Today's Blind Items - The Zombie Director
If there is anyone in this world who probably wishes that Aloysius Pendergast was a real person it would be this foreign born director. Our direct was the next it director back in the day. He worked his way up from shorts to music videos to one of the best feature length movies incorporating music ever. It put him on the fast track to fame and fortune and big box office productions. Then, he went over the edge so to speak and it all went away.
While researching and writing what was supposed to be his first big box office production he was introduced to voodoo. From the second he learned about the religion, he was enraptured. He turned in the script he was writing to the studio and started to direct the big box office movie and then he was replaced.
It was just a few days into shooting but he was freaking everyone out. The movie was being filmed on a remote island occupied by an aboriginal tribe. They practiced something akin to voodoo and our director was fascinated. He had the tribe perform all types of rituals on the set and they were not just dancing and singing.
There were sacrifices and painting with blood and a parade of animal skulls the actors had to walk through to perform their scenes. Panic calls went out by satellite phone. There was no internet service on that island and it would have been spotty in most places at that time period. Crew members barricaded themselves together because they were so terrified about what the director would try next.
As soon as the studio got someone to the set, our director was replaced. Instead of heading back home in disgrace, our director began living with the tribe. He lived with them for well over a year and stalked the production of the film. It is said he cursed the movie and if you look at the results on film and at the box office, I would agree.
It gets deeper than that though. It is said he cursed every star in the movie too. No one from the movie has ever had the career they had before the movie. The lead actress in the movie was so convinced she was cursed that she has spent her entire life since trying to figure out a way to reverse the curse and practices all types of witchcraft and other religions to break the spell. Two of the actors had been A list coming in to the movie. One was probably always going to be because of past work, but that movie shook him. He was never the same and only made a couple of crap movies before he died. Most of the time he kept himself locked in his home with armed guards standing outside his house and bedroom while he slept. Another lead actor has worked steadily but his chance at A+ listerdom crashed and burned the next year which he blamed on the curse.
Our actor also has spent the past years trying to lift the curse through a variety of religious practices. He went to Native Americans for help and did every kind of spiritual drug or ceremony they could think of but it didn't work. he spent a fortune trying to lift the curse. He switched religions but now is close to death and blames it on the director.
Our director? He is convinced there are zombies or at least people who can become zombies and he has traveled the world looking. He has been to the darkest parts of Africa and scoured South American tribes looking. He films it all and is convinced he will capture a zombie on film.
MichelGondry
ReplyDeleteor Alex Proyas-The Crow
ReplyDeleteYou know here in Russia Paganism is an important religion. I have witnessed some stuff.
ReplyDeleteno idea--wasnt big on music videos
ReplyDeleteThe Island of Dr. Moreau?
ReplyDeleteThe stars being Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. The director gone wild, Richard Stanley.
ReplyDeleteWild guess.
Richard Stanley-Island of Dr. Moreau
ReplyDeleteHa! Think my wild guess might be right:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.everythingisundercontrol.org/nagtloper/write/voodoo.php
Richard Stanley - Island of Dr. Moreau
ReplyDeleteDirector: Richard Stanley
ReplyDeleteMovie: The Island of Dr. Monreau
Actress: Fairuza Balk
Actor who died: Marlon Brando
Other actor: Val Kilmer
The actress who turned to witchcraft: Fairuza Balk
ReplyDeleteThe actor who has worked steadily, Remus Lupin
Richard Stanley. Island of Dr Moreau
ReplyDeleteThe Believers? Mmm. Maybe later.
ReplyDeleteFantastic guess
ReplyDeleteRichard Stanley directed the movie Brave -never heard of it but the synopsis is
A runaway girl is interviewed by a psychiatrist after a suicide attempt and her story is shown in subsequent flashbacks, accompanied by the music of Marillion's concept album 'Brave'.
Island of Dr. Moreau. Richard Stanley is the director. Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer and Fairuza Balk.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Think it might be a first!
ReplyDeleteThe director is Richard Stanley, the two actors are Marlon Brando & Val Kilmer, the actress is Fairuza Balk & the movie is "The Island of Dr. Moreau."
ReplyDeleteGuessing Richard Stanley - the original director of The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer.
ReplyDeleteStanley was replaced by John Frankenheimer shortly after filming began.
His film Hardware (1990) has been described as an extended music video and features appearances by Lemmy from Motorhead and Iggy Pop.
Additionally his mother was an anthropologist who studied witchcraft and he traveled with her throughout Africa during his youth leaning various folklore and the like...
I listened to a podcast that talked about the movie & made fun of it basically. I don't think they said exactly what Enty put in this post but they did talk about the original director getting fired & all the craziness that happened on set. If I remember right they got alot of the information from a book or documentary about the making of the movie. I guess Enty watched that documentary.
