‘Apocalypse Now’ Video Game: Francis Ford Coppola Launches Kickstarter Campaign for RPG Version of His Vietnam Classic
Noted winemaker filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is looking to break into a new industry: video games. American Zoetrope has launched a Kickstarter campaign for a game adaptation of “Apocalypse Now,” seeking $900,000 to bring Coppola’s classic Vietnam drama to the realm of survival-horror RPGs. You might think the “Godfather” director could finance such a venture on his lonesome, but the Kickstarter assures us that “the traditional game publisher system won’t let this happen” — the developers believe they’d be forced to make a first-person shooter, and they’re hoping to make something more nuanced.
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“Forty years ago, I set out to make a personal art picture that could hopefully influence generations of viewers for years to come,” says Coppola in a statement. “Today, I’m joined by new daredevils, a team who want to make an interactive version of ‘Apocalypse Now,’ where you are Captain Benjamin Willard amidst the harsh backdrop of the Vietnam War.” Gamers will be familiar with many of the titles this team has worked on in the past: “Fallout: New Vegas,” “The Witcher,” “Wasteland 2” and “Everquest,” among others.
“We will create a game that challenges what an interactive experience can be, just as the original motion picture challenged the concept of cinema,” Montgomery Markland, who serves as game director on the project, adds. “We will deliver a greater variety of experience and interaction than is currently available within the the relatively static industry.”
Should all go as planned, “Apocalypse Now” is set to be released in 2020 — though early access is planned for 2019, which marks the 40th anniversary of the film itself. Read more about what the game will entail — and what rewards contributors will receive — on its Kickstarter page.
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