The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 film)

The Island of Dr. Moreau

Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Frankenheimer
Produced by Edward R. Pressman
Screenplay by Richard Stanley
Ron Hutchinson
Based on The Island of Doctor Moreau
by H. G. Wells
Starring
Music by Gary Chang
Cinematography William A. Fraker
Edited by Paul Rubell
Distributed by New Line Cinema
Release dates
  • August 23, 1996 (1996-08-23) (United States)
  • November 15, 1996 (1996-11-15) (United Kingdom)
Running time
 96 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $40 million
Box office $49,627,779

The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 American science fiction horror film, the third major film adaptation of H. G. Wells' novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people. The film stars Marlon Brando, David Thewlis, Val Kilmer, Ron Perlman, and Fairuza Balk, and was directed by John Frankenheimer, who was brought in half a week after shooting started. The screenplay is credited to the original director Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson.

The production was notoriously difficult, and the film was a box office bomb that received mostly negative reviews.

Plot

In 2010, United Nations negotiator Edward Douglas (David Thewlis) survives a plane crash in the Java Sea and is eventually rescued by a passing boat. Aboard, a man called Montgomery (Val Kilmer) tends to him, and after telling him the boat has no radio, he promises Douglas the captain will take him to Timor after dropping him off. However, when they arrive at Montgomery's destination referred to as "Moreau's Island", he instead advises Douglas to stay with him, ostensibly so he can use the radio on the island.

Montgomery unloads a shipment of rabbits at a pen, and one runs away while he slaughters another for Douglas' meal. They then head on to the Main House where Douglas is warned not to wander. There, he meets a daughter of Dr. Moreau's called Aissa (Fairuza Balk), but Montgomery turns him away from her and leads him to his room. On the way, they discuss how Moreau vanished after becoming obsessed with his animal research. Montgomery locks Douglas in his room, but he manages to escape that night. He then comes across a laboratory where he witnesses the birth of a mutant baby, belonging to and delivered by human-animal hybrids. He is noticed, escapes, and runs into Aissa who leads him to the village of the mutants. On the way, they find the partially eaten corpse of a rabbit, not far from a leopard hybrid called Lo-Mai (Mark Dacascos). At the village, they find the Sayer of the Law (Ron Perlman) whose Law preaches "being human" in terms of restraint and discipline. Dr. Moreau (Marlon Brando), referred to as "The Father" by the mutants, appears. He controls the villagers by using a remote control that causes pain through an implant under the creatures' skin. Moreau forces the village to hand over Douglas only to peacefully take him to the House to discuss the situation.

Douglas, Montgomery and Moreau gather and he introduces his hybrid "children" and later dine. Then, he explains his creations: he introduced human DNA into animals in search of a higher being, incapable of harm. The existing Beast Folk are imperfect, but Moreau claims to be "closer than [Douglas] could possibly imagine" in his quest. Moreau's son Azazello (Temuera Morrison) comes in with the rabbit, to the disgust of Moreau who abhors killing. When he learns of the eaten rabbit, he promises that there will be a trial the next day. Douglas tries to escape by boat, but finds it overrun with rat-like creatures and gives up.

At the trial, Azazello unexpectedly shoots Lo-Mai. His body is burned, and a mutant called Hyena-Swine (Daniel Rigney) comes, notices the pain implant among his remains, then removes his own. Montgomery reveals to Douglas that in addition to the pain, the animals are controlled through regular drugging to prevent them from "retrogressing". Hyena-Swine shows off the removed implant, and so Montgomery sets the other beasts after him. Meanwhile, Douglas tries to contact the outside world, but Montgomery sabotages the radio and Aissa reveals to Moreau that she is regressing as it shows her with cat-like eyes.

