MovieChat Forums > Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2015) Discussion > After Seeing This...

After Seeing This...

posted 9 years ago by DrmWmn
7 replies | jump to latest

My view towards what happened and the unfairness towards Stanley has changed completely.

Stanley had his heart and soul in the project and would've made a great producer, writer, or technical advisor. For a project this big, he shouldn't have been the director. He didn't have the communication skills necessary to direct a crew for this, he lacked the focus to helm this project properly and focused too much on things like the locals and trying to make everything as REAL as possible. He wasted so much time and money on this! That's what sets are for. That's what special effects are for. He didn't have to set everything up on an actual island. They needed a hut, another hut, a field, a shore, and the rest could've been sets in a warehouse. Also, his lack of communication with the studio and crew - that's not okay when trying to make a picture like this. That's what those meetings BEFORE shootings are for! That's what script readings are for.

As for the whole Val Kilmer being a diva thing, that's truly unfair to him. He had just found out he was getting a divorce and did not want to back out completely. Once meeting with Stanley and seeing the tremendous amount of work that would be involved with such an inexperienced director, I can see why he wanted out. The same with Brando. His daughter had just died. Then they come to set and have this chaos??? These actors and production crew knew how things should be run in order to get it done. A man with a vision and no way to get it down couldn't be allowed to proceed.

 <---Bella's "Kiss Me" Face

[–] Latoija 9 years ago

It isn't like this is the first accusation of Kilmore being difficult to work with. He has been rumored to be a hard person to work with for as long as since I was in grade school (and that was a long time ago).

And Brando has been making directors lived difficult since before I was born. As Coppola and Martin Sheen about how unfair it is to paint Brando as difficult to work with.

[–] hypermecha 9 years ago

It isn't like this is the first accusation of Kilmore being difficult to work with. He has been rumored to be a hard person to work with for as long as since I was in grade school (and that was a long time ago).

And Brando has been making directors lived difficult since before I was born. As Coppola and Martin Sheen about how unfair it is to paint Brando as difficult to work with.

Exactly this. It is true that Kilmer & Brando both were going through rough times; however, as Latoija points out, they both had a long history of being notoriously difficult to deal with on set. Kilmer had that prima donna attitude and demanded to have things his way, looked down at other people, had a big ego and felt threatened by other actors stealing his attention, and Brando thought he was such a genius that he did not have to bother reading scripts and could just adlib and wing his way through roles. Which may have worked somewhat when he was younger, but he wasn't so sharp as he got older. Francis Ford Coppola got into huge arguments with him over the fact that not only did he not memorize his lines, but Brando had not even read any of the script for Apocalypse Now, and wanted to make all sorts of alterations to the Kurtz character despite Coppola wanting to stick as close as possible to the character in the book.

Those things Kilmer & Brando were going through were already happening before they took the roles, they were not valid excuses to want to back out of making a film they were committed to. The chaos on the set was not there initially, in fact if anything, they were the cause of it. All the debauchery with the hippies happened after the director was already swapped, and the tiny guy going bonkers punching people and being a general nuisance was egged on by Brando and got worse because of him. So as inexperienced as Stanley was, I hardly think it's fair to plop all the fault in his lap.

🐯

[–] Protozoid 9 years ago

Did the OP see the same documentary I saw? I cannot understand how someone could watch it and come away thinking "poor Val" while placing the blame squarely on Richard Stanley. Even Kilmer eventually apologized and said he wished that Stanley had finished the film! From the sound of things, Kilmer's divorce was probably caused by his behavior, not the reverse. Besides, going through a divorce isn't a license to abuse dozens of unrelated people.

Kilmer ruined Stanley's movie. His problematic nature is widely acknowledged. It's an open-and-shut case. Stanley's only error was casting two of the most difficult lead actors in the world on the same project.

[–] DrmWmn 9 years ago

Yes, the OP did see the documentary. Did you read the OP's post?

Regardless of what was going on with Kilmer and Brando's life, this Stanley didn't have what it takes to make the movie. Period.

He didn't feel the need to attend production meetings. He focused too much on preparation and didn't do anything to execute his ideas. He may have shared his visions often with those entranced with it, but he didn't actually DIRECT anyone. Not the crew, not the actors, nobody.

Anyone like that shouldn't be in charge.

 <---Bella's "Kiss Me" Face

[–] SuperOtaku 9 years ago

I agree. Richard Stanley was way out if his league. Sure Val and Brando were typical Hollywood actors that were egotistical and problematic, but Stanley wasn't ready. He is talented and visionary, but the experience wasn't there. Plus since his warlock chum's spell failed, he was destined to fail.

[–] Crotchsplitter 7 years ago

But who's fault was it? The executives gave him the job and then they worked to oust him the entire time. They never even wanted him. They wanted Polanski, but then they bowed to Brando. The executives were the real failures. Weren't they the professionals? They never had a green director before? What a joke. They didn't help him. They wanted him to fail so they could fire him.

[–] YuunofYork 7 years ago

Seems pretty obvious that Brando would have been a problem no matter who was directing. He confided in others he was there to troll the picture, and he started causing problems well before he got on set - and he didn't get on set until Stanley was sacked, so /shrug. Frankenheimer certainly wasn't able to control him, nor did he return any of the dialogue/shots stolen by Kilmer to Hofschneider.

You seem to think Kilmer's divorce is a mitigating factor for his behavior. Maybe his behavior caused his divorce? Who could live like that?

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