He’s best known as the director of some of the most celebrated movies of all time, but Francis Ford Coppola is looking at a possible career change, announcing that he intends to turn his classic film Apocalypse Now into a video game.

The 77 year old director set up a Kickstarter fund with the objective of raising $900,000 (or £710,000) to make what he envisions as being an “immersive, psychedelic horror RPG” based on the movie he made back in 1979.

Coppola has joined forces with Montgomery Markland, the producer of ‘Wasteland 2’, and Lawrence Liberty, the maker of some of the ‘Fallout’ titles, to work on the project which is expected to arrive by 2020, all things going well.

Francis Ford CoppolaFrancis Ford Coppola, pictured in 2016, wants to turn his 1979 film 'Apocalypse Now' into a video game

“Forty years ago, I set out to make a personal art picture that could hopefully influence generations of viewers for years to come,” the director famous for The Godfather, The Conversation and Rumblefish said at a press conference on Thursday (January 26th).

More: ‘The Godfather’ archive, belonging to author Mario Puzo, sells at auction for $625,000 [archive]

“Today, I’m joined by new daredevils, a team who want to make an interactive version of Apocalypse Now, where you are Captain Benjamin Willard amidst the harsh backdrop of the Vietnam War. I’ve been watching videogames grow into a meaningful way to tell stories, and I’m excited to explore the possibilities for Apocalypse Now for a new platform and a new generation.”

Based on the novella ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad, Apocalypse Now starred Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando in prominent roles, with a number of other established and rising stars in support roles (Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne and Robert Duvall, to name a few). It won the 1979 Palme d’Or at Cannes, and was praised for its vivid depiction of the horrors of the Vietnam War.

A Kickstarter trailer for the project has already been released, and can be viewed here. “Unlike a traditional RPG, the emphasis is not choosing dialogue, but rather actions and postures,” the description reveals. “Combat draws from survival horror to emphasise combat avoidance and stealth. This is not ‘Call Of Duty’ in Vietnam.”

More: Francis Ford Coppola awarded $100k Praemium Imperiale arts prize – but did he really need the money? [archive]