It's ironic that at age 32, at probably the greatest moment of my career, with The Godfather having such an enormous success, I wasn't even aware of it, because I was somewhere else under the deadline again.

I think it was more like the original Francis before The Godfather who just wanted to make personal films and use sensible-sized crews and equipment.

I realized I probably wouldn't make another film that cuts through commercial and creative things like 'Godfather' or 'Apocalypse.'

'Godfather' was very classical - the way it was shot, the style - the whole driving force of it was more classical, almost Shakespearean.

To me, it was fun, ... To them, it was a life-and-death career thing.

Ironically, 'Apocalypse Now' was a great, great success and remains to this day a classic -- and really is one of the things that earns the money that supports my family, ... But at the time, when 'Apocalypse Now' was actually about to come out, I was very worried about it.