence that Coppola does his best work under pressure. The auteur has made a career out of producing greatness when his back is up against the wall, as The Godfather had already shown, even if the long-gestating Megalopolis turned out to be the exception that proved the rule when it sank without a trace in cinemas after 40 years in development.
Martin Sheen, Dennis Hopper, Marlon Brando, and Robert Duvall all came home with their own war stories after principal photography had included, and an actor didn’t even have to be in Apocalypse Now to have been left scarred by the ordeal, as Harvey Keitel can attest.
By the time Coppola penned his open invitation to Lennon in March 1977, Apocalypse Now had been in front of cameras for a year. It was certainly a strange time to reach out to the former Beatle to see if he was keen to hook up, talk shop, and potentially even contribute to the soundtrack, but the multi-time Academy Award winner opted to shoot his shot nonetheless.
“I live inside a volcano, which is a jungle paradise, where there are beautiful springs,” Coppola wrote in an attempt to give Lennon the hard sell of idyllic natural beauty. “And thought if you were ever in the Far East or if ever you would enjoy spending a little time talking about things in general and some distant future projects that I have in mind, please, I would love to cook dinner for you and just talk, listen to music and talk about movies.”
Acknowledging that there was a high possibility Lennon wouldn’t drop everything and come running to the other side of the world, Coppola did at least suggest that if the Philippines wasn’t an option, they could always get together “either in Los Angeles, San Francisco, or New York,” signing off by saying, “I would like to meet you.”
Apocalypse Now was a no-go, but they did come face-to-face eventually. Not only that but based on Lennon’s correspondence with Coppola, they did discuss a creative collaboration of some kind. Admittedly, it came with the caveat that the ‘Fab Four’ favourite had a pretty full plate and teaming up with the director would have piled it one dish too high.
“Having given a lot more thought to this idea, I realise that due to my work schedule, I really don’t have the time for such a big new project,” Lennon replied. They definitely hit it off, though, because the musician referred to Coppola as ‘Frank’ in his letter, as good a sign as any that they were on the same page.
Lennon and Coppola could have been a pairing for the ages, but it wasn’t to be. There were plenty of casualties left behind by the wreckage caused by Apocalypse Now, and the union between two elite-level creatives at the peak of their powers is definitely one of the most overlooked.
