Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau

2014 1h 38m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 125

Documentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The story of the insane scandals related to the remake of “Island of Dr. Moreau” —originally a novel by H. G. Wells—, which was brought to the big screen in 1996. How director Richard Stanley spent four years developing the project just to find an abrupt end to his work while leading actor Marlon Brando pulled the strings in the shadows. Now for the first time, the living key players recount what really happened and why it all went so spectacularly wrong.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Richard Stanley
Self
Kier-La Janisse
Self
Michael Gingold
Self
Graham Humphreys
Self
Edward R. Pressman
Self
Robert Shaye
Self
Tim Sullivan
Self
Tim Zinnemann
Self

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: David Gregory
Writers: David Gregory
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Released 12 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by David Gregory, shot by Jim Kunz. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mark Raskin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Douglas Buck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Richard Stanley and Kier-La Janisse and Michael Gingold carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt3966544 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

David Gregory directs. Jim Kunz behind the camera. Mark Raskin scores. Douglas Buck cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 12 years ago.
2Directed by David Gregory, shot by Jim Kunz. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Mark Raskin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Douglas Buck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Richard Stanley and Kier-La Janisse and Michael Gingold carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt3966544 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jim Kunz
Original score: Mark Raskin
Editing: Douglas Buck
Sound: Brian San Marco
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

Also by

David Gregory

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-02-16
Account of the troubled production is far more compelling than the movie The making of the 1996 version of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" was such a disaster that articles, books and documentaries have been made about it, like this 2014 documentary "Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau." Stanley championed the film, wrote the screenplay and was set to direct, but was fired after a few days of shooting after conflicts with Val Kilmer, who wasn't in the best of moods due to being served divorce papers while on set. Actually that wasn’t the main reason Stanley was fired. He was fine for small indie productions, but he was out of his league with a blockbuster like this. In his defense, the movie didn’t start as a blockbuster, but simply a few notches more swanky than Stanley’s previous two Indie flicks. Veteran filmmaker John Frankenheimer had to be brought in to save the production from being an utter loss. He got the job done, but his tyrannical approach didn’t help matters. The situation was so bad that Fairuza Balk (the cat-lady, Aissa) literally tried to escape the remote set in Cairns, Australia, but she was caught at the airport in the nick of time. Add to this constant rewrites and Brando's well-known eccentricities, not helped by the recent suicide of his daughter, Cheyenne, and you have a formula for cinematic chaos! The fact that a semi-coherent, somewhat entertaining movie was made from such a debacle is remarkable. But this documentary is far more interesting and amusing. It’s on par with similar docs, like “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse” (1991). Some notables of the cast & crew unfortunately weren’t interviewed (Kilmer, Ron Pearlman and David Thewlis), but more than enough were to accurately and entertainingly paint the picture of what went down. The film runs 1 hour, 37 minutes. GRADE: A

Production companies

Who made it

Severin Films
US

Key crew

Still PhotographerGraham Humphreys
EditorDouglas Buck
Additional CameraKarla Jean Davis
ProducerDavid Gregory
Executive ProducerDavid Gregory
Associate ProducerAnthony Egan
Executive ProducerCarl Daft
ProducerCarl Daft
Executive ProducerJohn Cregan
Associate ProducerChris Alexander
Sound Re-Recording MixerBrian San Marco
Sound EditorBrian San Marco
Associate EditorDavid Gregory

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

remake
behind the scenes

Release history · US

When it landed

Theatrical2014-08-24

7.4