Hyena-Swine and his trackers (now on his side and also free of implants) break into the House and confront their Father. Angry over their hybrid nature and no longer under his control, they reject humanity and the Law and kill Moreau. His children grieve, except for Azazello who steals Montgomery's gun and goes to join the savages. Aissa informs Douglas that he can stop her regression with a serum from the lab. However, it turns out Montgomery has gone insane and destroyed it. Douglas also finds samples and a file with his name on them, and finds out that Moreau was planning to use his DNA to stop Aissa's regression permanently, completing his experiments. Meanwhile, Azazello leads the savages to the armory.

The savages have now taken over the island: Azazello shoots Montgomery at the village and Hyena-Swine's faction rampages around the island. Azazello hangs Aissa, but is shot dead by Hyena-Swine after bringing Douglas to him. Douglas manages to survive by telling Hyena-Swine to impose his leadership and be "God Number One" among the others of his faction. During the battle, Douglas escapes and Hyena-Swine is killed in the burning building.

The Sayer of the Law and Assassimon see off Douglas as he leaves. The Sayer of the Law tells Douglas that the hybrids want to return to their natural state of being. In closing narration, Douglas reflects on the savagery that also emerges in humans and claims that he leaves the island "in fear".

Cast

Production

As documented in David Gregory's 2014 documentary Lost Souls: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr Moreau, the chaotic events of the making of the film quickly led to it becoming one of the most difficult and troubled productions in Hollywood history.

A film version of Dr Moreau had been a long-standing dream of original director Richard Stanley, who had first read the book as a child. He spent four years developing the project before getting the green-light from New Line Cinema. Although Stanley had envisaged Jürgen Prochnow in the lead role, New Line managed to secure Marlon Brando, but some time later, Stanley learned that New Line had gone behind his back and offered the movie to director Roman Polanski. Furious, Stanley demanded a meeting with Brando, who unexpectedly proved very sympathetic to Stanley's vision, not least because of Stanley's intimate understanding of the novel and its history - including its connections with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (the main inspiration for Apocalypse Now) - and because of Stanley's own family relation to legendary African explorer Henry Morton Stanley, one of the chief inspirations for Conrad's lead character, Kurtz.

With Brando supporting him, Stanley was confirmed as director, and he was also able to recruit two more major stars: Bruce Willis as Edward Prendick, a UN negotiator who washes up on Moreau's island after his plane crashes, and James Woods as Montgomery, Moreau's chief assistant. Buoyed by these developments, Stanley enthusiastically launched into pre-production, collaborating with special effects creator Stan Winston on the creation of makeup and costumes for Moreau's hybrid creatures, and preparing the location and sets. However, as the time for principal photography approached, problems began to multiply - even before filming had begun, Bruce Willis had dropped out due to his acrimonious divorce from Demi Moore and he was replaced, fatefully, by Val Kilmer who, to Stanley's dismay, immediately demanded a 40% reduction in the number of days he was required on set. Another significant setback occurred not long before filming began, with the suicide of Brando's daughter Cheyenne - the devastated star retreated to his private island, leaving Stanley and his producers in limbo, not knowing when or even if he would show up.

The chosen location for the film was the rain forest outside Cairns in North Queensland, Australia. Tensions between Stanley and New Line had been growing during pre-production - notably because of Stanley's quirky, insular nature, and his marked unwillingness to attend studio meetings - but they reached crisis point within the first few days of filming. Stanley's vulnerability to studio pressure was exacerbated by the continuing absence of his main ally, Brando, but the biggest problem proved to be the notorious on-set behaviour of Kilmer, who reportedly arrived on set two days late. By this time, Kilmer had already convinced New Line executive Michael De Luca to recast him in the smaller role of Montgomery, so James Woods also left the production, obliging New Line to hurriedly recruit former Northern Exposure star Rob Morrow to play Prendick.

Kilmer later attributed his obnoxious behaviour to the fact that, just as filming began, he learned from a TV report that he was being sued for divorce by his then wife Joanne Whalley, but whatever his reasons, many of the cast and crew have testified to Kilmer's bullying, and his consistently hostile and obstructive manner during the first days of shooting - he would not deliver the dialogue as scripted, and repeatedly criticised Stanley's ideas, and what little footage was shot was deemed unusable.

