Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014) User Reviews

Are We Not Men?

[KingProjector93 · 8/10 · 7 July 2015]

The 1996 adaptation of one of my favourite H.G. Wells story, starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, was not well received to put it politely, and its production even less rosey. Well, 18 years later, a documentary goes behind the scenes to unravel how a young indie filmmaker got his shot at Hollywood big time, and what was a dream project became every filmmaker and studio's worst nightmare.

A sort of surreal affair, 'Lost Soul' mixes brand new interviews (the big draw being the notoriously elusive Stanley), archive footage and photos/concept art to tell of how this young British talent tried to fulfill a lifelong dream to adapt and update Wells' tale of science gone awry, and damn is it engrossing. There are no holds barred and spades are called spades as the cast (and many different crew, from ADs to managers to even extras) recall just how much of a hell things were, even in pre-production, as well as the pain that was Brando, replacement director Frankenheimer, and especially Kilmer. Stanley himself, with his deep voice and unusual appearance, a sort of hybrid of Indiana Jones and a voodoo shaman, is fascinating to watch as tells his misadventure with a slight hint of bitterness but also a sort of sage wisdom about it.

Of course, director David Gregory is smart enough to not let this turn into just one big slog of talking heads. He regularly breaks it up with an assortment of visual treats, including the magnificently disturbing concept art and storyboards for Stanley's original vision, archive footage of the shoot and the grotesque makeup effects of the beast people, even new material recorded at the now overgrown location. The whole thing is underscored by a sinister soundtrack that adds to the nightmarish feel as you journey on and more and more goes wrong, even on occasion referencing witchcraft and unusual phenomena.

In terms of complaints, I don't really have many, save for maybe the lack of remastering of some archive footage, the soundtrack can sometimes go a little over the tip, and the film does taper off towards the end and doesn't dwell on the film's reception and legacy as much as I would've liked. However, it is firmly Stanley's story, and a great watch for fans of film and filmmakers.

A Fascinating Journey into Madness

[kateskye · 8/10 · 12 July 2015]

This documentary is an engrossing story about unconventional talent, young ambition and the perils of big-budget film making. I recommend watching The Island of Doctor Moreau (1996) before viewing this film. It will give things context, but it's also an example of a so-bad-it's-fun movie.

The majority of the documentary is an exercise in sharing war stories from a film set plagued with problems. The strangest events are recalled and people weigh in on how things went so wrong and how the trouble could have been prevented, or at least lessened. There is a good number of interviewees and they range from producers to actors to crew members. Director Richard Stanley, of course, takes center stage.

Although it has flaws, such as failing to mention David Thewlis, this is definitely a good watch for fans of similar documentaries like Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991), Lost in La Mancha (2002) and Jodorowsky's Dune (2013).

"Knowing that the odds were stacked against me, I resorted to witchcraft."

[bensonmum2 · 7/10 · 29 June 2021]

As the title indicates, Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (I'll just shorten that to Lost Soul for the rest of this) is the story behind the making of 1996's The Island of Dr. Moreau. Much of this film focuses on Richard Stanley's involvement with the film and how the production descended into chaos. Stanley was the driving force behind getting the project off the ground, only to be replaced as director before he could finish the film.

The Island of Dr. Moreau was a colossal flop - both financially and critically. While there are aspects of the film I enjoy (and I admit I enjoy a lot of it for the wrong reasons), there's no denying the movie is pretty much a complete train wreck. One of the more interesting aspects of Lost Soul is the recounting of events that led to the disaster. It was a perfect storm - a studio with no faith in a director; a director in over his head; a constantly growing budget; isolated locations; monsoon like weather; actors in open rebellion;- anything that could go wrong did.

Equally amazing to me is how many of the people involved in the film agreed to be interviewed for Lost Soul. From Stanley to studio head Bob Shaye to several of the actors involved to production and technical staff - you get to hear the stories of the doomed production from all sides. It's fascinating stuff.

7/10.

Another Great Plagued Production Doc

[SportingGent · 9/10 · 23 February 2015]

Like Hearts of Darkness and Lost in La Mancha, Lost Soul is an excellent documentary in which the cast and crew tell the story of a troubled production.

