The Island of Dr. Moreau is a 1996 American science fiction horror film, based on the 1896 novel The Island of Doctor Moreau by H. G. Wells. It was directed by John Frankenheimer (who was brought in half a week after shooting started) and stars Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, and Fairuza Balk. The screenplay is credited to the original director Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson. It is the third major film adaptation of the Wells novel, following Island of Lost Souls (1932) and The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977).
The production was notoriously difficult, marred by issues with the cast, harsh weather and a skyrocketing budget. Bruce Willis was originally hired to play Edward Prendick, but allegedly dropped out as he started divorce proceedings from Demi Moore. Willis was replaced by Kilmer, who made his availability limited, and later had anger issues with most of the cast after also being served divorce papers on set. Then Rob Morrow quit because of script rewrites.
Brando's role as Moreau was supposed to be expanded, but following his daughter's suicide, Brando retreated to his private island, leaving production in limbo, not knowing when or even if he would show up. Brando also did not want to learn his lines, so he requested them through an earpiece and/or improvised his dialogue. Original director Richard Stanley was dismissed by New Line Cinema after problems arose during production, including a major hurricane, with Frankenheimer being brought in to replace him. The film received generally negative reviews and was considered a box office bomb.
In 2014, the documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau was released, covering Stanley's experiences while he conceived and developed the project, his time as director, and the aftermath of his departure and the effect it had on the cast, crew, and overall film. Kilmer also shared some behind-the-scenes footage of the film in the 2021 documentary Val where he shared his side of events.
Plot United Nations negotiator Edward Douglas survives a plane crash in the Java Sea. A passing boat rescues him. Aboard, Dr. Montgomery tends to him and promises that Douglas will be taken to Timor. However, when they arrive at Montgomery's destination, "Moreau's Island", he instead advises Douglas to disembark and use the radio there.
Douglas and Montgomery go to the Main House, where the former is warned not to wander. According to Montgomery, Moreau fled the United States due to backlash against his experimentation on animals. Douglas is locked in his room by Montgomery, but escapes that night. While exploring, he hears cries and enters a laboratory where he witnesses a human/llama mutant give birth, with doctors attending to the delivery.
Douglas's presence is noticed by a doctor, who turns out to be a human/animal hybrid, and he flees, finding Aissa, a daughter of Moreau's, who leads him to the 'village' of the mutants. There, Moreau is worshipped by the mutants. He keeps the hybrids subjugated by using a remote-controlled electrical implant, surgically placed at birth under their skin.
Moreau tells Douglas how he introduced human DNA into animals in search of a higher being, incapable of harm. The existing Beast-Folk are imperfect, but Moreau claims to be close to a "solution". When Moreau discovers that the leopard/human hybrid Lo-Mai has killed a rabbit, he promises that there will be a "trial" the next day. Douglas tries to escape by boat, but stops as it is overrun with humanoid rats.
At the outdoor trial, Lo-Mai runs at Moreau but is stopped by the remote-controlled implant. To Moreau's shock, Azazello shoots Lo-Mai dead. His body is cremated publicly. Inspecting the charred remains, the mutant "Hyena-Swine" notices the control implant embedded in Lo-Mai's arm. He then feels for the same implant on his own body and removes it from the bone. Hyena later starts saying "no more pain", wanting to spread the word to all the mutants. In addition to the pain caused by the implant, the animals are controlled through regular drugging to prevent them from "retrogressing". Hyena-Swine reveals his removed implant to Montgomery who sets the other beasts after him. Meanwhile, Douglas tries to contact the outside world, but Montgomery sabotages the radio.
Hyena-Swine and his trackers—now on his side and also free of implants—confront Moreau. Enraged, Hyena-Swine reveals his intent to overthrow him and destroy all humanity. The group eventually kills Moreau. Douglas then fires a gunshot, scaring the group off. Azazello steals Montgomery's handgun and joins Hyena-Swine's faction. Douglas realizes that Aissa is regressing: her pupils are cat-like, her canine teeth are becoming fangs, and her fingernails are becoming sharper. Douglas can stop this with a serum from the lab. However, Montgomery has gone insane and destroyed it. Moreau was planning to use Douglas's DNA to stop Aissa's regression permanently, completing his experiments.
Azazello leads the mutants to the armory. They eventually take over the island, keeping hostages. Montgomery has lost his mind and is promoting hedonism amongst the mutants. Drunk, he sits in Moreau's former throne and is killed by Azazello while watching a mutant orgy. Hyena-Swine's group continues to rampage around the island. Azazello hangs Aissa out of jealousy before being executed by Hyena-Swine, being viewed as a threat to his dominance. Douglas survives by telling Hyena-Swine to impose his leadership and be "God Number One" among the others of his faction, causing Hyena-Swine to kill his supporters. Eventually, M'Ling, another one of Moreau's sons, triggers an explosion that causes Hyena-Swine to lose his gun and allows Douglas to escape. Outnumbered and defenseless, Hyena-Swine retreats into the burning building and dies.