The studio mainly seems to have blamed the director for not getting Kilmer under control,[1] but another significant factor was the sudden departure of co-star Rob Morrow on the second day of shooting. With the location being pounded by bad weather that had temporarily stopped filming, Morrow found himself unable to bear the tension and hostility on set any longer, so he telephoned New Line chairman Rob Shaye in Hollywood and tearfully begged to be let go. Shaye agreed, so New Line had to hastily bring in British actor David Thewlis.

After a third day of filming, following emergency consultations with its on-set executives, New Line abruptly fired Stanley - by fax. The beleaguered director reacted angrily, shredding documents in revenge, and then vanishing after being delivered to the airport for the return flight to Hollywood. The reasons for Stanley's dismissal were not made clear, and false rumours were spread about his allegedly erratic behaviour, but the main reasons appear to have been his perceived unwillingness to deal with studio executives, and especially his problems in dealing with Kilmer, whose already well-established reputation for being 'difficult' was soon to be enshrined in movie lore thanks to this film.

Stanley had been offered his full fee on condition that he left the production quietly and did not speak about his sacking, so his disappearance caused consternation at New Line, who feared he might try to sabotage the filming. His removal also predictably sent shock waves through the cast and crew. Outraged female lead Fairuza Balk stormed off the set after a heated exchange with the New Line executives, and then reportedly had a production assistant drive her all the way from Cairns to Sydney - a distance of some 2500 km- in a rented limousine. However, by her own account, Balk's agent then warned her in blunt terms that the studio would ruin her, and that she would never work in films again if she broke her contract, so she was soon forced to return to the set.

With a budget now approaching US$70 million, and potential disaster looming, New Line brought in veteran director John Frankenheimer. He came on board in part because - like virtually every member of the cast and crew - he wanted the opportunity to work with the legendary Brando, but he also used the studio's desperation to his advantage, successfully demanding a hefty fee and a three-picture deal in exchange for his services. Well known as one of the last of the "old style" Hollywood directors, Frankenheimer's gruff, dictatorial approach was radically different from Stanley's and he soon alienated many of the cast, and especially the very experienced Australian crew, of whom he was often harshly critical. He and Brando decided to have the then-current script by Richard Stanley, Michael Herr and Walon Green rewritten by Frankenheimer's previous collaborator Ron Hutchinson. The whole production was shut down for a week and a half while these changes were implemented.[2]

Once shooting resumed, however, the problems continued, and escalated. Brando routinely spent hours in his air-conditioned trailer when he was supposed to be on camera, while actors and extras sweltered in the tropical heat in full make-up and heavy costumes. The antipathy between Brando and Kilmer rapidly escalated into open hostility, and on one occasion (recounted in the Lost Soul documentary) this resulted in the cast and crew being kept waiting for hours, with each actor refusing to come out of his respective trailer before the other. New pages were turned in only a few days before they were shot. Frankenheimer and Kilmer had an argument on-set, which reportedly got so heated, Frankenheimer stated afterwards, "I don't like Val Kilmer, I don't like his work ethic, and I don't want to be associated with him ever again".[1] Because of this, there were two famous phrases Frankenheimer was quoted as saying to the press in reference to Val Kilmer. The first was, "There are two things I will never ever do in my whole life. The first is that I will never climb Mt. Everest. The second is that I will never work with Val Kilmer ever again." The second, more tongue-in-cheek phrase was, "Will Rogers never met Val Kilmer." According to Frankenheimer's long-serving assistant director James Sbardellati, on another occasion Frankenheimer became so exasperated by Kilmer's petulant behaviour that he exclaimed: "If I was making 'The Val Kilmer Story', I wouldn't hire that prick!"