The Island of Dr. Moreau is a serviceable, much-maligned movie about a mad scientist who combines humans and animals to make freakish humanoids. The production was infamously difficult, though the gritty details were widely inaccessible to the public.

Told through the recollection of some--but not all--of the various cast and crew involved in this movie, Lost Souls delivers the intricate story of this notorious film. Those curious about the origins of Brando's choice to wear an ice bucket on his head, or the casting and director changes during filming, are in for a treat. This doc will definitely have you grinning ear-to-ear at the nuttiness of it all.

Terrific Documentary About a Trainwreck of a Production

[Michael_Elliott · 8 March 2015]

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014)

**** (out of 4)

If you watch enough movies, eventually you're going to see something that takes you by complete surprise. You can hear about how bad or crazy a movie is but there are certain examples that just stick in your mind because once you've seen the movie in question you realize that you really have seen something that's so bad that you have to sit there for days if not weeks wondering how it went so wrong. That happened to me in 1996 when I walked out of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. Being a major Marlon Brando fan, it was a thrill getting to see him on the big screen but what was on that screen went down in infamy and here's a documentary explaining the craziness.

Director David Gregory is one of the best people out there when it comes to making DVD/Blu-ray shorts so throwing him into the feature world is something great for movie fans. This documentary is so perfectly done that it plays just like a real drama, a tragedy and then finally a hilarious comedy. We start off hearing from Richard Stanley who talks about his original ideas for the film and we see that he clearly has a great vision for the story. Then, we see that there's something off when he begins to talk about calling on witch doctor's to "help" the film. From here we learn just about every bit of the production details from how the film was originally meant to be made for $8 million but then Brando came on board, which had the budget go higher so then they needed a star so Val Kilmer was brought on and soon the original director was gone and replaced by maverick John Frankenheimer.

LOST SOUL: THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY'S ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU is without question one of the best documentaries that you're ever going to see when it comes to explaining the behind-the-scenes of a troubled production. However, to be fair, this here wasn't just a troubled production because you're going to learn that the entire thing seemed to be cursed and you can't help but wonder why the entire film wasn't dropped early in the production but then you learn that perhaps someone just wanted to see how crazy it could get. Things turn even worse when you hear that even Brando and Kilmer wanted the production to fail and some of the stories are just downright crazy. There are so many wild and crazy stories told about the production of this movie by the time it's over you can easily see why the actual movie turned out so bad.

There are way too many highlights in this film so picking out one or two to put the spotlight on is rather hard. Again, being a die-hard Brando fan, finding out what was going on with the white face paint and the ice bucket on his head were hilarious. Hearing about how the fired Stanley managed to get back onto the set and work as an extra was just astounding. What's the best is the fact that so many people came back and were willing to talk about the troubled production and be honest about it. Of course, Brando and Kilmer weren't available but Fairuza Balk is on hand as his New Line's Robert Shaye and of course Stanley plays a big part here. There's also some of the original producers to discuss the problems and the honesty of everyone involved is what makes the drama of the film work so well.

Of course, as the craziness continues and just gets weirder, the film pretty much turns into a comedy because you have to laugh at everything that was going on. Gregory has once again created a wonderful little gem and one hopes that his talents will see for more feature-length documentaries because he's one of the best out there and LOST SOUL is so great that it actually makes me want to go back and what that train-wreck of a film that was THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU.

It's a "what might have been movie" in the vein of films like Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) or Lost in La Mancha (2002). - Review with Spoilers (I guess)

[PeresFrancisco · 10/10 · 21 February 2015]

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014) is a documentary that tells the secret story behind Richard Stanley's involvement, as the uncredited director and extra, in the cult movie The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). After his cult successes Hardware (1990) and Dust Devil (1992), director Richard Stanley was given an $8 million dollar budget along with the stars Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer to make his dream project based on the H. G. Wells science fiction novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896). Stanley pre-produced and developed the script for 4 years only to end up getting fired 4 days into the shoot. It's a "what might have been movie" in the vein of films like Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) or Lost in La Mancha (2002).

The film includes a variety of testimonials from Richard Stanley, the uncredited director, to the executives who really didn't care about the project at all. From the executive point of view, it often seems as though those in control were only looking for excuses to replace the young eccentric Richard Stanley for an older military- esque figure. While John Frankenheimer, Stanley's replacement, whose mission was to discipline the cast and crew into finishing this cursed movie, fit the bill – he did little to save the film.