Peaceful-minded mutants see off Douglas, who leaves on a raft. The hybrids now want to return to their natural state of being and are in favor of ending Moreau's work.
Cast Marlon Brando as Dr. Moreau, a mad scientist who created the Beast-Folk in an attempt to forge the "perfect" species. Val Kilmer as Dr. Montgomery, a former neurosurgeon who is a vet, security enforcer, and pharmacist on Dr. Moreau's island. David Thewlis as Edward Douglas, a United Nations agent who gets stranded in the middle of the Indian Ocean and comes to the island. Fairuza Balk as Aissa, a cat/human hybrid and Moreau's daughter who has been receiving regular experimental feline hormonal treatments, but still looks more human than the other hybrids. Daniel Rigney as Hyena-Swine, a vicious hyena/pig/human hybrid. Temuera Morrison as Azazello, a dog/human hybrid and Moreau's "son", who is also a surgeon and assigned to find the hybrids. Nelson de la Rosa as Majai, a homunculus of Dr. Moreau who does not speak and was created from a fusion of pig DNA and human DNA. Peter Elliott as Assassimon, a baboon/human hybrid who is the only primate hybrid and Five Finger Man. Frank Welker provided the uncredited voice of Assassimon. Mark Dacascos as Lo-Mai, a leopard/human hybrid who is accused of breaking the laws (drinking water from a stream, walking on all fours and eating flesh). Ron Perlman as the Sayer of the Law, a blind goat/human hybrid who is the priest figure among the hybrids. Marco Hofschneider as M'Ling, another dog/human hybrid and "child" of Moreau. Miguel López as Waggdi, an unspecified hybrid "child" of Moreau. Neil Young as Boar Man, an unnamed boar/human hybrid David Hudson as Bison Man, an unnamed bison/human hybrid Clare Grant as Fox Lady, an unnamed fox/human hybrid Kitty Silver and Fiona Mahl as the Sow Ladies, two unnamed pig/human hybrids William Hootkins as Kimil Richard Stanley as a Bulldog Man (uncredited)
Peter Cullen provided the trailer narration for this film.
Production Casting As recounted in David Gregory's documentary Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau (2014), the chaotic events of the making of the film quickly led to its becoming one of the most difficult and troubled productions in Hollywood history.
A film version of Dr. Moreau had been a long-standing dream of original director Richard Stanley, who had first read the book as a child. He spent four years developing the project before getting the green-light from New Line Cinema. Although Stanley had envisaged Jürgen Prochnow in the lead role, New Line managed to secure Marlon Brando, but some time later, Stanley learned that New Line had gone behind his back and offered the movie to director Roman Polanski.
Furious, Stanley demanded a meeting with Brando who, unexpectedly, proved very sympathetic to Stanley's vision, not least because of Stanley's intimate understanding of the novel and its history - including its connections with Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness (the main inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now) - and because of Stanley's family relation to legendary African explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley, one of the chief inspirations for Conrad's lead character, Kurtz. According to Stanley, Brando still was fascinated by Kurtz more than 15 years after he had played a version of the character in Coppola's film.
With Brando supporting him, Stanley was confirmed as director, and he was able to recruit two more major stars: Bruce Willis as Edward Prendick, a U.N. negotiator who washes up on Moreau's island after his plane crashes, and James Woods as Montgomery, Moreau's chief assistant. Buoyed by these developments, Stanley enthusiastically launched into pre-production, collaborating with special effects creator Stan Winston on the creation of makeup and costumes for Moreau's hybrid creatures and preparing the location and sets. As the time for principal photography approached, however, problems began to multiply: Willis withdrew from the film (Stanley says in Lost Soul that Willis was divorcing his wife Demi Moore at the time, but the couple did not announce their separation until the summer of 1998, with the divorce made final two years later).
He was replaced with Val Kilmer, who, to Stanley's dismay, demanded a 40% reduction in the number of days he was required on set. Stanley solved this problem when he had the idea to switch Kilmer from the protagonist to the supporting role of Montgomery, who had far less screen time.Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau However, this meant Woods had to leave the production. New Line hurriedly recruited former Northern Exposure star Rob Morrow for the lead role. Another significant setback occurred before filming began when Brando's daughter Cheyenne took her life. The devastated star retreated to his private island, leaving Stanley and his producers in limbo, not knowing when or if he would show up.
Shooting Stanley as director The chosen location for the film was the rain forest outside Cairns in North Queensland, Australia, including Bramston Beach, Queensland, Mossman Gorge, etc. Tensions between Stanley and New Line had been growing during pre-production, partly because of Stanley's quirky, insular nature, and his marked unwillingness to attend studio meetings, but they reached crisis point within the first few days of filming. Stanley's vulnerability to studio pressure was exacerbated by the continuing absence of his main ally, Brando, but the biggest problem proved to be the notorious on-set behaviour of Kilmer, who reportedly arrived two days late.