The rumor spread out like wildfire . Richard Stanley , the managing director of the 1996 scientific discipline fiction featureThe Island of Dr. Moreau , wasgoingto burn down his own motion picture set .
While filmmaker can sometimes be seen as fickle or demanding , few have ever resort to fire-raising . But Stanley chance himself in an untenable office . Moreau , which was to be his entrée into gravid - budget Hollywood movies , had pass off the rails like few movies ever had . His leading man , Val Kilmer , was allegedly difficult and reportedly even physically abusive to crew ; the studio apartment , New Line , want to pull the picture show in a more commercial direction ; bad atmospheric condition tore through expensive locations , too .
Before it was over , Stanley would beremovedfrom mogul and discover himself in deportation as an extra in his own picture show .
“ Basically , ” Stanley told a newsman , “ I ’m fucked . ”
Island Getaway
Stanley , who originally hailed from South Africa , wasgifteda transcript ofThe Island of Dr. Moreauby his father when he was a tyke . write byH.G. Wells(War of the Worlds , The Invisible Man ) , the 1896 novel explores a privy tropical venue where a vivid yet huffy scientist named Moreau does some extremely unethical surgery , create human - animate being loanblend that behave erratically . A wreck drops an Englishman named Edward Prendick into the middle of the madness , where he must confront the consequences of a man playing God .
The Word of God was accommodate into two films , including 1932’sIsland of Lost Souls — which was banned in many commonwealth for boldly proclaiming a impression in evolutionary science — as well as a 1977 version that star Burt Lancaster as the contrary scientist .
Stanley disliked the latter celluloid , believe it failed to do the Wells novel justice . That coronach was never far from his mind as he embark on a directorial calling , one in which he immediately present a hard-boiled understanding of sci - fi and horror : InHardware(1990 ) , a automaton goes berserk . InDust Devil(1992 ) , a vagabond explores supernatural ritual and leave supernatural entity in his viewing .
These modest - budget cause were decisive success and caught the attention of New Line Cinema , the mid - sized studio behind the Nightmare on Elm Streetfranchise and , later , the Screamseries . In 1992 , New LinerecruitedStanley , then just 28 , for a sprawling adaption ofMoreaubacked by a intelligent ( if not overly generous ) $ 35 million budget .
Stanley ’s troubles began early . His adjustment attract Bruce Willis for the part of an Americanized Edward Prendick , now cite Edward Douglas . But Willis bowed out before filming started . New Line then secure a commitment from Val Kilmer , who had risen to prominence in celluloid like 1985’sReal Geniusand 1986’sTop Gunbefore pose a gamey - profile spell as Batman in 1995’sBatman Forever .
Kilmer was a bankable and sought - after star — and he have it off it . After concur to playact Prendick , he informed Stanley he wanted to work roughly half the day that the role required . That would reduce the book to tatters . alternatively , Stanley had Kilmer play a neurosurgeon - gash - security officeholder named Dr. Montgomery , a small role , and hire player Rob Morrow ( Northern Exposure ) to playact Douglas .
But when Morrow go far in Queensland , Australia , for cinematography , he sense swelled fuss forward and reportedly made a mad phone call to the studio to try and get out of his dedication . ( David Thewlis replace him . )
The shift in part did n’t placate Kilmer . A 1996Entertainment Weeklyarticle title “ The Man Hollywood Loves to detest ” portrayed the actor ’s behaviour on set up in a extremely unfavorable light , include a report that Kilmer put a lit cigarette to the face of a tv camera wheeler dealer . The actor was also criticise by production team member for mouth ancestry from other function and showing up as recent as 3 p.m. for filming . ( Months later , Kilmer would tellThe New York TimesthatEntertainment Weeklyhad been fed misinformation by vindictive booster of former wife Joanne Whalley - Kilmer , whom he was in the process of divorcing . TheMoreauallegations were , hesaid , “ a full lie . ” )
Stanley quickly realized Kilmer had a hostile coming to the piece of work . He say the role player refused to practise and showed up with character choice out of the puritanical . “ He kept insist on odd flake and pieces of his press that did n’t make horse sense , like a piece of blue material wind around his branch , ” Stanley said . “ It was like , ‘ Why is that around his sleeve , and will he take it off ? ’ ”
Kilmer ’s purported rascality was not Stanley ’s only trouble . Almost forthwith , inclement atmospheric condition sweep away some of the standing set , prompting shutdowns . According to the theater director , New Line executive were also unhappy with his nidus on the human - animal hybrid creatures ( like leopard , pigs , and hyaena ) , which were being bestow to life through extensive prosthetics work and have a variety of outlandish permutation . Stanley embraced the havoc of the Wells novel , making Moreau a DNA specialist rather than a surgeon and amping it up with conceits like the baboon hybrids exert car guns . The studio , he say , desire him to pitch his focus to the human grapheme .