When a creative young director used to work with low budgets is forced to try to direct A starts known for causing problems on set, it's a recipe for disaster, the problems became clear when Val Kilmer, coming straight out of the set of Batman Forever (1995), refused to be directed by a young unknown introvert Richard Stanley. The unhealthy competition on set between Kilmer and Brando buried the project before it even began. The two famously difficult actors became increasingly erratic, weird and demanding as the production continued.One of the reasons for Stanley's dismissal was his inability to "direct" the egos, but it seemed no one could. With no compelling reason Richard was laid off in less than a week into the shooting, only to be replaced by the veteran John Frankenheimer who was called in to finish the project as fast as possible. While he was hired for his military discipline, his negative attitude and leniency to Brando's demands only further exacerbated the already troubled shoot.

Before production even began Val Kilmer seemed to already be tired of the project. Shortly before the film would move into shooting stage, he demanded a change in casting and to work 40 days less than initially. Brando was actually quite fond of Richard Stanley and it seemed had developed quite a few ideas with the young director in the pre-production stage. Throughout the shooting, it seemed that from one day to the next Brando would approach director Frankenheimer with new and increasingly absurd ideas about the script. While Brando's ideas tread between silly and genius, it was quickly apparent that he had serious contempt for the production. His ideas were far more suited to Richard Stanley's vision for one, but more notably, through his interaction with other cast members it was as if Brando was working subversively to make a mockery of big budget productions. While notoriously difficult, many spoke fondly of Brando. He only truly clashed with Val Kilmer, and was good natured if not self-involved.

From all the subjects that appear in the film, the person that brings more inspiration to the film and the views on Stanley's ways is the actress Fairuza Balk, who played the role of Dr. Moreau's daughter. She was not impressed with the director that was brought in to replace Stanley, according to Fairuza the director John Frankenheimer was mean, rude, constantly bad-mouthing the Australian crew. He would insult and scream his orders to the cast and crew with a military-esque tone that made everyone uncomfortable, "Things did not become "normal" with Stanley out of the picture, if anything, they got much weirder." – states Fairuza Balk defending that Stanley's inexperience wasn't the problem, the problems came from above, from where the money comes from.

As the film develops it becomes increasingly apparent that the New Line Cinema executives weren't particularly interested in making the movie in the first place, but when A list stars like Brando and Kilmer got attached to the project the sole objective was to push a film into a can with the $8 Million dollars they invested. Stanley's vision became secondary and the need of a leader who would discipline the cast and crew on forcing a film to get done turned a project with so much conceptual potential, creative and intellectual investment brought by Stanley into a weak, passionless mess that lacks direction, mood and an aesthetic core. As much as the film is about this unique example of a particular film's fate, it becomes emblematic for the true motives of the Hollywood machine.

While I personally have quite a fondness for the much maligned film, The Island of Dr. Moreau, the documentary nonetheless offers important insight into the troubled production. The documentary does lack the points of view of Val Kilmer though, who was universally viewed as one of the main reason for the film's failure. Input from James Woods, who was cast and let go in favor of bigger stars would also have been interesting. The film lacks the passion of Jodorowsky's Dune, in particular the absence of strong emotional threads. In the end, we are left with a big drama and a big failure, but the true sense of what was lost in the process is never quite clear enough.

Be sure to check out my interview with David Gregory where we talk about what inspired his documentary film and his own opinions on the final version of the Island of Dr. Moreau, the industry Richard Stanley's last documentary film The Otherworld (2013) and Stanley's love for witchcraft and supernatural themes.

Hilarious look at how far film production can fall off the rails

[gizmomogwai · 7/10 · 16 January 2016]

Having been a fan of Jurassic Park and Batman Forever as a kid, The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996) looked, from the TV advertisements, like the next big thing. Look at those creatures! On an island! Starring Val Kilmer and some woman (I assumed) named Marlon Brando! In fact, the film was widely panned and derided when it came out. When I saw it with my younger sister, it was more violent than I expected, a bit of a mess, but I definitely appreciated what it was trying to do. My sister totally disliked it; maybe she had better sense in this case.

