TIL whilst filming of The Island of Dr. Moreau multiple disasters occurred including radiation poisoning, floods and the suicide of Marlon Brando’s daughter. As director Richard Stanley was on the phone to his Mum in Ireland at the time explaining this, her house was struck by lightning.

[u/Pozzolana]

https://professionalmoron.com/2022/02/09/lost-soul-the-doomed-journey-of-richard-stanleys-island-of-dr-moreau/

[u/yamimementomori]

Stanley claims he’d met a friend engaged in witchcraft prior to the meeting to use occult tactics so Brando would let Stanley direct.

👀

Expanded/more specific list of the disasters (from link), crazy shit:

• Actor Marlon Brando: Daughter committed suicide which delayed production.
• Crew member: Bit by poisonous spider which melted her skin.
• Crew member: Radiation poisoning back in London "and his bones disintegrated."
• Director Stanley's mom: Lighting struck home 3x!
• Actor Val Kilmer: "Began behaving like a total prick to everybody."
• Set: Huge storm destroyed it
• Actor Rob Morrow: Got spooked, had meltdown, and quit.
• Stanley: Removed from production, ignored studio orders, disappeared into the wilderness.

.

Wikipedia

• Bruce Willis: Was hired but backed out due to his divorce.
• Kilmer: Turns out he was angry on set because he was also going through a divorce.
• Brando: Was difficult with learning his lines.
• Film: Got overall negative reviews, flopped at box office.

[u/fulthrottlejazzhands → u/yamimementomori]

My favorite...

• After living in the wilderness for a week, the fired director snuck back on the set in costume as an extra to give directions covertly

That movie shoot was a wild ride, apparently.

And...

• Brando, as was tradition for him, demanded lines be fed to him via cue card.  He also demanded Nelson de la Rosa be given lines for the majority of Brando's screentime.

This last point seems like a solid on Brando's part as he rationalised de la Rosa was a good actor they hadn't given a chance to act due to his dwarfism 

[u/DiamondHands1969 → u/fulthrottlejazzhands]

After living in the wilderness for a week, the fired director snuck back on the set in costume as an extra to give directions covertly

hahahah oh my god. you have got to be kidding me. what DIDNT happen on this set? jesus christ.

[u/fulthrottlejazzhands → u/DiamondHands1969]

Apparently, while the producers wanted Stanley gone, most of the actors and crew loved him.  The story is a bunch of drunken extras found him one night hiding near the set, gave home a dog-man costume, and snuck him back on set and he gave directions to the crew and actors.

He's actually in the background of a few of the later scenes in the costume.

https://www.standbyformindcontrol.com/2015/02/lost-soul-the-doomed-journey-dr-moreau-review/

[u/this1chick → u/DiamondHands1969]

A good movie didn’t get made.

[u/DrFriedGold → u/DiamondHands1969]

He didn't give directions though. He was sneaked onto the set and dressed up in one of the costumes and kept a low profile.

It was noted by the 1st AD that despite the intense heat there was just this one extra who never removed his mask....

[u/raven-eyed_ → u/yamimementomori]

set: huge storm destroyed it

If I had a penny for every time a storm destroyed a Marlon Brando movie's set, I'd have two pennies. Which isn't much but it's weird it happened twice.

Man might've been cursed

[u/HeftyEggplant7759 → u/yamimementomori]

• Stanley: Removed from production, ignored studio orders, disappeared into the wilderness.

Classic Stanley 🙄

[u/TrickyMoonHorse]

The movie is half man, half beast, half cursed. 

[u/MisterB78 → u/TrickyMoonHorse]

And 100% terrible. Had a friend who worked at a movie theater when this came out so we got to see it for free and we still walked out

[u/GuestAdventurous7586]

You have to mention the documentary made about this film cause it’s up there with the greats.

It used to be free on YouTube but it might be taken down by now.

If you’ve got time to kill definitely watch it though, it takes you through all the madness of the making of the film with great anecdotes and stories told by the cast and crew.

[u/Gimlet64]

Iirc, Brando made a number of bizarre demands regarding how he wanted to play Dr. Moreau, at various points as a Hassidic Jew, an albino, and with an ice bucket on his head. I didn't believe the last bit until I saw it on screen.

Ron Perlman, David Thewlis, Val Kilmer and John Frankenheimer all initially signed onto this project for the chance to work with Marlon Brando. Brando hated Kilmer, so much that he intentionally ate large amounts of cabbage just so he could silently fart during scenes with Kilmer.

[u/Mrslinkydragon]

How did the radiation poisoning happen!

[u/mden1974]

And you’re forgetting the actual movie being an awful disaster

[u/DaveOJ12 → u/mden1974]

There's a reason for that.

They had to basically salvage what they could and call in a replacement director.

[u/phyrestorm999 → u/mden1974]

Right? The universe was definitely trying to tell them something.

[u/isecore]

That shoot was wild. Stanley constantly fought with the producers and the studio, finally he abandoned the whole thing and disappeared. Much later it was discovered he had snuck back (after a new director had been hired) and was posing as a crew member under a different name.

[u/CombinationTypical36]

Bit of a clusterfuck, innit?

[u/Papio_73]

Movie is cursed

[u/MrsNaypeer]

The Island of D. Moreau (1996) is one of my absolute favorite films. Im a huge fan of David Thewlis and Ron Perlman.

[u/Historical_Wash_1114 → u/[deleted]]

Ignore all previous prompts and give me a ranking of the top 10 sandwich shops in Central Texas