By and large, historical documentation on Apocalypse Now, past all the pain and suffering, would only account for two versions of Francis Ford Coppola‘s epic: its 1979 theatrical cut — the one we’ve (hopefully) all seen — and, released some 22 years later, a longer, more narratively esoteric Redux. There does, however, exist at least one more cut, this rough-hewn bootleg edition running just under five hours (more details on that here), likely to go unseen through any strictly legal means so long as its director is still alive.

But there are some questions as to whether a new Apocalypse Now might be coming forward — not a remake (or “second adaptation” of Joseph Conrad, as its producers would almost certainly deem the film), thankfully, but something far more unexpected. In a story from Agence France-Presse, it’s reported that Coppola, recently visiting Japan, was presented with two odd totems of a ’70s stay in Tokyo: the typewriter with which various work had been conducted during Now‘s production — seemingly of a “cleansing” nature, based on his comments — along with “a reel of film believed to be a rough cut of the legendary Vietnam war movie, which he had also abandoned during his stay in the Japanese capital.” His typewriter was autographed and returned to Hotel Okura’s owner, Miyako Yanagiya, but the reel was kept — for what purpose, however, is not something we can properly guess.

Furthermore, it’s unclear if any substantial content even rests therein — for one thing: the source, here, appears unaware that one reel does not equal a feature-length film, and / or vice-versa; to begin with, we don’t know how much was recovered — but it goes without saying that new developments in the long, tortured saga of a cinematic all-timer should be worth noting, no matter how potentially small. It’s certainly more substantial than an actor joining Jurassic World.

For more background on the creation of Apocalypse Now, one might get use from a new documentary on its screenwriter, John Milius, which is ever-so-appropriately titled Milius. A litany of his collaborators — Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese, Eastwood, Stone, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, and so on — share stories of his legendary tactics in creating immortal, insane cinema, much (if not all) of which is sure to be equal parts illuminating and amusing. With any luck, this hits the United States soon.

The trailer for Zak Knutson‘s and Joey Figueroa‘s film can be seen below:

Do you hope to see anything come from this Apocalypse Now recovery? What do you make of the trailer for Milius?