Feb 27 2010
Apocalypse Now and Moby Dick the Movie (2010)
The title of our last lecture, “The Beginning of the End,” got me thinking of The Doors’ epic song “The End,” which lays the chilling soundtrack of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film Apocalypse Now, which – lo and behold – is about the mission of a ship and crew, and one man’s path to insanity. Coppola’s interpretation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1902) is one of my favorite films, and his portrayal of insanity one of the most intriguing I have seen on screen. So I got to thinking about just how good the 2010 movie Moby Dick could be with the strikingly similar Apocalypse Now serving as inspiration.
It would undoubtedly star Daniel Day Lewis as Captain Ahab. Lewis’s performance in There Will Be Blood (2007) as the monomaniacal oil tycoon Daniel Plainview seemed almost like a tryout for this historic role. His character even sported a limp after a leg injury early in the movie (sound familiar?), rejected religion while likening himself to God, and severed his ties to his family (see the video below).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwkP7Gnp7ekAs for the rest of the crew, Coppola’s 1979 cast starring Martin Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, and Dennis Hopper among others would be hard to beat. But with Edward Norton (Fight Club, The Illusionist) playing the philosophical Ishmael and Djimon Hounsou (Gladiator, Blood Diamond) as Queequeg, this cast would find its sea legs soon enough.
The object of the mission in Apocalypse Now is to kill Walter Kurtz, a former U.S. Green Beret who has been driven insane and is in the middle of the Vietnam jungle, the heart of darkness. In what you might call the “beginning of the end” of the film, Kurtz (played by Marlon Brando) says:
I’ve seen horrors… horrors that you’ve seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that… but you have no right to judge me. It’s impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror… Horror has a face… and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends.
In Moby Dick, similarly just before the end, Ahab spouts:
What is it, what nameless, inscrutable, unearthly thing is it, what cozening, hidden lord and master, and cruel, remorseless emperor commands me; that against all natural lovings and longings, I so keep pushing, and crowding, and jamming myself on all the time; recklessly making me ready to do what in my own proper, natural heart, I durst not so much as dare? Is Ahab Ahab? Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? (564)
In both Apocalypse Now and Moby Dick, the insane character is killed at the end. In the former, Kurtz’s death represents a mission accomplished by the crew, while in the latter, Ahab takes everyone but Ishmael down with him. After seeing some clips from prior film versions of Moby Dick and knowing how performative Melville’s text can be (as displayed by Ahab’s dramatic monologue above), I can only imagine what Francis Ford Coppola and Daniel Day Lewis could do with it.
Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1991.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078788/
5 Responses to “Apocalypse Now and Moby Dick the Movie (2010)”
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First off, let me say that that would be an incredible cast. I think Hounsou as Queequeg is especially clever and fitting. And as you said, Lewis has already proven his ability to shine in historical pictures.
I want to address Norton as Ishmael now, from a characterization point of view. As much as I think Edward Norton is an ab-fab actor, I can’t see him in some of Moby Dick’s lighter scenes. Most especially I can’t see him squishing sperm with a bunch of sailors. In his other movies, he only seems happy or relaxed when he’s delusional. For instance, he’s only happy in Primal Fear at the end when he creepily thanks Richard Gere’s character for all his help. And then there’s Fight Club…where he’s never happy.
Something else that deserves a mention is the fact that most of the PT boat’s crew are killed in the attempt to bring Kurtz to justice. The only difference is that, in addition to the Sheen/Ishmael character, one additional crew member survives. Overall, the parallels are undeniable and I think this was a great comparison.
Actually, I really like the casting of Ed Norton as Ishmael. Thinking back to some scenes in Fight Club, he does so well to portray giddy, energetic delusion – for instance, as he punches himself up all good ‘n bloody in his boss’ office. And let’s face it, Ishmael is at least a little crazy in the head. I could see Norton fitting in really well in the film version of “The Squeeze of the Hand” scene – getting messy and playful with the boys while smoothing out unctuous lumps of sperm. He has a playful quality while stirring up the fraternity of male fighters in Fight Club.
I could also see Christian Bale as Ishmael. He’s dark and moody enough, but also has a whimsical side in his acting. Do we all remember how happily he chopped up people in American Psycho? Plus, he’s such a blockbuster-deliverer these days (with the exception of the Terminator disaster, but that seems to be an anomaly), so he would definitely generate box office revenues.
Edward Norton is an incredible actor and I think he could potentially play any role that’s asked of him; some other possibilities for Ishmael might include Matt Damon, Casey Affleck or Ethan Hawke. But, there is no way I could see Christian Bale playing Ishamel. His only performance I could bear watching was in American Psycho since the satirical plotline lent itself to the histrionic Bale. While Djimon Hounsou is a very good actor, I don’t know if he really would fit the description of Queequeg; I feel like Rudy Youngblood (Apocalypto) might be a better choice. While I do like Daniel Day-Lewis as Ahab, if you wanted an American-born actor, Johnny Depp is someone I could definitely see descending into madness. Robert Downey Jr. or William Hurt are also possibilities for Ahab.
Fair enough about Christian Bale.
But I think Johnny Depp is too “pretty” to play Ahab. I feel that Ahab needs to be played by an actor who is more rugged and has a larger physical frame. I just don’t think Johnny Depp is “manly” enough in his look to fulfill Ahab’s role. Although he’s good at playing characters who are maniacal or have been driven mad, none of them are quite like Ahab.
Interesting, I would like to see Tim Burton do a new movie version. I think it’s darkness, tragedy, and irony would fit him. Burton is a sort of modern “dark romantic.” I know he is a longtime fan of Edgar Allen Poe and Vincent Price. You probably said Johnny Depp because of his role in Pirates of the Caribbean, but I’m thinking of his performances in Willy Wonka and Alice in Wonderland, a variant of which I think would be perfect for Ishmael’s craziness and unreliability–the only risk would be making Ishmael too prominent since Depp steals the screen, but I think this would be interesting like Burton’s new take on Alice in Wonderland. Tim Burton also likes to be very symbolistic, and he could do a lot with the whiteness vs. “savagery” and the many other themes. He would just need to explore more intellectual depth as he did in Edward Scissorhands, which has been lacking in his recent movies. Other than that I think he’d be perfect for the job.