Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (Film, 2014) #31DaysOfHorror
content warning: blood, gore
Richard Stanley’s The Island of Dr. Moreau is one of the most infamous Hollywood productions. It became a perfect storm of nothing lining up the way anyone wanted it to and no one walking away entirely satisfied with the finished project. The documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau is a candid look at what happened every step of the way.
Richard Stanley was an indie horror filmmaker who had recently broken out with the sci-fi/horror classic Hardware. He was approached to work on a new adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau and he knew exactly what he wanted to do. Stanley wanted a lot of practical makeup effects to create the mutant species of the island and had a clear vision of how he wanted the story to be told. His ideas did not put the production company at ease, and they tried to remove him as director on the project. Stanley fought hard and got to stay on the project. As more people became involved, the pieces started to fall apart.
Lost Soul is a fascinating behind the scenes look at Hollywood. We don’t often get to see such a candid exploration of less successful productions with most of the players involved. Stanley is very honest about his experience with the film, as are the cast members. Hearing Fairuza Balk, Rob Morrow, and Marco Hofschneider express how much they trusted Stanley and had no idea that anyone from New Line Cinema wasn’t happy just feels overwhelming. These actors were working with a director they trusted and got blindsided by the producers.
Contrast that with the New Line staff telling their version of the story. Stanley was unpredictable, inexperienced, overwhelmed, and incapable of expressing his vision. He was a weirdo. He would climb up trees and refuse to come down. They even claimed he begged to be removed from the film because he couldn’t take it any longer. Stanley was a liability and they had no choice but to eventually remove him from the production as the director. If they got rid of him, everything would be great.
One of the best moments in the entire documentary is hilarious and sad in equal measure. After the tree story is told, the film cuts to Fairuza Balk in absolute shock. Not only had she never heard that this happened, she also explained how it was physically impossible. Imagine shooting a 12-16 hour day on location and then having the energy to climb up an extremely tall tree and fight with people. It’s absurd, but it’s the kind of story you hear when a Hollywood production wants someone off a set. The truth doesn’t matter if you get the result you want. Frame someone as “difficult” and you get to do whatever you want.
Perhaps the most frustrating part is how they handled firing Richard Stanley. The producers who made the decision put on a quite a performance explaining how devastated they were to have to do this, but they had no choice. They admit it wasn’t handled well, but there was nothing else to be done. It’s a whole lot of people who claimed every fault of the film was Stanley’s fault suddenly being so heartbroken that they had to fire him. No two people have the same story of how it happened, but more people than not knew this decision would not “save” the film.
Lost Soul is the best kind of behind the scenes documentary. The story of the troubled The Island of Dr. Moreau shoot is an entertaining film in its own right. Its purpose is to set the record straight using interviews with the people who were actually there. Your understanding of the truth is going to come from who you believe the most.
Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau is streaming on Shudder.
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