Direction

 

Male film directors are a type
Like a bear
So many have abundant dark hair.

Francis Ford Coppola
Peter Jackson
Steven Spielberg
The director of Boyhood
All resemble bears.

Shaving, cutting hair, take time
Lack purpose. Direction
One must be quite still, going nowhere.

Dark bear hair adds
Shaving and cutting subtracts.

We saw a documentary on Coppola last night
The making of Apocalypse Now.
It took many years, sunk much of his own money
$27 million in the 1970's or more.

Brando was difficult and fat
Sheen had a heart attack
There was a typhoon
Sets were ruined.

Coppola risked everything. His wife found that sexy
She was responsible for much of the documentary
And no doubt the film
Portrait of the artists' wife
They had three young children at the time
During the filming in the Philippines.

He re-wrote as he went
Over a typewriter in a typhoon he bent,
As Brando spent
His $1 million dollar advance
Threatening not to take part.

Direction is risk-taking
Driving forward to an unknown destination
Steering out of control
Seeing and believing where others are blinded by doubt.
Letting go and holding on at the same time.
Secular faith at its scary best.
Knowing what to do in an apocalypse.