Greetings,
I once heard someone say that a film about the making of 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau would probably be a better movie than the actual movie. Well, thanks to Mr. Good Bad Flicks, I just heard about a documentary which is exactly that. And that is what I will be reviewing today.
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau is a 2014 documentary that tells the behind the scenes story of the Dr. Moreau of '96, centering on the director that never actually got to direct it, Richard Stanley. Yeah, that's right. There was once someone who put much care and thought and passion into this production and maybe could have turned it into the great movie that this story deserves. Shocking to believe, I know, especially if you've seen the movie that we ended up getting.
Anyway, most of this documentary covers all the time that Stanley worked on the project, but it also shows what happened after he got fired...a few days into principal photography...for reasons that I can't fathom. It seemed that a lot of people who were working on the film enjoyed working with Stanley, particularly the actors, but he just got shoved aside and out of the picture, so to speak. Once that happens, we get to enjoy...well, "enjoy" hearing about all the shenanigans that occurred afterwards, when John Frankenheimer took over. Now I like Frankenheimer as a director, but apparently, not everyone is crazy about working with him. At least, not where The Island of Dr. Moreau was concerned. But whatever he did or didn't do, however he acted, it's kind of small potatoes compared to the havoc that Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando wreaked on the set.
Oh, where to begin? Honestly, I can't. These are stories you need to hear firsthand from those who witnessed it, especially Fairuza Balk. Yeah, she's got some good tales to tell. And it's just overwhelming how unprofessional some people were being, including the legendary, I guess, Brando. He couldn't even be bothered to learn his lines, for crying out loud, and the power plays between him and Kilmer were just insulting to everyone. It's like "Why are you even here?". I seriously feel bad for all those actors and otherwise who I'm sure, at first, wanted to be a part of a great film, but who eventually started saying, "Can we just go home already?". And that was just not fair to those people.
Look, I can't do this movie justice with anything I can say here, that's why this review is fairly short. If you've seen the 1996 film, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and you watched with much confusion as to what the crap was going on, this documentary is for you. Also, if you like witnessing how certain hot messes come to be, yeah, see this. By the way, since the '96 film, I've always thought that the story of Dr. Moreau is worth getting another chance cinematically. And seeing what could have been when a person with passion and respect for that source material is involved, I'm sure that it is possible for us to get something stellar out of this story. Whatever. Just watch this documentary. It's on the Netflix right now. You will be entertained.
Love and full moons,
Becky the Writer
