Monday, January 25, 2016

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.

 

66 comments:

Derek Harvey said...

MichelGondry

Derek Harvey said...

or Alex Proyas-The Crow

jack said...

You know here in Russia Paganism is an important religion. I have witnessed some stuff.

sandybrook said...

no idea--wasnt big on music videos

Lemon Swizzle (fka Princess Kate) said...

The Island of Dr. Moreau?

Lemon Swizzle (fka Princess Kate) said...

The stars being Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. The director gone wild, Richard Stanley.

Wild guess.

ChristineM said...

Richard Stanley-Island of Dr. Moreau

Lemon Swizzle (fka Princess Kate) said...

Ha! Think my wild guess might be right:

http://www.everythingisundercontrol.org/nagtloper/write/voodoo.php

Cup-O-Noodles said...

Richard Stanley - Island of Dr. Moreau

Propaganda said...

Director: Richard Stanley
Movie: The Island of Dr. Monreau
Actress: Fairuza Balk
Actor who died: Marlon Brando
Other actor: Val Kilmer

Lemon Swizzle (fka Princess Kate) said...

The actress who turned to witchcraft: Fairuza Balk

The actor who has worked steadily, Remus Lupin

Sunny1109 said...

Richard Stanley. Island of Dr Moreau

Me said...

The Believers? Mmm. Maybe later.

Derek Harvey said...

Fantastic guess
Richard 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'.

Lolly said...

Island of Dr. Moreau. Richard Stanley is the director. Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer and Fairuza Balk.

Lemon Swizzle (fka Princess Kate) said...

Thanks! Think it might be a first!

huggiebearisme said...

The 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."

Saskia said...

Guessing Richard Stanley - the original director of The Island of Dr. Moreau starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer.
Stanley 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...

huggiebearisme said...

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.

Seldon said...

Easy peasy, Richard Stanley, The Island of Dr. Moreau

Stephe96 said...

I agree The Island of Dr. Moreau fits all the clues, but what was "one of the best feature films incorporating music ever?"

Stanley has something called 'Brave' on his resume and it appears to be music-based...but has anyone ever heard of it?

Propaganda said...

Hardware is the film with music. Cult classic.

Stephe96 said...

BTW, if this guess is correct: Val Kilmer is "close to death?"

EJPike said...

It 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.

Kibble said...

Hexcellent guess @Lemon Swizzle! This wasn't an easy one, but I def think you got it. Interesting post on Stanley too. WTG!

CobraDemander said...

The movie sounds like Serpent and the Rainbow.

Henri said...

Hahah 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 .
Always thought if they made another movie Cumberbach could play him well

Tapioca said...

it's so much deeper and it predates all religious BS that stole lot of our lore, myths and knowledge.

out of curiosity, what did you witnessed?

d brown said...

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.

huggiebearisme said...

He 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.

jack said...

Demonic 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.

Trlcia said...

Holy Shit, this looks amazing. Great Guessing Lemon Swizzle

http://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/the-real-story-behind-the-island-of-dr-moreau-is-way-more-bonkers-than-the-movie-itself-.php

Chris627 said...

the Score was not a crap movie!

HH314 said...

Sorry calling bullshit
I 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

jack said...

Just Google 'Pagan religion in Russia'.
Then sit down.
This is a country with 1/9th of all the land mass on Earth.
I live there. Kma

Glamourboy said...

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.

oh. no. said...

Only prayer will get you out of a fix like that. God bless everyone here.

DoctorMaybe said...

Definitely 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!

DoctorMaybe said...

Also, Balk used to own (still owns?) at least one occult bookstore - now I know why.

ellie said...

Hexcellent! i see what you did there ;) lol

Wendy said...

He is rumored to have throat cancer, I think.

HH314 said...

Bullshit to infinity
Video of plasma balls or STFU

OKay said...

Seconded!

Hot Cola said...

I think that's it @Lemon Swizzel!

WSky said...

Balk was featured in an episode of celebrity ghost stories.

Sam said...

She 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.

Cinabun said...

Balk 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.
Pagans 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.

Adromeda_Deadface said...

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.

Adromeda_Deadface said...

Whoops, I should have said this related to the Island of Dr Moreau

Jetsanna said...

I'm a huge Pendergast fan, too! I'm also currently reading Crimson Shore.

marlo said...

I 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.

For 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.

jack said...

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.

huggiebearisme said...

I 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.

If 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.)

huggiebearisme said...

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.

back again said...

totally sounds like "Island Of Dr. Moreau"

back again said...

Hey @ 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.

back again said...

nice job @ lemon swizzle!

back again said...

I had to look that character up & there's a picture of Paul Bettany (i guess for movie Relic maybe?) next to character's descripton.

back again said...

I'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.

back again said...

ahh, you're being too humble-you always get stuff right!

Lemon Swizzle (fka Princess Kate) said...

That's why it popped into my mind . . . it was so disturbing to watch.

back again said...

I always use to mix her up with Debi Mazur.

back again said...

oooh, good times!!!

back again said...

Yeah, you're right.
and 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

Puddy said...

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.

Stanley 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.

Puddy said...

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.

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