ReplyDeleteEasy peasy, Richard Stanley, The Island of Dr. Moreau
ReplyDeleteI agree The Island of Dr. Moreau fits all the clues, but what was "one of the best feature films incorporating music ever?"
ReplyDeleteStanley has something called 'Brave' on his resume and it appears to be music-based...but has anyone ever heard of it?
Hardware is the film with music. Cult classic.
ReplyDeleteBTW, if this guess is correct: Val Kilmer is "close to death?"
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely Richard Stanley and Island of Dr. Moreau, but this is a really exaggerated telling of the story. Stanley has written about it extensively and there was a documentary about it released last year called Lost Soul. If the crew was afraid of Stanley, they still dressed him up in one of the creature masks and allowed him to be an extra during the shoot. He absolutely had interest in the occult, but it was trying to direct Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando as a first time studio director that got him fired. The movie that integrated so well was his first film, Hardware.
ReplyDeleteHexcellent guess @Lemon Swizzle! This wasn't an easy one, but I def think you got it. Interesting post on Stanley too. WTG!
ReplyDeleteThe movie sounds like Serpent and the Rainbow.
ReplyDeleteHahah respect for the Pendergast shout out I'm reading Crimson shore right now! I think they've made Pendergast a little too uppity and snotty at this point but at least there's no Corrie in this one .
ReplyDeleteAlways thought if they made another movie Cumberbach could play him well
it's so much deeper and it predates all religious BS that stole lot of our lore, myths and knowledge.
ReplyDeleteout of curiosity, what did you witnessed?
Island of Dr Moreau was shot in Australia in the relatively developed area around Cairns. The firing of the first director, Stanley, was largely due to the behavior of Val Kilmer (apparently showed up a couple of days late, immediately demanded he be recast in a role other than the one he was hired for etc.) The studio believed Stanley wasn't communicating with them, had lost control of the production and replaced him with a more experienced director (John Frankenheimer). The latter then had problems with Brando, Kilmer, the script from Stanley etc but had more stamina. Stanley supposedly had a breakdown but crashed at a local farm.
ReplyDeleteHe supposedly became a Christian Scientist. They don't believe in going to doctors, or getting regular treatment at least. Val is pretty sick from various reports & is either not getting treated or getting treated but it might be too late because he waited too long to go to a doctor.
ReplyDeleteDemonic possession, power places, people that could create and throw balls of plasma around that glowed in the dark. Trees that healed. Trees that were malevolent. Stuff.
ReplyDeleteHoly Shit, this looks amazing. Great Guessing Lemon Swizzle
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/the-real-story-behind-the-island-of-dr-moreau-is-way-more-bonkers-than-the-movie-itself-.php
the Score was not a crap movie!
ReplyDeleteSorry calling bullshit
ReplyDeleteI have been to Russia and it is a predominately Christian Orthodox country. Paganism is no more spread that in any other place.
Now certain people may bring their relatives to church to have demons exorcised - that happens, people are superstitious like everywhere else. Nothing even close to balls of plasma or healing trees, though
Just Google 'Pagan religion in Russia'.
ReplyDeleteThen sit down.
This is a country with 1/9th of all the land mass on Earth.
I live there. Kma
First of all, this should have been posted as an Old Hollywood post because it is hardly recent. And it is hardly a secret. There was a documentary about all of this, and more...it shows all over cable. This post is very exaggerated...Brando didn't take any of this seriously..he had already encountered many problems with his life...and the goings on during the early Stanley filming was really just about the weird masks and odd extras that Stanley was recruiting. In fact, it seems like a very bold vision that would have been miles better than the end product. this really does give me insight as to how exaggerated many of these posts are.
ReplyDeleteOnly prayer will get you out of a fix like that. God bless everyone here.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely Richard Stanley and Island of Dr. Moreau. Stanley stalking the production of the movie is legendary, but the whole curse thing is a great twist! Good going, Lemon Swizzle!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Balk used to own (still owns?) at least one occult bookstore - now I know why.
ReplyDeleteHexcellent! i see what you did there ;) lol
ReplyDeleteHe is rumored to have throat cancer, I think.
ReplyDeleteBullshit to infinity
ReplyDeleteVideo of plasma balls or STFU
Seconded!
ReplyDeleteI think that's it @Lemon Swizzel!
ReplyDeleteBalk was featured in an episode of celebrity ghost stories.
ReplyDeleteShe was also on the show The Haunting of Fairuza Balk. The medium comes to her studio and says there's a dark presence stalking Fairuza. Fairuza isn't surprised but then would only talk about it off camera.
