10 Movies That Changed Because Of A Director’s Bad Behaviour
7. The Island of Doctor Moreau
Director Richard Stanley recently returned to the horror genre after a decades-long absence with this year’s superb The Color Out of Space, a widely acclaimed HP Lovecraft adaptation. It’s a great film, great enough to make one wonder whatever became of Stanley…
The answer is 1996’s The Island of Doctor Moreau.
This is one director who wasted no time starting his bad behaviour, as his certainty that he would be replaced by Roman Polanski led him to carry out a blood magic ritual in order to hold onto the gig. Despite this unusual insurance, Stanley mainly got the job thanks to his friendship with star Marlon Brando… And so he soon lost it when Brando jumped ship.
After clashing with prima donna star Val Kilmer and insisting on travelling with the film’s wild animal cast, Stanley took the news of his firing poorly and proceeded to destroy his storyboards, production notes, and other invaluable studio property.
The
madness didn’t end there, as a few mutinous crew members eventually smuggled
him back onto the set disguised in a mask and working as an extra.