Lost Soul (a title paying nice homage to the original film, The Island of Lost Souls) is an engaging documentary dedicated to studying how the film went so far off track, and it is more insane than I realized. There's some good brief discussion of the novel and earlier film attempts. Then, to the meat of the picture. I'm not even sure if I would have liked Richard Stanley's original vision; the sketches are exceedingly trippy and the thought of the protagonist getting his genitals bit off during bestiality is so far out there. It's still fascinating to see what went wrong.

A lot of it is bizarre- the fact that Stanley went to a witch doctor to make sure he stayed on the film, and the fact that he credited it with working, says it all. You can see the injustice in Stanley finally being fired because it was raining, according to this documentary (I heard it was because of Kilmer), but then, there's definite evidence he had broken down, going by this anecdote that he had climbed a tree and wouldn't come down. It's really striking how many people came onto the project, or stayed on, despite not wanting to be there. The gong show goes on- Kilmer and Brando locking themselves in their trailer and refusing to come out until the other does. One person remarks it would be a huge achievement to finally have a film with a beginning, a middle and an end- they succeeded. I think I would have enjoyed this doc even more if I was in total agreement that The Island of Dr. Moreau sucked- but certainly, the making of it was a trainwreck, too fascinating to look away from.

If You Like Docs About Movies-Behind The Scenes, This Is For You!...

[MovieHoliks · 9/10 · 31 August 2015]

If you're a fan of documentaries about the making of films, have I got a movie for you! I remember going to see the last remake of H.G. Wells' novel, "The Island of Dr. Moreau" in the summer of 1996, fairly excited about it- being a fan of the novel and the film adaptation from the 1970's with Burt Lancaster/Michael York, and also excited with Marlon Brando in the title role. This was one of Val Kilmer's first post- "Batman Forvever" starring vehicles as well. So I was a bit surprised to see- who, David Thewlis-??- in the lead role of the hero, Val in a supporting role, Brando phoning (literally LOL) in his performance, and OMG- what a god-AWFUL heaping pile of s**t movie!! LOL Now, after seeing this movie, I know why! LOL

Director Richard Stanley first made a name for himself having directed the early '90s sci-fi flick, "Hardware", and it was a pet project and lifelong dream of his to do a faithful big-screen adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel like me he had been a fan of since he was a kid. As Brando and Kilmer got involved, the project escalated into what would be his first big-budget studio picture, and everything went to hell in a handbasket! I was never sure about all those rumors I heard about Kilmer- but this film confirmed it since he was referred to more than once as a "prep school bully". And Brando!- OMG- let's just say he's right up there with his own category of cray-cray!

IODM was eventually taken away from Stanley- he was booted off the set, and New Line Studios handed over the reigns to veteran filmmaker, John Frankenheimer, who was always the director I had associated with this movie. He was an "old school" director who hadn't had much experience with sci-fi, and didn't really get along with ANY-one in the movie! I read at Wikipedia on Kilmer's last day of shooting he said- "get that bast**d off my set!" LOL And you'll see where Mike Myers' inspiration for his character "Mini Me" came from- thanks again, Marlon! LMAO Well, for anyone interested in the back-story of this movie, I LOVED LOVED LOVED this doc., and I will say you will too! Now streaming at Netflix....

Highly recommended

[room102 · 6/10 · 12 October 2015]

A documentary about the making of the abomination known as "The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)". Great stuff about the absolute chaos of production of the movie. From actors with huge egos (Val Kilmer, Marlon Brando) through problematic location and people getting fired, to absolute crazy behavior that is like taken from a mad house movie.

If you liked documentaries like "Lost in La Mancha (2002)" and "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)" which tell the story of some crazy movie productions, you're going to love this one. Incidentally, there are quite a few more connections between "Dr. Moreau" and "Apocalypse Now", which are mentioned in this documentary.

A Story of Hollywood and Its Failings

[gavin6942 · 9/10 · 23 July 2015]

Behind the scenes chronicle of how clash of vision, bad creative decisions, lack of interest and really bad weather plagued the disastrous production of the infamous 1996 remake of "The Island of Dr. Moreau".