It was to little help . After get wind the dailies , New Line took the revolutionary step of give the axe Stanley . The director would later on say he think Kilmer deliberately worked to get him take away . However , New Line head Michael DeLuca lamented that the studio had n’t given Kilmer a “ solid director . ” Now , it had no director at all .
The film had been shooting less than a week .
Haunting the Set
HadThe Island of Dr. Moreaubeen a mercenary assignment , Stanley might have been able to take the air by with only a bruised self . But the book had been seminal for him , and the adjustment had taken years to arise . He matte up emotionally convoluted and angry ; rumors spread he might sooner see the primed burning than suffer control of it . ( That , Stanley later say , was just a joke . ) or else of fly home , he wandered out into the jungle and subsisted on cocoanut before return to the circle as a wight extra to abide by what might come about in his absence .
Things scarcely got better . After 12 day of inactivity , New Line installed warhorse John Frankenheimer ( The Manchurian Candidate ) as the replacement director in the hope he could better corral the moody Kilmer . But Kilmer did little to endear himself to the filmmaker , who swore he would never partake in a set with the actor again .
“ I do n’t like Val Kilmer , I do n’t like his employment ethic , and I do n’t want to be associate with him ever again , ” Frankenheimer said at the time .
Frankenheimer ’s problem get tougher with the arrival of an even more difficult performing artist . While still in control of the production , Stanley had cast Marlon Brando for the polar character of Dr. Moreau , sensing the iconic histrion ’s dignity could imbue the scientist with a forceful physical and psychological presence .
He could — when he felt like it . Brando employed the role player cliché of decline to occur out of his trailer and importune his line be written down rather than have to memorize them . Ron Hutchinson , who was brought on to rewrite the script , laterobservedBrando was simply bored with making movies and preferred to consume “ industrial quantity of pizza pie ” alternatively .
His Moreau was deeply flaky — Brando insisted on flannel-cake make - up and flowing smocks . At one point , he placed an ice bucket on his head . The actor , wroteone reviewer , looked like he had been “ dip in bollock and turn over around in flour . ”
If there was one top side to the chaos of the set , it was in the pathological amusement bunch penis might take in seeing two equally egotistical wizard face off . At one point , Brando coolly informed Kilmer , “ Your problem is , you put off your talent with the size of your payroll check . ”
The Finish Line
Frankenheimer completed the assignment , but the plastic film itself was likely beyond salvaging . The Island of Dr. Moreaumade a lowly $ 28 million at the box office and use up a critical thrashing .
The film did have one enduring contribution to start culture . As part of his unusual approach to the eccentric , Brandoinsistedthat the 2 - foot , 8 - inch actor Nelson De La Rosa , who was onceconsideredthe earth ’s shortest man by Guinness , toy his loyal buddy . Mike Myers subsequently cite their onscreen moral force as the inspiration behind the Mini - Me of theAustin Powersfilms , which New Line also circulate .
“ I had just find a DVD player and I was watchingThe Island of Dr. Moreau , ” Myerssaid . “ In this scene , there ’s Marlon Brando and this little someone and Marlon Brando is wreak the piano and on top of the pianoforte is a small miniature version of himself play a piano … I was like , that would be the one - eighth replication , and I just thought , what if his name was Mini - Me ? And directly I said that to Jay [ Roach , the conductor ] and he tell , ‘ I love this more than anything in life . You ’ve just start out to give me a week , I ’m on a mission to happen a guy who can do this ! ’ ” ( They did : Actor Verne Troyer played Mini - Me in two of the moving-picture show . )
Myers may have been the only one who had benefited fromMoreau . Kilmer ’s reputation as a difficult actor maturate in the geezerhood that fall out , though he did wind up apologizing to Stanley for how things turned out . It might have ring hollow for Stanley , who did n’t manoeuver another movie until 2020’sColor Out of Space , an adaptation of anH.P. Lovecraftstory starringNicolas batting cage .
Frankenheimer arguably get along better . In exchange for the ungrateful project of examine to salvageMoreau , the directorsaidNew Line pay him “ a huge amount of money . ”
As for the Wells tale itself , the great unwashed have n’t given up on trying to conform it . As late as 2020 , a television seriesbasedon the novel was in development . In 2024 , Anthony Hopkins agreed to fiddle Dr. Moreau in a new iteration titledEyes In the Trees . But that output is alreadyexperiencingsome ruction : In summer 2024 , cyber-terrorist threatened to release footage of the film unless a $ 200,000 ransom was paid . As Edward Prendick found out , dropping in on Dr. Moreau always pack a bill of risk .
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