APOCALYPSE NOW (1976)

In June 1976, I was contacted by Francis Ford Coppola asking if I was interested in working on Apocalypse Now in the Philippines. Of course I was interested. Working with F.F. Coppola and Vittorio Storaro (director of Photography) was not an experience to be missed. A week later I was on my way. I assume that I was hired because of my portfolio, which had a section with images I’d taken while I worked as a combat photographer in S.Vietnam and Cambodia, from 1968 to 1970 and in Chile (1973-74.)

I had no idea what lay ahead of me, but I didn’t care. I loved the tropics and it couldn’t be worse than covering the wars in Indochina. But guess what? Admittedly, working on a film set is a lot safer and better paid, but in S.Vietnam or Cambodia, I didn’t work at night nor in the rain, or in dense smoke: smoke against the millions of mosquitoes and other bugs which surrounded the arc lights when we worked at night. Or the nearly constant smoke created for the different moods of Apocalypse Now. (as in the above image.) Still, I loved every minute of my six months long ‘Apocalypse Now’ experience.

Many of these images are in the photo book ‘‘Apocalypse Now The Lost Photo Archive’

After a week of persuasion by FFC, Dennis Hopper finally accepted the fact that a combat photographer carried more than one camera. But not yet convinced that they didn't tape their plastic films canisters to the webbing.

The Photojournalist, Dennis Hopper (and the middle finger)

Sam Bottoms, Puppy on 'Killer Dick' helmet

F.F. Coppola, Vittorio Storaro, Dean Tavoularis

Director and Playmates: L-R Colleen Camp, Linda Carpenter, Cynthia Wood.

Chas Gerretsen, © unkown & Dennis Hopper (The Photojournalist) on the set of Apocalypse Now.

Chas Gerretsen & Francis Ford Coppola on the set of Apocalypse Now. © unkown

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APOCALYPSE NOW (1976)

CHAS GERRETSEN