This film is great because it not just talks about the film, but also the career of Richard Stanley and how it went off the rails. Following genre cult classics like "Hardware" and "Dust Devil", Stanley could have been the biggest thing in horror. However, because of his experience here, he has done relatively little in the last twenty years.

I love that they have Tim Sullivan commenting on the "identity crisis" of New Line. Sullivan is not credited, so how much he was on set I do not know. But having talked to him myself in the past, he is extremely knowledgeable. From the vantage of a production assistant, he saw a lot of great movies get made before making his own.

Fairuza Balk is nice to have here. Her career went downhill after the 1990s, though not necessarily because of this film. It would be nice to see her make a comeback. David Hudson, the Buffalo Man, offers a nice point of view from the natives.

And, of course, we find that Val Kilmer is a total diva. Fortunately, his career has taken a complete dive and he is now seen largely as a joke. Unfortunately, if he was wise, he invested his earnings and never has to work again.

Jungle Madness

[ozjosh03 · 6/10 · 9 February 2021]

As fascinating as this documentary is, one is left feeling that it barely skims the surface of the madness that prevailed during the production of The Island of Doctor Moreau. Yes, there are great anecdotes about Brando being crazy or mischievous or, as one more acute observer puts it, displaying utter contempt for his own profession. You get to hear how vile Val Kilmer was. And there's John Frankenheimer stomping around like a parody of an egomaniacal old-school director. And yet you just know that there are worse stories to be told, and that there was seemingly no end to the cluelessness of almost everyone involved in this benighted shoot. So while Lost Soul is one of the better documentaries about a disastrous film shoot, I was left wanting more and wishing they'd dug a bit deeper and provided a more thorough account of the shenanigans, the treachery, the foolishness and the folly of the nightmarish six-month jungle shoot. Even so, Lost Soul is infinitely more entertaining than the movie it documents.

Be careful what you wish for...

[tchort-86377 · 8/10 · 27 May 2018]

The production of The island of Dr Moreau is one of misfortune, petty grudges and probably jealous sabotage. Richard Stanley who was to be the original director had been offered the "hot seat" after proving himself with a couple good indie films and a meeting with Marlon Brando. This should have been the small town boy makes good, a triumphant feather in his wide brimmed fedora hat, instead it was a disaster that almost cost him his sanity. The documentary follows the concept to production process of the massive calamity that was Dr Moreau, warts and all we are walked through the trails faced by Stanley and cast, from tropical storms to idiotic behaviour by the two "marquee" name stars. It is amazing that the film was ever finished let alone released (it is actually not a bad movie) with petty Val Kilmer and the stupid Marlon Brando trying to undermine the director while taking playground jabs at anybody they could. The crew and some of the people from New line cinema all have their versions of this story, the fact being that it seems like a perfect storm was created where everything that could fail did. Spectacularly. You may feel most for Stanley who seems like he was in over his head and lacking support from his studio and being green as far as big budget went buckled like a belt. If you are interested in the process of film making and want to see a real story of hard ship in this business this documentary should satisfy.

Interesting Look Into A Troubled Production

[jfgibson73 · 7/10 · 2 September 2015]

The appeal of this documentary is hearing how crazy things got during the making of Dr. Moreau. There are some unbelievable stories, many of them pretty humorous, about how out of control people got making this movie. Everyone interview for this documentary agreed that Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando were messing with people, and it sounds like Val did so in a mean spirited way. The stories about Marlon make you wonder more if he was totally deliberate or having some problems with cognition. For anyone interested in the creative process, film making specifically, it's an interesting look at something we usually never get to see. It made me think about how the movie industry invests so much into a film and how a few unprofessional performers can really put a production at risk. Fairuza Balk had the most interesting comments for me, maybe because she was the one person I was familiar with. Thinking back on how wild things got, it's almost surprising the movie wasn't worse than it is.

So-so documentary that is a bit too long.

[d_m_s · 4/10 · 26 January 2016]

For anyone interested in film making this sounds like it would be a great documentary about how the production process can be an insane, stressful, eventful and horrible experience.

The documentary was quite successful in showing what a seemingly horrid experience everyone had making this film once they went into production.

