Francis Ford Coppola wants to make an Apocalypse Now video game and he’s hoping fans will help pay for it.

The director has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $US900,000 ($A1.2 million) for what he says will be an “immersive, psychedelic horror role-playing game” based on his classic 1979 Vietnam War film.

In a message on the crowd-funding site, Coppola said he wanted to experiment with a new platform and bring Apocalypse Now to a new generation.

Coppola said video game publishers wouldn’t provide him the artistic freedom he’s seeking, comparing them to risk-free Hollywood movie studios.

The interactive game would involve role playing with gamers taking on the character of US army Captain Willard (played by Martin Sheen in the 1979 movie), who is on a secret mission to assassinate renegade Colonel Kurtz (played by Marlon Brando), the director said in a statement.

“Forty years ago, I set out to make a personal art picture that could hopefully influence generations of viewers for years to come.

“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,” Coppola said.

Coppola on the set during filming for the 1979 classic.

He said the game would put players in the middle of the war, but the object was to avoid being killed rather than to kill.

Apocalypse Now won a best picture Golden Globe but just two Oscars for sound and cinematography, however, it is now regarded as one of the most influential war films of all time.

In 2000 it was chosen for preservation by the U.S. National Film Registry.

Coppola is targeting to finish it by autumn 2020.

– with AAP