I was a pretty big fan of the work of H. G. Wells in my high school and middle school years so I made sure to read the original novel before seeing the 1996 film version. I was excited at the prospect of the film but was disappointed in the final product, an opinion I shared with the projects original director South African film maker Richard Stanley. 'Lost Soul' is a documentary on the making of the 1996 film version of Wells's 1890's novel 'The Island of Dr. Moreau', a notably dysfunctional production which saw the projects originator Richard Stanley kicked off the set and replaced by a reluctant John Frankenheimer, though Stanley would find a unique way to get back on the film, kind of.
This was an everything that can go wrong did go wrong situation, changes in staffing both in front and behind the camera, two raging egomaniac stars in Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer, heavy rain, drug addled extra's, production over runs, constant script changes, its amazing that the final product turned out as good as it did, and it turned out bad. I had also really been looking forward to this film, and while things weren't quite as insane as I'd hoped/ been lead to expect, they were still pretty bonkers and this is one of those cases were the story of a films troubled production is more engaging then its finished product. **1/2
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