Laurence Fishburne says Francis Ford Coppola was ‘disappointed’ by his lack of sexual experience, which was evident in his Apocalypse Now performance.
Fishburne, 63, is best known for his performances in The Matrix, John Wick, and Hannibal, and first came to prominence as a teen in Apocalypse Now.
The film was released in 1979 and saw the actor play the cocky 17-year-old South Bronx-born crewmember, Tyrone ‘Mr. Clean’ Miller.
The actor was just 14 when he took part in the film and revealed that his lack of sexual experience became an issue during one scene of the film that had to be cut.
‘There’s a scene in Apocalypse Now that got cut from the original film, and then it’s been put back in the redux,’ he revealed.
‘I was 14, 15, whatever, trying to do this scene talking about sex, and I had no sexual experience. Like, none,’ he said in Apple TV+’s new documentary Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood.
He said the director ‘couldn’t figure out how to get me to be any more experienced than I am, but he kept asking me to do it over and over again.’
He revealed that even though the scene was cut, he was asked to shoot it dozens of times, and could tell the director was ‘disappointed’.
‘I did something like 40 takes. It was really bad. And I could tell that he was disappointed. So I was feeling really, really down, really dejected.’
Despite this negative interaction, the incident clearly didn’t tarnish their relationship, as Laurence went on to appear in several of Coppola’s other films such as Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, Gardens of Stone, and most recently, Megalopolis.
The synopsis for Apocalypse Now reads: ‘A US Army officer serving in Vietnam is asked to kill a rogue colonel who has established himself as a god among the tribals in Cambodia.’
The film had a $31.5 million budget (£24.3 million) and smashed the box office, making $104.8–150 million (£80 – £116 million).
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The film is jam-packed with talent and stars Harrison Ford, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, and Sam Bottoms.
Coppola is widely considered one of the best directors of all time, but his comeback film Megalopolis – a Roman-inspired epic set in an imagined modern America – was met with excruciating reviews when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
The film starring Adam Driver was dubbed the ‘worst film of 2024’ and lost tens of millions at the box office.
Metro has reached out to Francis Ford Coppola’s representatives for comment.
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