The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 film, the third major movie version of the H. G. Wells novel The Island of Doctor Moreau, a science fiction horror story about a scientist who attempts to convert animals into people. The film stars Marlon Brando, features Val Kilmer, Fairuza Balk, David Thewlis and Ron Perlman, and was directed by John Frankenheimer. The screenplay was written by Walon Green and Ron Hutchinson.
Synopsis
In the year 2010, Dr. Moreau has successfully conquered the impossible: to use human DNA in animals to make them more humanlike and regress their animal instincts and make the divine human, free of malice and hatred. After many attempts, only one experiment was successful and now the unsuccessful ones are given drugs every day to keep them from regressing into their animal forms. They are also controlled through shock therapy to keep them in order.
However, one of the creatures has found a way to stop himself from receiving shock treatment and when he informs others of this, the animal hybrids break loose on the island.
One of Dr. Moreau's allies is Dr. Montgomery, a physician gone mad with devotion to Moreau and intense drug abuse.
United Nations negotiator Edward Douglas, the sole survivor of an airplane crash, is brought ashore on Moreau's island — against his better judgement — by Dr. Montgomery, and eventually becomes his prisoner. Horrified by the doctor's monstrous experiments and fearing for his own life, Douglas seeks the help of Moreau's lovely daughter, Aissa, in escaping the island, but is foiled at every turn by Dr. Montgomery and his man-beast lackeys.
Cast
Director's Cut
Eventually, a director's cut was released on DVD containing four minutes of extra footage from the theatrical release. Some highlights:
- An extended prologue. Douglas and the two men in the life raft fight over the last canteen of water as in the theatrical version, but with a more violent ending. It begins as usual. One man pulls out a knife and stabs another in the back. The wounded man pulls the knife out and stabs his attacker in the stomach. They continue to fight as Douglas threatens one man with a flare gun. He is unsuccessful, but the other two men are knocked overboard while a hungry shark bites into one of the men. The other man that escaped the shark appears out of the water to attack Douglas, but he bashes the man's skull in with one of the oars in the raft. The film continues as usual.
- Dr. Moreau's death. His death lasts a bit longer and more graphic. Hyena eventually rips off his arm by the wrist.
- Douglas shoots at Hyena. Following the previous extension, before Hyena runs off, he throws Moreau's arm down.
- Azazello's implant removed. Azazello in the theatrical release says that he knows where there's more of "the fire that kills". This scene explains the blood spot on his left chest in the rest of the film. Hyena and his followers rip out Azazello's implant in his chest.
- Montgomery's death. There is a more graphic shot indicating what really happened to Montgomery. He is shot in the chest. In the theatrical release, this is where the scene ends. In this extension, Hyena takes Azazello's gun and shoots Montgomery's dead body several more times.
- Hyena's destruction of Dr. Moreau's office. There is a shot of Hyena shooting aimlessly in a circle at the walls of Moreau's office.
- Hyena tortures Douglas. Although Hyena never physically tortures Douglas, he uses the implant shock treatment to psychologically torture him in the theatrical version. In this extension, several of Hyena's followers shoot innocent mutants on the ground to death, scaring and making him fear Hyena even more.
Production
Unfortunately for New Line the production was plagued with problems from the outset. The first sign of trouble appeared when Kilmer suddenly decided - for reasons of his own - that he wanted his role cut by 40%. The original director on the project, Richard Stanley, knew that it was impossible to cut the role of UN diplomat, Edward Prendick (later changed to Edward Douglas) by such a drastic amount, but he wanted to keep Kilmer onboard, so he hit on the idea of switching him to the role of Dr. Montgomery, Moreau's assistant on the island. Kilmer agreed to this proposal, so the part of Prendick was given to Rob Morrow.
The chosen location for the film were the steamy, tropical rainforests of North Queensland, Australia, but just three days into filming, New Line fired Stanley, (a move that was believed to have been influenced by Kilmer) and brought in veteran film director, John Frankenheimer. The reasons for Stanley's dismissal are not very clear, but it's been said that he wasn't a strong enough director (to cope with the notoriously difficult Kilmer) and that he didn't have his process very well thought out. Frankenheimer, like virtually every member of the cast and crew, came on board because he wanted the opportunity to work with Brando.
When Morrow also decided to leave the production, Frankenheimer needed to find a new lead actor and brought in David Thewlis to play Douglas. Frankenheimer's vision of the movie was very different from Stanley's, and he and Brando decided to rewrite the script with the help of scriptwriters, Walon Green and Ron Hutchinson. The whole production was shut down for one and a half weeks while these changes were implemented.[1]
Once shooting resumed, however, the problems did not dissipate. New pages were turned in only a few days before they were shot and the breakneck pace Hutchinson kept up didn't equal quality. 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".[2] Frankenheimer also reportedly clashed with Brando and the studio, as they 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 to Brando's nerve and having no motivation to keep rehearsing new lines, he was equipped with a small radio receiver. 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 Woolworths.'" Even Brando clashed who Kilmer who didn't make any new friends with his continuously erratic behaviour. According to Film Threat magazine, Brando pointed out to him: "You're confusing your talents with the size of your paycheck".
Kilmer has stated that the time filming on-set was "crazy." He was served with divorce papers from his then-wife Joanne Whalley, Brando was dealing with the suicide of his daughter Cheyenne, as well as the implications of a French nuclear test near the atoll he owned.
After a joke Stanley reportedly told to the production designer of burning the set down, security was tightened in case of him actually trying to sabotage the project.[3] One rumor surfaced (promoted by Stanley)[4] that he did however manage to sneak back on the set in full costume as one of the many human-animal hybrids.[5] Another reports that he also 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.
Thewlis skipped the film's premiere by choice.
Reception
The film was met with bad reviews,[6] and grossed $49 million worldwide, only covering the $40 million budget.[7]
The Island of Dr. Moreau later got seven nominations for the Razzie Awards including Worst Picture, "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 versions of the story:
Notes
- ^ http://www.theperlmanpages.i12.com/bsmovies/drmoreau.htm
- ^ Psycho Kilmer
- ^ http://www.everythingisundercontrol.org/nagtloper/moreau/moreau2.php
- ^ http://www.everythingisundercontrol.org/nagtloper/moreau/moreau2.php
- ^ http://www.moria.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2051&Itemid=1
- ^ The Island of Dr. Moreau - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)
External links
