project: equinoX Forum

jogiwan schrieb:

Aber wie sind eigentlich die Dokus? Über die gibts ja nahezu keine Infos im Netz.

http://www.dvdmaniacs.net/Reviews/A-D/d … rsive.html

http://www.sexgoremutants.co.uk/dustdevilspec.html

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=24053

CVeidt schrieb:

@chilidog

Magst du Dust Devil eigentlich? Kann mich gerade nicht daran erinnern, dass du dich mal dazu geäußert hättest.

Ich habe die Laser Paradise DVD und finde ihn ganz ok, sollte ihn aber mal wieder ansehen. Ich finde den Soundtrack von Bosworth ziemlich genial.

Auf allmovie gibt es ja immer so nette Specialthemen.
Zur Zeit ist auf der Startseite ein Aufsatz über zwei große Filmfiaskos aufgeführt. zum einen Dune (Jodorowsky / Lynch) zum anderen The Island of Dr. Moreau (Stanley / Frankenheimer) Übrigends die 32er version des Stoffes mit Laughton ist eine mittlere Offenbarung

hier mal der Part über Stanley:
If there's one contemporary fantasy filmmaker whose mystic-minded approach to movies could be observed to have descended from the same cosmic cell as the director who ascended The Holy Mountain, it is probably South African-born Richard Stanley. An abstract-minded genre bender whose bizarre symbolism left Bob and Harvey Weinstein scratching their heads when confronted with the metaphysical serial-killer shocker Dust Devil (1992), Stanley had previously burst onto the scene in 1990 with the modestly successful, would-be Terminator rip-off Hardware. Already dejected by the Weinstein brothers' casual gutting of his maledicted attempt to purge a childhood ghost via celluloid (Stanley claims that the apocalyptic reaper who stalks the desert plains of Dust Devil also haunted his dreams as a young boy), the life-long horror fan would filter his frustration into an imaginative screenplay adaptation of author H.G. Wells' classic novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. As a child, Stanley had been fascinated by Wells' terrifying tale, making him the ideal candidate to direct a definitive screen version of the novel that had previously been adapted to the screen in both Erle C. Kenton's Island of Lost Souls (1932) and Don Taylor's traditionally titled The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977).

It was screen legend Marlon Brando's interest in the script that provided the push needed to finally get the hot-property screenplay before the camera. Soon after Brando signed on to appear as the fiendish genetic engineer of the title, Batman Forever star Val Kilmer agreed to headline with Northern Exposure newcomer Rob Morrow, Fairuza Balk, Ron Perlman, and Temuera Morrison, with familiar Stanley mainstay William Hootkins rounding out the respectable cast. Of course, anyone who has suffered through Bonfire of the Vanities knows that a great cast does not always result in a cinema classic, but given the buzz around the script and the director's infectious enthusiasm for the project, it appeared as if Stanley's take on Wells' once-controversial tale would at the very least be a fascinating view for genre fans. Nevertheless, a storm was brewing on the horizon, and before long the cutting winds that were beginning to blow would once again send the director who had miraculously shepherded Dust Devil through to the end sailing into treacherous waters.

Just weeks before the production was finally scheduled to go before the cameras in Queensland, Australia, Stanley was informed by Kilmer -- who had just been served divorce papers by his then-wife, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer -- that in order to remain with the project he would need his commitment to the film reduced by roughly 40 percent. Legendary director Woody Allen once said it best when he stated that in the world of filmmaking "the truck arrives with fresh compromises every morning." Although Stanley was indeed panicked at the prospect of seeing the project collapsed by the loss of his leading man, his unique proposal to have Kilmer swap roles with supporting player Morrow seemed an ingenious solution to their pressing dilemma. Though the reputedly difficult Kilmer (who had previously butted heads on the sets of Batman Forever and Tombstone with directors Joel Schumacher and George P. Cosmatos) readily agreed to the forward-thinking compromise, Stanley soon found that despite his swiftness in dodging the proverbial bullet, he had failed to notice that he was standing on ground zero for an incoming nuclear warhead. Sure, Kilmer might have been willing to compromise on the surface, but his subsequent refusal to attend any rehearsals coupled with the fact that the cast now had no time for even the most cursory table reading left the entire cast in a confused state of crippling ill-preparedness. This setback was further compounded by the fact that the first scenes to be shot were filmed shipboard on the raging waters of Cape Tribulation during a powerful hurricane, and immediately after the rushes rolled for the shocked New Line Cinema executives back in Los Angeles, Stanley was officially relieved of his directorial duties.

Though Stanley was now effectively fired from the production under the catch-all guise of "creative differences," New Line Cinema head Michael De Luca was determined to see the project through and quickly brought director John Frankenheimer aboard. Though the workhorse filmmaker behind such classics as The Manchurian Candidate and Seconds was indeed willing to step in and take over on a moment's notice, he made no attempt to hide the fact that his enthusiasm for the project was more due to the prospect of working with Brando than any affection for the source material, and only agreed to take over with the explicit understanding that he be able to offer his own take on Wells' horrific tale -- effectively throwing Stanley's screenplay (which was the main reason for the film making it into production in the first place) out the window. Stanley's Island was to be a subversive and apocalyptic tale detailing the rise of an abhorrent new breed of man as the outside world dies; Frankenheimer, on the other hand, was at another stage in his career entirely, and was in desperate need of a mainstream hit in order to remain relevant. Though these two simple ingredients would have been the perfect recipe for disaster on their own, the fact that Morrow would soon abandon the project hinted that the troubles that plagued The Island of Dr. Moreau were far from over.

As tumultuous as the production had been so far, the events that transpired after Stanley was effectively blocked from bringing his longtime labor of love to the silver screen would provide for some of the most fascinating fodder of failed cinema history. Banned from the set by producers who had feared that he might sabotage the production, Stanley beat a hasty retreat to a remote section of rainforest for a few weeks to live off of the land and purge the toxins born of his recent failure. As fate would have it, Stanley wasn't the only crewmember to be sent packing in the swirling vortex of fiasco, and after he met up with a group of disgruntled former crewmembers who had recently been fired by Frankenheimer and had subsequently set up camp downriver, the group would hatch an ingenious plan in which the director would secretly be allowed to keep tabs on the doomed production. Having stealthily procured one of the more elaborate costumes from Stan Winston's workshop, Stanley would simply don his disguise, wait for the extras to be called to the set, and seamlessly blend in. Since the director already had a healthy working knowledge of the set layout and the shooting schedule, a little anonymity was all that he needed to slip past security and onto the set. His elaborate ruse worked like a charm, and for weeks to follow, the curious director would laugh knowingly, and painfully, from beneath the latex -- a silent observer to the grim fate that befell his would-be masterpiece.

Beitrag geändert von CVeidt (30.September 2006 21:54:36)