The Island of Dr Moreau
Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis
Director: John Frankenheimer
Originally a novel by H.G. Wells published in 1896, The Island of Dr Moreau has been filmed several times: a French silent version in 1913, a talkie starring Bela Lugosi two decades later, and a Hollywood adaptation with Burt Lancaster and Michael York in 1977. Yet not even Wells' fevered imagination could have foreseen 1996's strange collaboration between director John Frankenheimer, writer Richard Stanley, and stars Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando.
This classic tale of a renegade scientist who injects human DNA into animals quickly descended into chaos when original director Stanley was fired after Kilmer demanded a reduction of his part: slated to play UN investigator Edward Douglas, he ended up as Moreau's assistant, Dr Montgomery. Kilmer's replacement, Rob Morrow, also dropped out and was replaced by David Thewlis.
The common factor in the disruption: Kilmer. 'There are two things I will never ever do in my life,' Frankenheimer is reported as saying. 'The first is that I will never climb Mount Everest. The second is that I will never work with Val Kilmer again.' Even Brando, no stranger to eccentric behaviour, was not amused: 'You're confusing your talents with the size of your pay cheque,' he allegedly said.
The film updates Wells' novel: set in 2010, the titular island is a place beyond the constraints of human law - legal, scientific, moral and ethical. Even before we meet Brando's batty scientist, we witness a stabbing at sea, a shark attack and some lunatic voiceover by Thewlis.
Yet all pales before Kilmer's bonkers dialogue. Injecting an understandably skittish Thewlis with a sedative, he explains: 'You'll like it. I like it. It's a little Jimi Hendrix.' He then howls like a wolf.