Documentary about filmmaker Richard Stanley and his effort to bring H.G. Wells' "The Island of Dr. Moreau" to the big screen.
Stanley was a small time filmmaker, innovative, quirky. Spent something like 5 years working on a treatment of the story. Realized the makeup and special effects he'd need were beyond his fundraising ability, not to mention buying the rights. So he sold his soul to the Devil and got a major studio involved. They threw out his treatment, started hiring name actors like Bruce Willis, James Woods, Marlon Brando, the budget quickly swelled to $35 million, then over $100 million. Studio developed a completely different treatment, causing Stanley to get himself fired. They brought in John Frankenheimer to replace him, who had no interest in the project. They slogged through a listless production, a couple hurricanes, actors quitting, crew quitting, film almost aborted several times, finally released as a box-office and artistic disaster (the clips included look LUDICROUS.)
Meanwhile Stanley snuck back onto the film set and appeared, masked, as one of the creatures on the island. Nobody knew.
A good cautionary tale of how many things can go wrong with a film, particularly when the bean counters call the shots.
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