The beginning was interesting as we see most of it from Richard Stanley's POV as he writes the film then tries to get it financed. The middle bit starts interesting as they go into production then all the problems start (disastrous weather that stops the shoot, actors that pull out that then get replaced by control-freak actors etc.)

Then Stanley loses control of his film and gets fired. Once Stanley is no longer the focus of the documentary it goes a bit off track and becomes quite boring as we get too many clips of Fairuza Balk, extras and unimportant staff such as one of the limo drivers, who all talk way too much about uninteresting things.

The doc started to flag at the 45 minute point and after an hour I began to feel a bit bored and drained.

Plus in all fairness, compared to production tales from other films that I've read about (e.g. the likes of which you'll find in Lloyd Kaufman's Make Your Own Damn Movie book), this didn't sound that crazy. The biggest issues seemed to be the weather (not very interesting) and Val Kilmer's ego (equally uninteresting).

So, sounded like it would be great but turned out to be a bit of a bore.

The making of a fiasco with dark comic elements of ego and bombast. A primer on how NOT to make a Hollywood film.

[george.schmidt · 9/10 · 3 November 2014]

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014) *** Well documented behind-the-scenes account of the train-wreck of the fruition to making of the 1996 remake of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU shows how visionary filmmaker Richard Stanley's brainchild becomes a template in all-that-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong fiasco of a Hollywood movie with the machinations, egos, failures and ineptitude glommed together as a fable of be careful what you wish for in having a dream project dashed to bits and pretty-much-unrecognizable. While each noteworthy figurehead involved is painted as a villain from crazy Marlon Brando, vainglorious Val Kilmer and bullying filmmaker John Frankenheimer, filmmaker David Gregory also shows how the other flip of the coin - professionalism, partners-in-crime and truth in art - also attempted to counterbalance the toxicity and dark comic failure of an epic flop.

Crazy ...

[kosmasp · 10/10 · 20 October 2014]

Maybe one of the things I'm missing, are sound bits from a few more players (actors), like Ron Pearlman, who also was in the original movie. You were expecting Val Kilmer not to take part in this (although he was asked of course). But those things are not really that important, especially considering how great the movie is built and edited. The mayhem that ensued seems to have been inevitable in some sense, but is still very gripping.

There is faults on more than one set of shoulders and maybe the other movie might not have been a better "Island of Dr. Mureau" movie than the one we finally got. But it most definitely would have been crazier (yes it's possible) and might have given a very creative guy some power to fulfill his other visions. A man suffice to say that sort of was not ready for that big a project of course.

And this duality and all the gray areas (plus all those great anecdotes, hoping there will be a few more on a future disc release without them having to cut anything out of the movie we had the pleasure watching at Frightfest) in the movie, make it great. Fun and light and over before you know it ...

A story about a properly decent weirdo getting over basically by his antithesis.

[Offworld_Colony · 7/10 · 18 February 2020]

It's refreshing to hear about another doomed project from the mouth of the original Director and progenitor.

There's no artistry behind this documentary, it's more just a structured telling of the process, but it's informative and fun and edited well.

Absent is any information on David Thewlis, which is a shame, and there's a lot of missing information about the reception of the film and the actual nuts and bolts changes to the script and there's conspicuously a decent chunk of missing information that could have elevated it, and made it more personal throughout instead of just on behalf of the Director.

Account of the troubled production is far more compelling than the movie

[Wuchakk · 9/10 · 16 February 2020]

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

Interesting documentary for cinema lovers

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 10 January 2018]

LOST SOUL is a documentary exploring the making of an infamous film, namely 1996's THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU which was begun by cult director Richard Stanley and ended up being completed by Hollywood veteran John Frankenheimer. It feels a little like the behind-the-scenes craziness you see chronicling the relationship of Herzog and Kinski in cinema, for example. Stanley himself is the overriding figure here, extensively interviewed as he talks about his vision for the movie and the chaos that ensued. He's obviously an erudite figure who knows his stuff, which makes the disasters that ensued the more puzzling. I would have preferred more behind-the-scenes footage from the film itself, but the interviews and clips we do see are well assembled. I find it a pity that Ron Perlman and David Thewlis don't feature and aren't made mention of, but the stuff we learn about Brando and Kilmer's behaviour is priceless and Fairuza Balk is a good sport.