Frankenheimer also reportedly clashed with Brando and the studio, who were concerned with the direction he was taking the film. According to Thewlis, "we all had different ideas of where it should go. I even ended up improvising some of the main scenes with Marlon." Thewlis went on to rewrite his character personally. The constant rewrites also got on Brando's nerves, and as on many previous productions, he refused to learn lines, so he was equipped with a small radio receiver, so that his assistant could feed his lines to him as he performed - a technique he'd used on earlier films. Thewlis recollects: "[Marlon would] be in the middle of a scene and suddenly he'd be picking up police messages and would repeat, 'There's a robbery at Woolworth's.'" Brando also began to clash with Kilmer over the latter's continuing erratic behavior, and according to Film Threat magazine, on one occasion Brando told Kilmer: "You're confusing your talents with the size of your paycheck". Upon completion of Kilmer's final scene, Frankenheimer is reported to have said to the crew, "Cut, Now get that bastard off my set."

Kilmer has stated that the time filming on-set was "crazy.", in part because he was dealing with his divorce, while Brando was dealing with the suicide of his daughter as well as the implications of a French nuclear test near the atoll he owned.

Stanley had reportedly jokingly told the film's production designer to burn the set down, but when Stanley disappeared after his sacking, security was tightened in case he was actually trying to sabotage the project.[3] Stanley himself later revealed that he had in fact stayed in Australia - suffering a total emotional breakdown, he had retreated to a remote farm in the Cairns region to recover.

Ironically, this led to one of the most fabled events associated with the film. During the latter stages of filming Stanley had a chance meeting with some of the film's former production staff, who had been rehired as extras and were camping in the area. It was rumoured at the time, and confirmed as true by these same production staff in the 'Lost Souls' documentary[3] that with their help Stanley secretly came back to the set over several days - disguised in full costume as one of the dog-men, he performed as an extra on the film he had originally been hired to direct.[4] It has also been reported that he showed up at the film's wrap party, where he ran into Kilmer, who was said to have apologized profusely for Stanley's removal from the film.

Due to the many problems with the production, and the evident ongoing attempts by both Brando and Kilmer to sabotage it, the location shooting eventually stretched from a scheduled six weeks to almost six months, and the atmosphere on the production became almost a mirror of the plot of the movie, with the long-suffering cast and crew becoming more and more alienated by and hostile towards its megalomaniacal co-stars and their tyrannical director.

Thewlis chose to skip the film's premiere, and is said to have vowed never to watch it.

Director's cut

Eventually, a director's cut was released on DVD, extending the 96-minute film to 100 minutes.

Reception

The film was met with negative reviews; Rotten Tomatoes currently rates the film with a 23% "Rotten", based on 31 reviews.[5] The film grossed only $49 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, which, with marketing and other expenses, lost money for the studio.[6][7] In an article written upon Brando's death in 2004, critic Roger Ebert described The Island of Dr. Moreau as "perhaps [Brando's] worst film".[8]

The Island of Dr. Moreau later received six nominations for the Razzie Awards including Worst Picture and Worst Director, winning Worst Supporting Actor for Marlon Brando (Val Kilmer was also a nominee in this category). The film also got nominations for two Saturn Awards: Best Make-Up and Science Fiction Film.

See also

The two earlier film versions of the story:

Notes

  1. 1 2 Ascher-Walsh, Rebecca (1996-05-31). "Psycho Kilmer". Entertainment Weekly.
  2. ↑ http://www.perlmanpages.com/bsmovies/drmoreau.htm
  3. 1 2 "The Island of Dr Moreau [Between Death and the Devil - The Unofficial Richard Stanley Website]". Everythingisundercontrol.org. 1996-08-23. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  4. ↑ "The Science-Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film Review". Moria. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  5. ↑ "The Island of Dr. Moreau - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  6. ↑ "The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)". Boxofficemojo.com. 1996-09-27. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  7. ↑ Snow, Shauna (1996-09-03). "Morning report". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
  8. ↑ http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/brando-was-a-rebel-in-the-movies-a-character-in-life
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