Harvey Keitel in Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola's two-time Oscar-winning Vietnam War drama Apocalypse Now (1979) was marred by bizarre occurrences and plagued by production problems (as detailed in the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse). So, in hindsight, Harvey Keitel may not be too upset about his dismissal from the project. He was originally cast to play Captain Benjamin L. Willard alongside Marlon Brando's Colonel Walter E. Kurtz and Robert Duvall's Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore. However, he was let go and replaced by Martin Sheen, who suffered a heart attack on set and nearly died. It's been said that Francis Ford axed Harvey because the actor "found it difficult" to play Captain Benjamin "as a passive onlooker."