GREATNESS!

[BandSAboutMovies · 10/10 · 3 June 2020]

Once upon a time, the creative force known as Richard Stanley (Hardware, Color Out of Space) got the opportunity to make his dream project: a big budget adaption of H.G. Wells' The Island Of Doctor Moreau.

How would a somewhat quiet and totally creative man work within the studio system? Not well, it turns out.

Between witchcraft, natural disasters, changing actors and the sheer gall of stars like Brando and Val Kilmer, Stanley would be replaced within days of shooting his first few cans of film. And yet he'd never go away, somehow hiding amongst the many animals within the film, living within the heart of darkness itself.

Packed with interviews with stars Fairuza Balk, Marco Hofschneider and Rob Morrow, studio executives, crew members and even Stanley himself, the movie that emerges here - directed by David Gregory (Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life & Ghastly Death of Al Adamson, Master of Dark Shadows) - is so much better than the actual film that it discusses.

For what it's worth, Stanley claims that this film is only sixty percent accurate, with some of the darker events simply glossed over. He also said that he never had four lumps of sugar in his tea, which will make much more sense once you watch this.

I'm biased, as I find Stanley to be a true genius. For more on his life, I recommend the documentary The Otherworld, which is beyond belief.

Excellent documentary

[amesmonde · 7 July 2016]

Director David Gregory has a long history of behind-the-scenes documentary shorts, Lost Soul is more than just a making-of doc that would accompany The Island Of Dr. Moreau disc. Fans of cult director/writer Richard Stanley get a good insight into what makes this fascinating film maker tick.

For followers of the novel and film itself Lost Souls also covers the earlier film attempts of H. G. Wells and looks at the books core themes and origin. Gregory offers a captivating documentary with its mix of archival materials and surviving-collaborator testimonies. It wonderfully chronicles how a conflict of vision, creative decisions, lack of interest and awful weather plagued the disastrous production and destroyed friendships with entertaining stories of behind-the- scenes drama including drugs, alcohol and egos. Sadly David Thewlis or Ron Perlman do not participate and it would have been interesting to hear their views.

If you enjoyed Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) Lost In La Mancha (2002) basically other "failed film" documentaries - this is a must see.

should entertain and inform whatever aspect of 'behind the scenes' you like.

[steveo122 · 7/10 · 12 January 2018]

A behind the scenes chronicle of how clash of vision, bad creative decisions, lack of interest and really bad weather plagued the disastrous production of the infamous The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Very well made documentary. Stanley gets the first half hour to describe his part. The more people get on board, the more interesting it gets. Also interesting is that Richard Stanley's name sits in my head, familiar as though he had a great track record as a director. The connection between H.G. Wells and Joseph Conrad merits the description of this as a real life Hollywood 'Heart of Darkness' journey. It should entertain and inform whatever aspect of 'behind the scenes' you like.

Interesting.

[SameirAli · 8/10 · 5 July 2021]

Very interesting documentary about the story behind the movie The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996).

Really interesting documentary

[johnhsmith-00056 · 8/10 · 5 February 2020]

I was not terribly impressed with the 1996 Dr. Moreau film, but after seeing this documentary, I have a whole new respect for the production. It's a miracle that it was completed at all. I would have liked to see interviews with some of the other key figures in the movie like Val Kilmer and Ron Perlman, but obviously the producers couldn't force them to participate.

Lost Great Film

[hellraiser7 · 9/10 · 8 July 2019]

This is one of my favorite documentaries; personally, I'm not a fan of the documentary genre it mainly depends on the subject matter. This tackles a subject I love which is film and best of all on its category on lost films or incomplete projects.

Which is really cool because that's something that actually occurs all the time in the film business, seeing this documentary makes me wonder if there will be any more documentaries on other lost films which would be cool and there are to this day several still out there. It's both a fascinating but at the same time sad watch because in the end you can't help but wonder what could have been, let alone how much further Richard's directing carrier could have gone.

Richard Stanley is one of my favorite movie directors, my favorite film of his and one of my personal favorite films of all time was of course "Hardware". He was indeed a guy who beats to a different drummer but there's nothing wrong with that as he just had this unique vision in his films as well as philosophy in life.

