American Photojournalist

American Photojournalist

The American Photojournalist, portrayed by Dennis Hopper, is a fictional character in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now.

The character of the American photojournalist in "Apocalypse Now" was first suggested by Chas Gerretsen during a lunch with Francis Ford Coppola, regarding the scene where an American TV correspondent (played by Francis Ford Coppola) yells at some passing soldiers, "don't look at the camera," "...that if Francis wanted to mock TV correspondents, he should use a photojournalist because, "we were all crazy"."

A couple of days later, after the arrival of Dennis Hopper, Chas was asked by Jerry Ziesmer to report to Francis: "on how to dress a combat photographer."

From that moment on the role of Dennis Hopper who had been cast to play Lieutenant Richard M. Colby, changed to that of a photojournalist.

The character was inspired by a number of real-life American photojournalists who worked in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos during the 1970s, including Sean Flynn.

(The photojournalist is the film's equivalent of the "harlequin" or Russian sailor in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.