Saturday, September 19, 2015
The ire of Dr. Moreau: on-set tales from the fx crew
fxguide: It is widely acknowledged that the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau was a deeply troubled production. Richard Stanley was the original director on the project, but after four years in development he was fired by New Line only three days into filming in northern Queensland, Australia. Stanley was replaced by John Frankenheimer, who inherited a myriad of challenges - from the demanding and oftentimes eccentric stars Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, to the former director Stanley sneaking back on set in an animal costume.
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4 comments:
I had never heard of this movie before reading this article, but I've always been interested in weird behind-the-scenes stories and these are definitely some of the most bizarre I've heard. Special effects is an intriguing part of the entertainment industry, but I had no idea that these kinds of things happened. I also did a double-take when I realized that Marlon Brando played the weird-looking Dr. Moreau character since I associate him with Guys and Dolls, The Wild One, and The Godfather. Overall, however, I thought the most unusual story was when the initial director snuck on set as one of the half-human, half-animal hybrid characters. I think all these stories are a testament to how so many things can go wrong and so many roadblocks can get in the way, but in the end it can still come together. I think it would be interesting to hear more about how the actors interacted with the crew and with one another, since it sounds like there were some strong personalities among the people working on the show.
I did not know that a movie was made from the book! Now I really want to see it. I find it amusing, especially so many years later reading about on set drama, especially when it is just about weird people. I cannot imagine having to deal with a former employee trying to sneak onto set in full costume, which is crazy! I think it would be funny and possibly interesting to hear from a manager who had to deal with these weird individuals. We could learn more about how these people were dealt with, because those skills are still useful. Wild entertainment people have by no means become extinct so any way we can better prepare for the likes of them is going to be useful for managers, and anyone who is going to be around that. Although I would say that the skills to deal with ‘interesting’ people can apply to any industry.
This is some of the craziest stuff I have ever heard of happening on a film set. The audacity and behavior of Marlon Brando cracks me up, while also making me second-guess his worthiness as an actor. When an actor, such as Brando, becomes such a Diva that they start doing their own Special Effects Make-up and refusing to do re-writes, I immediately begin to question how valuable they actually are. Though that’s neither here or there. I absolutely love stories like these, they always bring the biggest grin to everyone’s faces. During the moment, however, I’m sure experiencing these stories was its own nightmare. When people do these crazy and bizarre things on set, all you can do is shake your head and think to yourself “this is going to be one heck of a story some day.” Then the director showing up in animal costumes and special effects make-up was the icing on the cake for this article.
This has got to be the weirdest story I have heard about the production of a movie. Not only does it sound incredibly frustrating, it is downright baffling. So much work goes into each character in a movie like this that to develop different effects and different character makeup based on whether or not an actor wants to party at night is unbelievable. I guess at a certain point, however, what has to be done is done and then they can laugh about it later. Aside from the hilarity, it is very cool to see how closely the visual and special effects people work together on a film like this, especially early in the development of computer effects such as the ones they were using. Anything that influenced one team influenced the other, even if it was an actor’s refusal to die or the director sneaking back onto the set. It sounds like an interesting experience, but it certainly makes for a hilarious story!
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