Really like Richard explaing what he had in mind for his adaptation of "The Island of Dr. Morneau" as well as some history and why he really liked the book. Which is cool since that is my favorite books of all time and favorite book from the author. This was going to be his passion project, all movie directors always have that one movie they really wanted to make since the beginning. We see a lot of those art panels on Richard's vision for most of the movie like on most of the mutants and even scenes of the film. Seeing those things makes me wish they did a graphic novel adaption of Stanley's script and original vision, and maybe there will somewhere along the line as most comic companies like "Boom Studios" and "Dark Horse" have done adaptations with certain movies scripts.

There truly was a lot of potential as you see lots of different designs of all the mutant creatures and the features they had. Some of the setting and scenes he had in mind like seeing all the different kind of mutants all in one office was cool looking as we seen all the different kinds of species of the animal kingdom there. And some interesting and strange scenes like Morneau delivering a mutant baby and looking like the messiah, which was to further show how deep the doctor has drowned in his god complex and what in his mind he sees himself as; yeah Stanley was really on to something.

Unfortunately, the stars just were out of alinement for Stanley as he traveled straight to bad luck central as production became troubled even before he started. I really wish that the studio gave Richard Stanley another chance to direct the film he wanted, instead of all together losing patience with him all together which was pathetic, seriously it wasn't his fault there was a hurricane at a certain amount of time, Val being rude and egocentric, and some other bad luck that followed; yeah there was just a lot of bad karma brewing.

We really get in depth as to how it all went downhill hard and fast after Richard Stanley got fired, there are a lot of sad but strangely fascinating tales toward the troubled production and the chaos that ensued. I'll just state a few of the things that went wrong.

Casting Val Kilmer was a mistake, for the record he's not one of my favorite actors. In real life he was a nightmare to work with at the time was just on an egocentric high almost as much as Brie Larson right now. It's sort of funny despite the fame he had back then as time went on, he's now became slightly forgotten where director Richard Stanley is now fondly remembered.

The studio mistakenly thought with him in the film the actor would be a big draw, what was a mistake number one because despite the movies he was in, he wasn't the ace card like with "Tombstone" I saw that because that had one of my favorite actors Kurt Russell as the lead, and that review is a story for another time.He was constantly uncooperative and rude toward the director and all of the cast; the stories go on and their not pretty much like the production latter on.

Marlon Brando also just shouldn't have done it, no offense to the guy but due to the tragedy that befallen him it really did affect his abilities, he was just in a bad state of mind. They should have had someone else play Dr. Morneau like Ian Machellen or Patrick Stewart, I don't know at least someone else that truly can fit the role.

The director they replaced for the film was another mistake John Frankenheimer who did a horror film before "Prophesy" which was cool creature feature, but that was years ago and a story for another time. And at the time he was on losing streak central, sadly this film did nothing to get him out of there instead just put him deeper in it.

Despite his efforts they just weren't good enough as it seem like he either didn't know what he was doing or even what to do or let alone just seemed like his heart just wasn't in it which partial caused him to make bad choices left and right during production. Let alone being somewhat of a tyrant which created bad relations with cast and crew.

Of course, we see Rob Morrow was going to play the main protagonist which would have been really cool, yeah I have seen a little of the show "Northern Exposure". Which makes this sadder as this film had things gone well, would have been a vehicle for him to launch to possible super stardom. However, the interview with him I thought was a little brief, which I'll admit is one weak point in this documentary. Would have liked a longer in depth interview on his reasons for walking away and how things went wrong with him. Let alone the actor that replaced him later is not in this documentary or even mentioned so it was a bit of a lost opportunity for some insight on his experience.

In fact the studio lost a lot of opportunities in their mishandling of the production like the other stars that were possibly going to be in this film Bruce Willis, James Woods, and even Mark Dacoscos. Any of them or all in the film that would of been something.

This documentary in a way is sort of a fable on why studio interference shouldn't happen and instead back their directors up like they should it's their job after all, and let directors do things their way or no one goes home happy. But also, never to ignore carnal rules in movie making, cast correctly and put things in the right hands.

Overall, if you're a fan of the director Richard Stanley or just simply interested in the production process of film in general, this is documentary you won't mind getting lost in.

Rating: 3 and a half stars