ReplyDeleteBalk has said that she became a pagan after 'The Craft.' Don't know if that was before or after. Yes, I think Zombies are a possibility but probably not the mainstream.
ReplyDeletePagans beliefs have been around long before monotheism took hold & most of more modern beliefs coopted them to try to gain control over land.
Guessing most people know this already. Or at least hoping.
I've never commented before, but what the hey. My partner and I lived in Cairns at that time and worked on a boat. A few of the actors came out with us a number of times and we made friends and had drinks and dinner with them numerous times. I don't remember the names of any of the actors, except for Nelson de la Rosa for obvious reasons and, although I don't remember his name, he also played Porkins in Start Wars (one of the fighter pilots, blink and you miss it role near the end when they were attacking the Death Star) but in all the times we drank with them, none of them said anything about all this going on, so I don't believe it. They did say Val Kilmer was a complete a-hole to work with, all round piece of shit, and that Marlon Brando was a lovely man to work with and they liked him very much. Brando was actually going to come out on the boat with this group of actors, but backed out, they said because he felt he was too large to be comfortable, darn it, I almost go to meet him. It was said all over town at that time that Kilmer was an a-hole to everyone and no-one liked him who met him.
ReplyDeleteWhoops, I should have said this related to the Island of Dr Moreau
ReplyDeleteI'm a huge Pendergast fan, too! I'm also currently reading Crimson Shore.
ReplyDeleteI agree and call BS, too, just because Paganism is actually a relatively harmless religion, with lots of nature related rituals, that just aren't very dark.
ReplyDeleteFor example, the Christmas Tree, is a Pagan ritual: Pagan's used to bring a tree into their houses during the harsh winter months, and keep it alive and warm for as long as possible, to assure them a fruitful spring and to placate the spirits of the trees.
Paganism is not 'dark' and scary, but more nature related.
Every religion touches the spirit world. The Pagan religion is much older than the Christian religion. The concept of demons, and demon possession comes from Pagan. Google Pagan and demons. Don't call bullshit until you research.
ReplyDeleteI read a review of the documentary where it said they talked about Richard Stanley hiring a warlock named Skip or something like that. He did it because he thought he was going to get fired before they ever started filming & he wanted the warlock to do a spell that would make Marlon Brando protect him. But before Brando ever got to set Stanley was fired.
ReplyDeleteIf that review was correct then I'd say not much is exaggerated in this blind. I've heard multiple people talk about the documentary & the book about it. All the stories I've heard are on the level of what Enty put in this "blind." (not really a blind when a book & documentary were made about it IMO.)
Many of the actors & crew members talked all about everything Enty posted in a documentary on the making of the movie. They also talked to a guy that wrote about it (not sure if it's the same guy that was involved in the documentary or not.) They didn't talk about it with you, but they've talked about it plenty in a movie & when interviewed about it for a book.
ReplyDeletetotally sounds like "Island Of Dr. Moreau"
ReplyDeleteHey @ Lemon Swizzle-I'm totally with you.Immediately came to mind while reading Blind.Now I gotta go back & read the rest of the comments b/c i'm intrigued but maaaan,that was one visually disturbing & f***ed-up movie,that's for sure.
ReplyDeletenice job @ lemon swizzle!
ReplyDeleteI had to look that character up & there's a picture of Paul Bettany (i guess for movie Relic maybe?) next to character's descripton.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure & may not be remembering my literature class correctly but what about Grendel in Beowolf ? weren't there some dark pagan practices portayed in that poem? maybe not.
ReplyDeleteahh, you're being too humble-you always get stuff right!
ReplyDeleteThat's why it popped into my mind . . . it was so disturbing to watch.
ReplyDeleteI always use to mix her up with Debi Mazur.
ReplyDeleteoooh, good times!!!
ReplyDeleteYeah, you're right.
ReplyDeleteand Ron Perlman actually too.I think he's another actor who has worked steadily.He's always done pretty well for himself & is readily recognizable & has a cult following for Hellboy AND Sons Of Anarchy
What a load of shit. Stanley was replaced because he didn't have the chops to wrangle a big budget large scale movie. It didn't help that Val Kilmer was a total dick from start to finish and the studios let him get away with it, same with Brando. This is all just an exaggerated account taken directly from the "Lost Soul" documentary.
ReplyDeleteStanley was also staying on a banana plantation in Cairns with a group of mostly back packers. No doubt he was a weirdo, but from interviews I've seen of him he seems mostly harmless.
The documentary makes it sound like Cairns is a remote and isolated location which isn't true at all. It's pretty well developed and civilized.
ReplyDelete