Apocalypse Now

Question: I watched Stepmom for the 2,000th time this weekend and then read up on the Internet about where it was filmed. I love the house they live in and found that the real house and land are in upstate New York, but that the filmmakers only used it for exterior shots. For everything inside, they built this huge, elaborate soundstage. My question is, why spend all that time and money to make a soundstage that looks like a house when you could just use the inside of the house? Do they just love spending money? And why are scenes shot out of sequence?

Answer: First question first: It may seem as though, having found an attractive house whose exterior says what you want it to say about the lives of the people who live in it, that it would be cheaper and easier to use the real interiors as locations, rather than building a soundstage. But on a big-budget Hollywood movie, it generally isn't, for one of two reasons or a combination read more

Question: In the "Meeting Mr. Kurtz" chapter of Adam Hochschild's King Leopold's Ghost, he writes that of the three movie versions of the book Heart of Darkness, two weren't even set in Africa. He notes Apocalypse Now as one and I e-mailed him asking whether Werner Herzog's excellent Aguirre, The Wrath of God (1972) was the other. He said it wasn't but couldn't remember the other title, though he said it was set in the time of the Spanish Civil War. Do you know what Hochschild was referring to?

Answer: I don't know and my research didn't turn up what I would call a definitive answer. But I think it might be Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón's El Corazón del Bosque (1979), which is set 10 years after the Spanish Civil War. It revolves around a young man who sets out on a journey deep into the heavily forested Spanish hills in search of a legendary loyalis read more

Question: You know you want to tell us who dies on Lost! Please don't let it be Kate!

Answer: Now you tell me you don't want it to be Kate? Where were you when I was breaking story with Damon Lindelof back in June? Huh? Let me make some phone calls and see if I can get him to whack someone else.

Question: Please tell me you're kidding. You have never heard of R. Lee Ermey (Ask Ausiello 8/30)? Full Metal Jacket? Apocalypse Now? Toy Story? Saving Silverman? I'm disappointed in you.

Answer: Not as disappointed as I am in me.