Who is Laurence Fishburne?
Known as a powerful, belligerent and authoritative figure, Laurence (John) Fishburne III is one of Hollywood’s most talented and versatile performers and has won numerous awards, including many NAACP Image Awards. I’m here.
Born July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia, to Hattie Bell (Crawford), a teacher, and Laurence John Fishburne, Jr., a juvenile corrections officer. After his parents divorced, his mother transplanted his family to Brooklyn.
At the age of 10, the boy appeared in his first play, “In My Many Names and Days,” in a small Manhattan theater. He continued, but was able to avoid the trappings of his child star itself, considering he was a child actor at the time. Calling himself Larry Fishburne during this early stage, he never studied or trained in acting techniques.
In 1973, a young 12-year-old Lawrence landed a recurring role in the daytime soap opera One Life to Live (1968), which ran for three seasons. He then made his film debut in the ghetto-themed Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975).
At the age of 14, Francis Ford Coppola cast him in his Apocalypse Now (1979), which took him two years to shoot in the Philippines. After this long episode, Lawrence did not work for another year and a half.
Over the millennium, Laurence expanded his talents by making his screenwriter and directorial debut in Once in the Life (2000), in which he also starred.
In the fall of 2008, Fishburne replaced William Petersen as the male lead investigator on the hit CBS drama CSI. He appeared in Crime Scene Investigation (2000), but left the show in 2011 to again concentrate on film, and was replaced by Ted Danson.
Since then, he has had a recurring role as “Pops” in the comedy Black-ish (2014), and he has also appeared on the big screen in the Superman films Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) as Daily Planet boss Perry White. He played a hitman in the thriller Standoff (2016). He portrayed a minister and a former Vietnam War veteran in Last Flag Flying (2017). and explored the role of a vengeful jailer in Imprisoned (2018).
What is Apocalypse Now Movie About?
In 1970 in Vietnam, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) embarks on a dangerous and increasingly confusing journey upstream to find and eliminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once promising officer, but is said to have completely lost his mind.
Along with a Navy patrol boat full of resourceful kids, a passionate Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall) and a frantic freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further into the heart of darkness.
Apocalypse Now constantly highlights the ironies that come with the Vietnam War in particular and Western imperialism in general. The film is not openly anti-war, but it does try to expose the brutality of the war waged by the United States in the name of democracy and freedom.
In the air raid, sampans, and bridge scenes, Coppola clearly depicts the death and devastation directly resulting from American involvement. Instead of helping innocent civilians, the US military is killing them.
They were strangers in a strange land, but they acted as if they owned it, zoning out the territory and shooting without provocation. The film depicts Willard’s quest as the epitome of hypocrisy:
Amid dozens of senseless killings, the US military is wasting energy and life by killing one of its highest ranking military officials.
Although Kurtz may have gone mad, it’s unclear why killing him was a priority when US troops and Vietnamese civilians were dying. Also, since the military seems to encourage assassination in wartime, as evidenced by Willard’s mission, we might wonder why Kurtz is demon possessed for killing two people who may have worked against the United States.
Willard points to several other acts of hypocrisy in his account. When Willard kills the woman, others’ perceptions of him change, but Clean is not criticized for shooting first and killing an entire family, as he is following the protocol.
Did Laurence Fishburne Play in Apocalypse Now?
Laurence Fishburne made his debut in the war movie Apocalypse Now. Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 psychological warfare epic Apocalypse Now was a phenomenon after its release after the first two Godfather films.
The Oscar-winning film stars an all-star cast of Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, and the already-popular Laurence Fishburne.
Laurence Fishburne stars as Tyrone “Mr. Clean” Miller, an arrogant Bronx native who was sadly killed in an attack on a riverboat while listening to a tape of his mother. Mr. Clean was one of the youngest soldiers Willard came into contact with, which is not surprising given that Fishburne was just 14 years old when Apocalypse Now began filming.
Fishburne told CBC that he lied about his age in an interview for the role, telling Coppola he was 16 years old when in fact he was two years younger. Apocalypse Now took more than two years to film, so when all scenes were completed, Fishburne was 17 years old – the same age as his character.
How Did Laurence Fishburne Make It to Apocalypse Now?
When Fishburne appeared for the role, he was 21 years old and had only made a splash a few years earlier with his appearance in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.
To get the role, Fishburne lied about his age, saying he was 16 years old when he was actually only 14 when the series started airing in 1976.
While making Apocalypse Now, Fishburne befriended actor Emilio Estevez and quickly became best friends with the entire “Brat Pack,” but in a 2020 interview with Vulture, Fishburne explained that he’s disappointed. How hopeless his career didn’t take off quickly, like they are doing.
As the Brat Pack dominated popular culture in the ’80s, Fishburne continued to forge his acting skills, inspired by Dennis Hopper’s legendary performance in Apocalypse Now.
